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The Colour
 
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The Colour (Paperback)

by Rose Tremain (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £5.96 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage; New edition edition (3 Jul 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0099425157
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099425151
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 8,492 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #2 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > T > Tremain, Rose

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Rose Tremain has long been one of the most vigorous and imaginative of novelists; her sweeping narratives (set against the most vividly realised of canvases) have made her books as dramatic and assured as anything being written today. The Colour represents a further burnishing of her considerable talents; it is a powerful drama of greed and aspiration set in the New Zealand Gold Rush of the mid-19th Century.

Tremain's protagonists are Harriet and Joseph Baxter, who (along with Joseph's mother) leave England for the promise of the new world that New Zealand represents. Needless to say, their relocation comes with many attendant (and nigh-insoluble) problems. But their struggle against the land continues apace until Joseph discovers gold in a nearby creek and ill-advisedly conceals the find from his mother and his wife. Gold fever takes an all-consuming grip upon him, and he leaves the family-owned farm to traverse the gold fields of the Southern Alps. There he will find a strange fate: one that affects those he has left behind as well as him.

As a study of human nature in extremis, this could well be Tremain’s most impressive book. Lacking the elegant stylishness of Restoration, The Colour grants us a fastidiously rendered picture of life lived at the sharp edge. And while her characters are confronted with terrifying decisions that few of us are ever likely to encounter, Tremain’s narrative gifts make it easy to identify with the decisions (both wise and catastrophic) that her characters take. The sense of period is forcefully conveyed, and while this is not as ingratiating a read as such earlier Tremain books as The Swimming Pool Season, her new level of ambition makes it perhaps the author’s most important book yet. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.



The Gloss

'Tremain is the finest of historical fiction writers'

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Customer Reviews

19 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:
 (8)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional writing, 13 Dec 2005
Perhaps I was reading a different book to the one described my most of the Amazon reviewers here. The one I read was a lyrical, majestic tale of human frailty set against an epic backdrop of cruel mountains and with meticulously researched attention to historical detail.
The threads of the book are woven skilfully and we, as readers, are kept guessing until the end, the principal characters - each real and vulnerable - taking us along with them as they struggle to come to terms with the cold consequences of their past choices. The writing is subtle and measured: I get the feeling that the author chooses each word with great care, and her selections are invariably right, as we both explore the psyche of people living on the edge and enjoy a rollicking good tale of gold and greed and hope.
So, don't be off by adjectives such as 'brutal' and 'depressing' - this book is compelling, vivid, and most satisfying - as a professional writer myself I can only admire greatly what Rose Tremain has achieved here.
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29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A strong story in a vivid historical landscape, 12 Oct 2004
By A Customer
There are some harsh reviewers out there. I found this book a highly compelling read, with well-drawn characters and strong, interlinking storylines which kept me interested right to the very end. No doubt those who have been to New Zealand's South Island (particularly in winter) will find this a more satisfying book than those who have not - I am sure it helps to have some sort of mental image of both the beauty and the harshness of the landscape in which the story is set.

It has its faults. It suffers from the apparent belief among contemporary authors that, unless a book contains a strange element of magic and mysticism, the reader will lose interest. This is not so - most books which try this obvious and tired trick fall down as a result. In this book, this unnecessary flummery arises in the relationship between the Maori woman, Pare, and the English boy, Edwin. On one level, this strand of the story is a touching (and ultimately tragic) tale of childhood imagination and clashing imperial and indiginous cultures, and it would have been better left at that. The introduction of Maori spiritualism seemed to me to be somewhat forced and shallow, and wholly unnecessary.

And why, oh why, do publishers of books set in strong geographical locations NEVER include a map? I dug out my own map of New Zealand, which greatly assisted in conceptualising the action, but a one-page map in the book itself would be so easy to include and would make such a difference.

But otherwise, a thoroughly good read - a little depressing, but not without its upbeat moments. The three main Blackstone characters are all a little bit useless in their varying degrees (and so more believable and engaging), and they all make mistakes, and the changing relationships between them seemed to me to be both convincing and sympathetically human. And the descriptions on nineteenth-century New Zealand life and landscape are truly excellent. Compared to the other books I have read by Ms Tremain, it is certainly streets ahead of the dreadful "The Way I Found Her", if not quite as rich and unusual as (although probably more compellingly readable than) "Music and Silence". I recommend it strongly.

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32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat fools' gold, 14 Aug 2003
This review is from: The Colour (Hardcover)
Rose Tremain deceives her reader in this evocative novel. At first we expect the hero of the story to be Joseph, the ambitious, ostensibly well-meaning new husband to Harriet and devoted son to Lilian. However, the focus of the book shifts in a clumsy, but not totally off-putting, way to Harriet, Lilian and other minor characters.

Tremain's gift is in making even the slightest, least important character in a book live and breathe. Sefton, the Scottish gold-diggers and even the never-present wife of a character are vividly drawn.

However, this is quite a depressing book: don't expect happy-ever-afters. It deals with its subject brutally, and the bizarre surreal subplot involving an English schoolboy and his Maori governness would have made an interesting novella in itself rather than being thrown in to distract from the main story. Having subplots running like veins through a book is all very well as long as they all mishmash in with the main plot, and in "The Colour" I don't think this entirely happens.

However - it's well worth a read, for fans of Rose Tremain and those new to her. I would recommend "The Way I Found Her" or "Restoration" as a perfect introduction to this author though.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars "A woman who was as tall as he..."
Strong women may not usually capture the centre of attention in a wild west survival story - it's a men's world after all. Yet, Harriet deserves her spotlight! Read more
Published 2 months ago by Friederike Knabe

4.0 out of 5 stars Great story of gold mining in New Zealand
I really enjoyed this book, partly because I have been to some of the places mentioned (in New Zealand) and partly because it is written with very considerable empathy. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Rosalind

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent writing, great story, ambition not quite achieved
The Colour, a novel by Rose Tremain, tells an epic story against the backdrop of great events and a stunning landscape. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Philip Spires

4.0 out of 5 stars Pure Gold
Again Rose Tremain has impressed and entertained me with the power of her writing. I have now read three of her books "The Colour" The Road Home" and "Sacred Country" [see my... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Alexander Bryce

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book
This is a tremendously good book (no sense in wasting any time to let you know that much, is there?). Read more
Published 5 months ago by Didier

5.0 out of 5 stars The Colour - book
Arrived in good condition and quickly. Looking forward to reading it as have just discovered this author. Really enjoyed The Road Home.
Published 9 months ago by B. C. Dobson

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it...
If you have been to New Zealand or are thinking of going, this book gives a vivid fictional account of what it might have been like to arrive on its shores 150 years ago. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Amber

4.0 out of 5 stars a beautiful work..........

I read this book on holiday, so was able to relax and fully appreciate Tremains subtle yet dramatic writing. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Christopher Healy

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent read
I loved this engrossing historical novel - highly reccomended. If you can do please read 'Music and Silence' by the same author - absolutely outstanding.
Published 24 months ago by brixtonite

2.0 out of 5 stars Panning for gold and being disappointed.
I have previously read and loved "Restoration" by Rose Tremain. The main character was incredible; flawed and yet I cared so much what happened in his life. Read more
Published on 4 Mar 2007 by H Folkes

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