Description
Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE WOMEN''S PRIZE FOR FICTION
''Tense, dark and intensely gripping . . . written so seductively that passages sing out from the page '' Sunday Times
Cathy and her brother, Rob, don''t know why they have been abandoned by their parents. Alone in their grandfather''s decaying country house, they roam the wild grounds freely with minds attuned to the rural wilderness. Lost in their own private world, they seek and find new lines to cross.
But as the First World War draws closer, crimes both big and small threaten the delicate refuge they have built. Cathy will do anything to protect their dark Eden from anyone, or anything, that threatens to destroy it.
''An electrifying and original talent, a writer whose style is characterized by a lyrical, dreamy intensity'' Guardian
''Stops you in your tracks with the beauty of its writing'' Observer
''Has a strong an
Trade Review
A marvellous novel about forbidden passions and the terrible consequences of thwarted love. Dunmore is one of the finest English writers
* Daily Mail *
A hugely involving story which often stops you in your tracks with the beauty of its writing
* Observer *
An electrifying and original talent, a writer whose style is characterized by a lyrical, dreamy intensity
* Guardian *
Tense, dark and intensely gripping . . . written so
seductively that
passages sing out from the page * Sunday Times *
Her prose is poetic in its emotional range and intensity * TLS *
Unsettling love and
stifled horror create and then destroy the
claustrophobic world of this lush, literary Gothic set in turn-of-the-century England. In true Gothic fashion, terror, violence and eroticism collect beneath every dark surface. . . .
A finely crafted, if disturbing, literary page-turner * Publishers Weekly *
It bears the
distinctive lyrical beauty of its predecessors . . . Helen Dunmore is an unusually fine writer. There is
a strong and sensuous magic to
A Spell of Winter * Gill Hornby in The Times *
One of our finest writers * Philip Pullman *
Immensely sad, quite beautiful, and deserves to be read by all lovers of good novel * The Bookseller *
