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Product Description
Product Description
From the Orange shortlisted author of When We Were Bad ‘Superb . . . funny, exciting, lyrical, poignant, redemptive’ Guardian
Book Description
‘Brilliant . . . exhilarating . . . Exciting and memorably written, this is one of those rare reads that has you galloping to the end, but feeling bereft at having to say goodbye so soon’ Independent Behind a crumbling facade of seeming normality, secrets begin to stir within the Lux family home. Jean Lux, constrained academic wife and guilty mother, is waiting for excitement – and it will come from an unexpected source. Meanwhile Eve, her intelligent elder daughter, luxuriates in wounded jealousy, until her loathing for her only sister verges on the murderous. Into this climate of static repression and bitterness enters Raymond Snow, the deadly rival of Jean’s husband, who begins to show interest in the vulnerable Eve. Meanwhile, Jean’s best friend, Helena, has something she is yearning to tell: a confession that may alter everyone’s life forever. Beautifully written and very funny, Daughters of Jerusalem is a gripping tale of hidden love and hate, of the desire to belong and the need for escape. Daughters of Jerusalem won both the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and a Somerset Maugham Award. ‘Brilliant and witty . . . Mendelson’s second bewitchingly erotic and darkly dramatic novel confirms her as a stylish, perceptive chronicler of the heart’s hidden desires’ Daily Mail
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
On the surface, the Lux family seems the model of Oxford respectability. The father, Victor, is the archetypal academic: a benign, slightly bewildered figure who is wrapped up in his world of books, ancient civilisations and university rivalries. Jean, his wife, jumps through all the expected hoops and the two children, Eve and Phoebe, are gifted and charming respectively. However, under this facade is a seething bed of emotions waiting to be released. Victor, despite his intelligence, is unable to articulate or even recognise his own intense feelings, while Jean begins to push the boundaries of a marriage in which she would never have confessed to feeling trapped. In the contrasts between Oxford's open spaces and dreaming spires, and its cramped, claustrophobic academic pedantry, Mendelson paints a portrait of the paradox of marriage, and the difference between its outer and inner surfaces.
However, the main story concerns Eve: the rejected, self-pitying, hopelessly socially-unskilled, diligent oddball, whose jealousy for Phoebe, her mother's favourite, has crossed into the realms of hatred. At times, Eve's role in the family and Phoebe's unbelievable malevolence seem almost caricatured, but in cleverly taking Eve's point of view, Mendelson manipulates the skewed teenage perception of a world in which she is Cinderella - or rather, perhaps, the Ugly Duckling - and everyone else acts the wicked stepmother. Eve's struggle to find a place in her family and in her own self-consciousness during the troubled period of adolescence is interrupted by the arrival of what she believes to be her prince charming.
Charlotte Mendelson's erratic, unusual characters are three-dimensional, and she skillfully moves between perspectives to give at least a brief glance of the inner thoughts of many. A well-paced plot and prose which is at the same time minimalistic and yet manages to capture moments with hard, bright clarity, are fitting framework for a story about rivalry, jealousy, hatred, misery, loss, self-discovery and love.
Despite the complex issues this books deals with, Daughters of Jerusalem is unjudgemental, laying out the lives of its characters with a simplicity that leaves the reader to form their own conclusions. Charlotte Mendelson is, above all, a storyteller: if there is a message or a moral to this book it is, unexpectedly, about the unfathomable and beautiful nature of love between lovers, couples, parents and sisters: focussing more on its irrational resilience than fragility. A book which is ultimately strangely uplifting, and a compelling read throughout.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I thoroughly enjoyed Daughters of Jerusalem, finishing it in two days. The setting is richly described: academic life in Oxford with all its anachronisms and traditions yet the erudite, learned characters in this story are rendered unable to articulate their feelings in real life. There are several frustrating conversations on the lines of:
'I mean....no, I can't...'
'Don't.'
'But it's just....I...'
'Do you mean...?
The everyday trappings of daily life in this seat of learning - bicycles, college porters, cloisters - are not challenged, rather grudgingly accepted by the characters. I loved the sense of their terrible passions played out against this backdrop, where before them so many similar stories had surely been played out. Reading Mendelson's description of new love/lust was utterly refreshing, the madness, the sweating, the trembling expectation so easily disappointed only for hope to flare up once again. The family of Victor and Jean contains four desperately misunderstood people, seemingly unable to explain their needs or thoughts to each other, all careering towards chaos.
I would recommend this novel without hesitation. Charlotte Mendelson is a great new talent, brave and tense and aware.
'I mean....no, I can't...'
'Don't.'
'But it's just....I...'
'Do you mean...?
The everyday trappings of daily life in this seat of learning - bicycles, college porters, cloisters - are not challenged, rather grudgingly accepted by the characters. I loved the sense of their terrible passions played out against this backdrop, where before them so many similar stories had surely been played out. Reading Mendelson's description of new love/lust was utterly refreshing, the madness, the sweating, the trembling expectation so easily disappointed only for hope to flare up once again. The family of Victor and Jean contains four desperately misunderstood people, seemingly unable to explain their needs or thoughts to each other, all careering towards chaos.
I would recommend this novel without hesitation. Charlotte Mendelson is a great new talent, brave and tense and aware.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I think this is an extraordinary novel. A superbly written, literary page-turner with a brooding Oxford setting, this makes me want to go out and buy everything the author has written. It deals with a relationship between sisters: older, swotty Eve, tormented and over-sensitive, and her carefree dosser of a younger sister Phoebe. Phoebe is vastly favoured by the girls' mother, Jean, who is increasingly sick of her marriage. In the meantime, Jean's best friend, Helena, is nurturing a secret: she has fallen for someone entirely inappropriate. The tensions mount, leading to underaged sex, physical violence, and a thrilling show-down. Charlotte Mendelson is a fantastically talented writer, and I loved every minute of this novel.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Darker than it initially seems
A black-comic novel about a dysfunctional Oxford academic family. Jean, an archivist, married don Victor Lux, of a Jewish emigre family, when she was barely out of university... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Kate Hopkins
Intense Feelings and Desires
This is a compelling read about secret feelings and goings-on in leafy Oxford's academia. The setting itself reads true, as the Lux family hurtle towards crisis in often... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Sabina
A tale of the dysfunctional family with a perfectly wrought comic edge
I sought out Daughters of Jerusalem straight after reading When We Were Bad, Charlotte Mendelson's third novel. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Copycreate
family relationships
This is a great book; as I read it my sympathies towards the different characters changed and developed. The story builds up to a good ending.
Published on 25 Sep 2009 by A. Roberts
Persevere
It took me a couple or goes to get into this novel, but I'm so glad I did because once you're in it grips you and won't let go til it's over. Read more
Published on 28 Feb 2008 by Little Miss Flake
Unputdownabubble
I read somewhere Mendelson being compared to Barbara Pym and it's true the paralles are there; academe, love frustrated. Read more
Published on 9 Jun 2007 by Brim
Fantastic read
This was a great book. Well written - it sucks you in to the lives and troubles of the characters and you can't help but empathise with most of them: academically gifted but... Read more
Published on 8 Jun 2007 by Katy May
sheer brilliance
I own both of Mendelson's book and cannot wait for her next one. I have read her books over and over. Read more
Published on 15 Nov 2006 by Cm Strudwick
Not realy to my taste.
It took me a little while to get into this book, but I must admit, I enjoyed it once it had grabbed me. Read more
Published on 17 July 2006 by DubaiReader
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