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Beautiful Lies [Hardcover]

Clare Clark
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
RRP: £14.99
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Book Description

7 Jun 2012

It is 1887, and an unsettled London is preparing for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. For Maribel Campbell Lowe, the beautiful, bohemian wife of a maverick politician, it is the year she plans to make her own mark on the world. But her husband's outspoken views inspire enmity as well as admiration - and the wife of a member of parliament should not be hiding the kind of secrets Maribel has buried in her past. When a notorious newspaper editor begins to take an uncommon interest in her, Maribel fears he will destroy not only her husband's career but both of their reputations.

Beautiful Lies is set in a Jubilee year that, fraught with economic uncertainty, riots and tabloid scandal-mongering, uncannily presages our own. Praised by Hilary Mantel as 'one of those writers who can see into the past and help us feel its texture', Clark has created a brilliant, riveting novel that illuminates both Victorian England and our own times.


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Product details

  • Hardcover: 512 pages
  • Publisher: Harvill Secker (7 Jun 2012)
  • Language: Unknown
  • ISBN-10: 1846556058
  • ISBN-13: 978-1846556050
  • Product Dimensions: 16.2 x 4.3 x 24 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 50,241 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Review

A shining example of historical literary fiction. nothing less than literary pyrotechnics. Beautiful Lies is a dazzlingly elegant novel steeped in the rich detail of the period (Lucy Scholes Independent )

Sentences that are so lush, so beautifully finished, that one almost wants to stroke her prose (Judith Flanders Guardian )

A wonderfully observed novel which explores both the role of women and the tabloid press in Victoria's jubilee year. Completely gripping (Rosie Boycott )

The charm of Beautiful Lies is that Ms Clark breaks the usual Victorian moral code, exploring both the colourful world outside the drawing room and the depths of her characters' minds. A stirring and seductive novel (The Economist )

A hugely entertaining and generous piece of story-telling (James Walton Daily Mail )

Book Description

London, 1887. In a momentous year dogged by economic crisis, riots and a voracious press hungry for scandal - how can one MP's wife bury the truth about her past?

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding. 7 Feb 2013
By Andreas
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the fourth book of Clark's novels I have read and they get better and better. This is a tale beautifully told, beautifully written. Cannot understand why her work is not more widely known and enjoyed. A.J.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Through a glass darkly 9 Sep 2012
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Riots in London, celebrity scandal, a newspaper out of control, a Royal Jubilee - despite the contemporary feel, the year is 1887. This is a story rich in history, especially the politics of early socialism as the Liberals are failing the working people. Edward Campbell Lowe is a Radical MP, a maverick Scottish aristocrat but a supporter of reform. He has secrets. His wife, Maribel, also has a history which, were it to come to public notice, would destroy them. On the warpath is a newspaper, the Chronicle, its editor, Alfred Webster, a supporter of reform who realises, too, that nothing sells like sex and scandal, so, though a potential supporter, is also a threat. Another theme is Maribel's own search to make amends for her past. This is a theme of many other contemporary novels that I have been reading[Laura Moriarty's The Chaperone, for example]but Clare Clark manages this story so well; the moving tale neatly balances the harder political edge of the book. The novel takes us through the drawing rooms of the rich, the raw poverty of London streets and the collapse of the crofting economy; Buffalo Bill rides through the pages, while Maribel's personal search reveals the desperate lives of Spanish peasants. Clare Clark also manages politics and religion, especially the vogue for spiritualism. A key part of the story is the emerging art of photography and photo-journalism. Some knowledge of the period would perhaps be essential to get the most out of the novel, but I was amazed at what the author reveals. Clare Clark loves her heroine. I loved the book.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Rise of a social conscience 29 Aug 2012
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book seems to have two themes the secret history of the heroine but of much greater interest to me was the struggle of her husband with the social problems of the day. With a limited franchise it was obvious that no one except a few gave any thought to poverty or unemployed adults. It also provides an insight to the way our press has now gone.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Tale!
Just one of the beauties of this book is the way that Clare takes a series of real-life characters from the 1880s and "fictionalises" them. Read more
Published 1 month ago by David Ebsworth
2.0 out of 5 stars Overwritten
Just like Savage Lands, this is terribly overwritten with 'colourful' description of place and character. Read more
Published 1 month ago by JediNights
3.0 out of 5 stars A Little Disappointment
As you would expect from Clare Clark, the historical background gives the impression that it is well researched. The writing is intelligent and elegant. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Aquatron
2.0 out of 5 stars Not Convinced
This is the first book by Clare Clark that I have read and by the description and Kindle sample sent to me, I was looking forward to it. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Anne McHardy
3.0 out of 5 stars Great historical accuracy, but a so-so book
I looked forward to this book, as I loved the author's 2 other books. However, this was a disappointment. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Cazz
5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping and beautiful
The only criticism I have of Clare Clark's latest work is that I wanted it to continue. I wanted to know what happened later because it felt that all the characters had more story... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Fleur
3.0 out of 5 stars Great combination
The author is plainly a historian who knows her period. Combining the story with actual characters from that era of late nineteenth-century Victoriana has been delightfully... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Michael A. Crouch
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, evocative, subtle and thought-provoking
This novel, set in Victorian England during Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee year of 1887, seems to take a while to wind itself up to a momentum. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Keen Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars What Clare Clark fans have been waiting for ...
Beautiful Lies is quite simply this year's high water-mark for historical fiction. In fact, its appeal should stretch far beyond the conventional norms of the category because,... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mr. Alex Johnston
4.0 out of 5 stars Secrets and Lies
Clare Clark's latest novel 'Beautiful Lies' is the story of Maribel Campbell Lowe, a beautiful, unusual and somewhat unconventional woman, and her husband, Edward, a maverick... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Susie B
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