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A LIFETIME BURNING
 
 
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A LIFETIME BURNING [Kindle Edition]

Linda Gillard (Author)
4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews) |
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The Bluestalking Reader (bluestalking.typepad.com), July '06

"Brilliant in every way, start to finish... The sheer beauty of this book is its biggest recommendation.'

Product Description

Flora Dunbar is dead. But it isn’t over.

The spectre at the funeral is Flora herself, unobserved by her grieving family and the four men who loved her.

Looking back over a turbulent lifetime, Flora recalls an eccentric childhood lived in the shadow of her musical twin, Rory; early marriage to Hugh, a handsome clergyman twice her age; motherhood, which brought her Theo, the son she couldn’t love; middle age, when she finally found brief happiness in a scandalous affair with her nephew, Colin.

“There has been much love in this family – some would say too much – and not a little hate. If you asked my sister-in-law, Grace why she hated me, she’d say it was because I seduced her precious firstborn, then tossed him on to the sizeable scrap heap marked ‘Flora’s ex-lovers’. But she’d be lying. That isn’t why Grace hated me. Ask my brother Rory.”

A complex family drama spanning the 20th century from the author of Kindle bestseller, HOUSE OF SILENCE.
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More About the Author

Linda Gillard
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By L. H. Healy TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Kindle Edition
As I write this, I am still thinking about this novel; it has stayed very much in my mind for days since finishing it. It is an enthralling, gripping story of several generations of the Dunbar family, and of forbidden, hopeless love that has tragic consequences. At the heart of the novel are twins Flora and Rory. Flora describes Rory as `my twin brother, my childhood companion, the other half of my life, the other half of my self', bringing to mind the feelings Cathy has about Heathcliff in `Wuthering Heights', of one not being whole without the other. I think it would be wrong to reveal much of the plot and themes here, as it adds so much to the experience of reading this novel if you discover it all for yourself page by page. Suffice it to say that the relationship between Flora and her nephew Colin, which is revealed in the synopsis of the novel, is by no means the only unorthodox pairing here. Music plays an important role in the book, with Rory emerging as a talented pianist, leaving Flora in his shadow. And endeavouring to be good, and `the possibility of loving and being loved in return', drives Flora and Hugh in particular.

The structure is inspired; the novel covers the years from the 1940's until 2000, but it is not a linear narrative, rather the author takes us backwards and forwards in time, and allows us to visit certain moments in the characters' lives. As the reader gets deeper into the novel, events take on new meanings, or more weight is given to a certain conversation or meeting, and truths are revealed. On finishing the book I, like many other readers, was keen to return to the first pages and read them again, knowing what I then knew, and understanding so much more. Flora Dunbar narrates parts of the story from beyond the grave; the rest is third-person narration upon which Flora can then comment with the benefit of hindsight.

It's an absorbing, brave and unforgettable book, from a talented writer. The dialogue flows easily; the characters are so well drawn that they leap from the page; they are loved, rejected, damaged, hopeful, damned and loved again, and they grow and change through the timescale covered in the novel. As a reader it makes you think, question and ponder, and though you may not like some of the characters and their actions, they are nevertheless compelling. A thoroughly riveting read.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
One of the aspects I especially liked about A Lifetime Burning was that it's Linda Gillard's second novel. (I hope I'm right about this.) I think second novels are hard - there's the first one, completed, special, loved and polished, successful, perhaps a little smug in its relief at being safely out there, secure in its author's affection. Like an oldest child its conception and birth has been the sharpest learning curve, the relationship between author and book forged in the most intense anxiety and delight. Nothing will change that.
So how can number two compete? An intelligent novelist like Linda Gillard isn't going to want to write the same book twice, she's going to use her newfound confidence to go for it, challenge herself, startle her readers rather than lull them. I particularly admire the honesty of her first pages. 'You're not going to like me,' says the dead heroine. 'Yes, it's true, I did have an affair with my nephew - that's incest. If you can't cope with it, don't read any more.'
If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen! She doesn't say it so baldly of course but in essence that seems to me to be the message. Gillard's plot has plenty more revelations to offer but by the time we hit the real shockers we're committed as readers and we Need To Know.
I don't think A Lifetime's Burning is a perfect novel but that's not intended as a criticism. It's ambitious, it's urgent, it's going all out. One of the sayings I use to irritate my own children is 'If you don't try, you don't fail.' I trust Linda Gillard and her heroine to get the point of that one.
There's a moment when one of the characters (I think it's Flora) likens the Dunbar family relationships to the complexities of Shakespeare. Titus Andronicus? I asked myself but A Winter's Tale would be a fairer comparison - as well as the shrewd use Gillard makes of Hamlet. Then I began to think that the tortured Greeks would also have been a pont of reference - the complex family relations within the Oresteia, perhaps?
Flora, the heroine, presents herself as the villain, for me she was definitely the victim. It's a tribute to Linda Gillard's presentation of the complex, ambiguous and changeable relationships within a clannish family that Flora can equally well be both - or all three. Worth its five stars for making this reader THINK.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By LindyLouMac TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
One of my favourite reads so far this year and in my opinion even better than the author's excellent debut novel `Emotional Geology'.

