A Spell of Winter
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in A Spell of Winter for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
A marvellous novel about forbidden passions (Daily Mail )
An intensely gripping book...written so seductively that some passages sing out from the page, like music for the eyes (Sunday Times )
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 )
An intensely gripping book...written so seductively that some passages sing out from the page, like music for the eyes (Sunday Times )
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 )
Product Description
Catherine and her brother, Rob, don’t know why they have been abandoned by their parents. Incarcerated in the enormous country house of their grandfather – ‘the man from nowhere’ – they create a refuge against their family’s dark secrets – and the outside world as it moves towards the First World War. As time passes their sibling love deepens and crosses into forbidden territory – but they are not as alone in the house as they believe …
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 39 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A haunting evocation of young souls left to develop alone in a large house full of emotional and financial disintegration. A brother and sister's isolation and loneliness lends their love for each other a new and dangerous bent. Without guidance or boundaries they struggle with the moral and physical implications before one (perhaps) finds redemption and hope.
This novel confronts parental abandonment, mental illness, incest, love and the tragedy of war with the lightest and most effective touch. The natural world and a strongly developed host of supporting characters provide a strong framework for a deeply personal tale.
At times the insights into a young girl's soul (it is written in the first person)seem almost pornographic in their intimacy but they render this work compelling.
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a dark, disturbing novel, but strangely haunting. I read it when it was first published, and re-read it more recently. It is my favourite Helen Dunmore, and certainly, in my opinion, her most poetic, the language sometimes so striking that I re-read whole chunks, savouring the unexpected use of words, descriptions that make me gasp with admiration. Phrases such as, 'Her voice poured like treacle over the polished floor,' and, 'The corridor seemed to have swallowed up our voices too,' are breathtaking, but it is the overall impression of the coldness of winter, Catherine's season, that permeates the whole story. 'This morning the ice on my basin of water is so thick I can not break it. The windows stare back at me, blind with frost.'
Helen Dunmore evokes all the senses to the full, so much so that you almost feel the scratchy roughness of Rob's jacket against your skin, and suffer the claustrophobic intensity of Miss Gallagher's interest in Catherine, the young narrator. You instinctively dislike Miss Gallagher, an impression underlined by the writing: 'Her bicycle was by the front steps. Upright, ugly and insistent.' And, 'The coat flopped around her, long and lean as a washed-out banana.'
Kate, the Irish maid, is the one warm gleam in the children's otherwise wintry lives, but apart from Kate they have only each other. The book, set around the first world war, is an exploration of their relationship and its development as they grow up. The story might have its darker aspects but I loved it. I would urge anyone interested in the beauty of the English language to read it and savour every word.
Helen Dunmore evokes all the senses to the full, so much so that you almost feel the scratchy roughness of Rob's jacket against your skin, and suffer the claustrophobic intensity of Miss Gallagher's interest in Catherine, the young narrator. You instinctively dislike Miss Gallagher, an impression underlined by the writing: 'Her bicycle was by the front steps. Upright, ugly and insistent.' And, 'The coat flopped around her, long and lean as a washed-out banana.'
Kate, the Irish maid, is the one warm gleam in the children's otherwise wintry lives, but apart from Kate they have only each other. The book, set around the first world war, is an exploration of their relationship and its development as they grow up. The story might have its darker aspects but I loved it. I would urge anyone interested in the beauty of the English language to read it and savour every word.
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The is a well contructed love story told in a graceful and captivating style. The author has been quite brave, yet obviously careful, in her portrayal of an intense sibling relationship turned too far inward to escape the youthful urges of sexuality. The individual's sense of seclusion during harsh and powerful winters is expertly conveyed. However, if your sense of morality is easily threatened, read something else; because, this is a complicated work that teases out taboos in a way in which the reader will never forget.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Beautifully written
Well I have to hand it to Dunmore; she is not an author who will shy away from difficult or disturbing subjects. Read more
Published 6 months ago by J. Willis
Beautifully written
I love Helen Dunmore's writing, and I loved this book. I read it about nine months ago and the story hasn't left me....that's surely the sign of a successful novel. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Gerry C
A Spellbinding Read
An arresting, sometimes disturbing and always beautifully-written tale of a brother and sister who, abandoned by their mother, and with a mentally-ill father, are left to the care... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Kate Hopkins
A spell of Winter - Helen Dunmore
If you are looking for a well written story, this book is for you. It is a consuming tale of emotional deprivation with some frightening consequences in a time just before the... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Mrs. Jill Brownlow
Don't bother
This is the first book I read of Helen Dunmore. I don't agree with the raving reviews at all. I find her style overly descriptive, there was hardly any dialogue and it was... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Vampyra
Superb writing, unlikely story
Brother and sister fall in love and take things a bit too far. I'm not convinced it would happen, even under the unusual circumstances found in this novel. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Phil O'Sofa
A compelling tale of dangerous emotions
Helen Dunmore enjoys an almost subliminal skill in crafting a story that truly delivers heavyweight punches wrapped in a velvet glove and which, you suddenly become aware has... Read more
Published on 17 Nov 2008 by Mick Read
Well written and absorbing
This is a well balanced, interesting novel which is lyrically written and even quite gripping. Characters are well drawn and complex, and the plot held my attention from the... Read more
Published on 12 July 2008 by BookWorm
Beautiful and haunting...
This author's novels win prizes for good reason. There's not a part of this novel that appears out of place. Read more
Published on 11 Jan 2007 by S. Barnes
Haunting and intense
This is possibly Dunmore's saddest book. Of course, none of her books are bursting with happiness, but they usually have flashes of joy. Here, there is almost no joy. Read more
Published on 11 Dec 2005 by Star_Sea
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
