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Cloth Girl [Paperback]

Marilyn Heward Mills (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
RRP: £9.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 592 pages
  • Publisher: Sphere; New edition edition (4 Oct 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0751538159
  • ISBN-13: 978-0751538151
  • Product Dimensions: 12.8 x 4.2 x 19.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 77,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Marilyn Heward Mills
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Product Description

Review

'In this vivid and assured first novel, two women meet across a yawning social divide ... Warm, moving, delightful' The Times ** 'Mills offers, through Matilda's eyes, a rich celebration of the country ... This unusual tale of the colonial experience hits the spot' Guardian ** 'Heward Mills deftly captures the ironic pity each feels for the other's situation. Written with fluency and confidence, this is an impressive debut' New Statesman ** 'Mills' first novel is an assured study of Ghanaian life ... She vividly portrays both the black and white communities and mines considerable humour from those Africans who have their feet in both camps ... Above all, in the character of Matilda ... she creates a richly sympathetic portrait of a young woman whose warmth and integrity win the reader's heart along with the hearts of all those around her' Daily Express ** 'Heward Mills deftly captures the ironic pity each feels for the other's situation. Written with fluency and confidence, this is an impressive debut' New Statesman ** 'this is a debut novel of substance that movingly captures the meaning of loss and the cost of gain' Scotland on Sunday ** 'I loved it, I enjoyed Cloth Girl with its huge sense of place and character ... I particularly loved Audrey and the contrast between the two' Alex Hemsley, BBC 5 Live Book Club ** 'The story rattles along and is beautifully told ... Fantastic ... I liked its crisp, spare, romantic but steely prose. It's a hot book for a hot day!' Noel Morris, BBC 5 Live Book Club ** 'What I liked best were the characterisations'. Of Matilda, 'I thought she was beautifully drawn ... you caught the tragedy of ignorance and willfullness ... beautifully carried through' Will Self ** 'a charming, optimistic tale' The Historical Novels Review ** 'utterly engrossing ... a delightfully insightful and entertaining novel' The Works ** 'a cast of vibrant characters' Big Issue

Woman & Home

`Totally engrossing and beautifully written'
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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Impressive first novel, 7 April 2006
By 
Keris Nine - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Cloth Girl (Hardcover)
'Cloth Girl' is set in a British West African outpost in the 1930's/1940's, against the backdrop of the Second World War and Ghana's struggle for independence and self determination. The story's real drive however is in it depiction of the lives of two very different women.

Matilda is a young fourteen year-old native schoolgirl, starting English lessons and excited about her future, when she is forced into a marriage as Second Wife to the illustrious lawyer Robert Bannerman, a native of the country who has been educated at university in England. Apart from having her prospects taken out of her hands, Matilda, still a child, has to endure the jealousy and humiliation of the lawyer's First Wife, the sophisticated and cruel Julie.

We also follow the fortunes of Audrey, the new wife of Alan Turton, an assistant to the Governor at the Colonial Office - in many respects also having her life brought to a standstill, finding it impossible to adjust to either the tedious lifestyle and behaviour expected of a Commissioner's wife or the unbearable climate of the country.

Following the daily trials of each of these women, Marilyn Heward Mills makes 'Cloth Girl' a completely accessible and riveting read - as gripping as any thriller, with clear, lucid, expressive prose. In doing so, she manages to skilfully capture the essential nature of the differing circumstances of all the people there - the divisions and inequalities between the British colonists and the natives, their prejudices and fears, their contrasting beliefs and customs. That she manages to do this with few direct allusions and an almost complete lack of dry historical background information, is a remarkable achievement. Her characters are completely alive and real, their little gestures of compliance and defiance in the face of the humiliations and failures they endure coming to personify the deep-rooted and irreconcilable differences in their respective cultures. Her all-encompassing viewpoint takes in a much wider perspective than the distant, aloofness and caricature that can often be found in Graham Greene's depictions of these lands. The fact that 'Cloth Girl' is the work of a first-time novelist is nothing less than astonishing.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Cloth Girl, 27 July 2006
This review is from: Cloth Girl (Hardcover)
I read Cloth Girl on holiday and thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact the books that I read subsequently seemed inadequate after such a good read. Cloth Girl's characters are very real and beautifully drawn. The book seemed to me an African "Jewel in the Crown". I would definitely recommend it.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Authentic, touching and beautifully written - what a treat!, 13 Jun 2006
By 
JulesR75 (London, England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Cloth Girl (Hardcover)
A great story and so beautifully written. A cut above the Alexander McCall-Smith novels. I couldn't put it down.
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