With this second novel I feel that Linda Gillard has established herself as an author to be watched by those who enjoy contemporary literature.
The story of the Dunbar's and their complicated familial relationships will stay with me, long after I finished reading. It is a disturbing but compelling tale as one is drawn into the lives of the family members.

The jumping backwards and forwards in time of the narrative I at first found confusing and had me flicking back and forth checking points. However for me this style added considerably to the understanding, because of the complexity of the story. I am intrigued as to how Linda Gillard tackled the writing of these different sections? Anyway the technique works very well with Flora's narrative starting the novel with her own funeral and then continuing to be inserted throughout.

I admire Linda for tackling such a difficult theme so sensitively without causing angst.

I feel that I could say more but not without spoiling the plot for those who have yet to read this.

I am now encouraging family, friends, Bookcrossers and others to read the work of this brilliant new author if they have not already discovered her themselves.

Thanks Linda for a very enjoyable few hours immersed in the life of the Dunbar's. I am very much looking forward to the publication of your third novel.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Slightly disappointing
I struggled a bit with this one. There is no doubt that Linda Gillard is a very talented writer. Her characters are well-drawn; the dialogue is well written and she tackles... Read more
Published 10 days ago by B J Burton - Author
Absolutely fabulous
I love this author's work, and this book is exceptionally good, in my opinion. Not an easy subject matter, but very well written, and entirely believable.
Published 1 month ago by MarilynJG
None
Encouraged by relatives who had already made the leap from paperback to e-reader, I reluctantly bought a Kindle just after Christmas and I'm so glad I did because without it I... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Stopforasunflowerseed
Paperback review
First off I suppose I should warn you that A Lifetime Burning is very different from Linda Gillard's other books, Emotional Geology and Star Gazing. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Lucybird
Amazing Book
This book is amazing, I was hooked from page 1 until the end, and loved every minute. Every character is totally believable and you feel as if you really get to know them and the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by sujay
Totally absorbing!
I have over 117 books downloaded to my Kindle & this is the first review I have done.I read the author's 1st book Emotional Geology which I greatly enjoyed but I never expected... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Freyja Fox
sensuality, sex and sadness: secrets beautifully told
Linda Gillard's intense, uncompromising, yet sensuously written family saga has been compared to Elizabeth Jane Howard and Mary Wesley. Read more
Published 3 months ago by superswimmer
Truly stunning
I've just finished this book, my second Linda Gillard book (the first being Emotional Geology.

Shocking, beautiful, haunting are just some of the words I would use to... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Susanne
Cunningly crafted
As a novelist myself I'm aware of the craft behind a story, and this has to be one of the most cleverly executed books I've read in a long time. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Hazel
Absorbing and unforgetable
This is an absorbing, unforgetable book.
The writing is so skillfull - each page reveals a little of what is to come next and draws the reader deeper into the story. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Alison
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