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In the Springtime of the Year [Paperback]

Susan Hill
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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Book Description

5 April 2012

After just a year of close, loving marriage, Ruth has been widowed. Her beloved husband, Ben, has been killed in a tragic accident and Ruth is left, suddenly and totally bereft.

Unable to share her sorrow and grief with Ben's family, who are dealing with their pain in their own way, Ruth becomes increasingly isolated, burying herself in her cottage in the countryside as the seasons change around her. Only Ben's young brother Jo, is able to reach out beyond his own grief, to offer Ruth the compassion which might reclaim her from her own devastating unhappiness.

The result is a moving, lyrical exploration of love and loss, of grief and mourning, from a masterful writer.


Frequently Bought Together

In the Springtime of the Year + A Kind Man + The Beacon
Price For All Three: £17.97

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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage (5 April 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0099570483
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099570486
  • Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 1.6 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 96,755 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Review

"One of those novels you never forget" (The Times)

"I love this wonderful book... Just read it" (Jo Brand BBC Radio 4, A Good Read)

"One of Hill's earlier, quieter masterpieces" (Emma Hagestadt Independent)

"Immediately arresting.you come away affected, but there is a quiet, unhurried pace which is, incongruously, a lovely and fitting touch" (bookgeeks.co.uk)

Book Description

A beautiful, lyrical novel about love and loss, and grief and mourning from the author of A Kind Man and The Woman in Black

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Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars
4.0 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
55 of 55 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Touching and lyrical 19 Jan 2000
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This book is a highly emotional, yet gentle account of loss, and the aftershocks death causes among family and community alike. It is very moving without ever straying into mawkishness or over-sentimentality - unusual in itself - and the events, and their repercussions are presented and developed with such care and such a wonderful sense of the gradual flow of time, that this book leaves you with an overwhelming feeling of hope. Thus, I would feel comfortable recommending it to not only anyone who has suffered a loss, but any reader looking for a inspiring, gentle piece of fiction. Beautifully written.(And not excessively lengthy!)
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A gentle read 29 Sep 2009
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
If you feel like reading slowly and sighing often, then this gentle book is for you. Ms Hill explores grief and loss through the emotions of a young and unworldly woman, who draws deeply on nature for sustenance and survival. Sometimes other-worldly, the author deals with the most raw and awful of human emotions in an unflinching but always tender way, leading the young widow and the reader towards a resolution of new growth. It is not just about grief and loss, but also about new possibilities and new ways of seeing other people. This is my first Susan Hill novel and I will read more.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Book review 27 Oct 2010
By vivi
Format:Paperback
I enjoyed this book and was pleased I finished it. It contains a lot of emotion and is very intense. It made you feel very involved with Ruth and her emotions. It was very well written.

My copy was autographed by the author too!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Moving exploration of bereavement 29 April 2011
By Arkgirl VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
A moving exploration of bereavement told with simplicity and beautifully written. The seasons and the countryside add an extra dimension, almost an extra character, which provides depth to this the tale of a young widow's loss of her husband in a freak accident. It is not maudlin but it is very touching and some of the writing has a very poetic, lyrical feel which I thoroughly enjoyed.
It is not a complex story but it is one that I feel better for reading - it asks questions but doesn't provide all the answers what it does provide is a sense of hope.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Quiet, Contemplative, Lyrical 12 July 2012
By Susie B TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
I have read quite a few of Susan Hill's novels, but 'In the Springtime of the Year' is one I must have missed and when I saw it had recently been republished, I was very keen to start reading. The story opens with some wonderfully descriptive writing about a young woman, Ruth, walking in her cottage garden one evening at the end of the summer, mourning the sudden loss of her new husband, Ben, who has recently been killed in a tragic accident. Ruth is doubly unfortunate in that she cannot share her sorrow and grief with Ben's family who, she feels, have never really accepted her; except for Ben's younger brother, fourteen-year-old Jo, an unusual young man, who although grieving himself, is the only one who is able to help Ruth to cope with her devastating loss.

We learn how at the moment of Ben's death, Ruth feels a terrible sense of dread and foreboding, so that when one of the men working with Ben at the time of the accident comes to bring her the terrible news, she finds she already knows before he says anything that something dreadful has happened to her beloved husband. In the hours following Ben's death, we learn how Ruth cannot cope with the steady flow of mourners who come to her home to pay their respects and how she cannot bring herself to look upon Ben's lifeless body: "Now that she knew he was dead, she no longer wanted to be with him, because wherever his body was, it was not Ben any longer." (No spoilers here, we learn all of this early on in the novel). As Ruth becomes more isolated, immersing herself in her own grief, her mother-in-law, Dora, thinks her cold and unfeeling, unaware of the very deep feelings running beneath Ruth's shocked and seemingly numb exterior.
... Read more ›
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb! 10 July 2012
Format:Paperback
I'm not sure if this will show up as an Amazon verified purchase because I've bought more than one copy of this book from various places, I've still to download a copy to my Kindle, I'll remedy that oversight soon. Susan Hill is one of my favourite authors, and this is probably my favourite of her books, I revisit this story at least once a year, and never tire of reading it. It's powerful, moving, lyrical, absorbing. Simply superb. If you are a fan of Hill and you haven't read this yet, you're in for a treat and if you're not yet a fan, this is a fantastic starting point.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Very sensitive, reflective 16 April 2013
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is a beautiful interpretation of the grief process, very subtle. I enjoyed it thoroughly, it gave me a lot to reflect upon as I read it.
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3.0 out of 5 stars Exploration of grief 13 Feb 2013
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
At first the main character's response to loss seems self indulgent and a number of the practical details of dealing with the process seem to be over looked hence making the book irritating if you have been through a similar experience e.g. she is the wife but has nothing to do with funeral/will/administration etc. However, persevere as her later acute insights in to grief echoed mine such that i had to put the book down in places and wait a bit to continue. Rather fanciful and contrived ending to make it redemptive.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars Not my favourite Susan Hill book
A clever, very detailed and poignant study in bereavement, but not a cheery book for your summer holiday reading. Read more
Published 7 months ago by MRS
3.0 out of 5 stars Not one of her best
I love Susan Hill's writing, and although I completed this novel I didn't feel compelled to do so, and that is unusual. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Shadow
5.0 out of 5 stars Gut-wrenchingly perfect
Ruth's husband of less than a year, Ben, has been killed by a tree falling on him. This book charts the progress of her grief, and the utterly individual griefs of his father,... Read more
Published 9 months ago by daja
3.0 out of 5 stars Depressing
I downloaded his book after I'd heard an interview with Susan Hill about this novel that she revealed grew out of a personal experience of the death of her fiancee many years... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Bluebell
3.0 out of 5 stars In the springtime of a year...
I have just finished pretty depressing and quite boring book by Susan Hill, "In the Springtime of the Year". I picked it from the library, I confess, because of the lovely cover. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Lola
5.0 out of 5 stars In the Springtime of the Year
This beautiful book was highly recommended to me as a'must' to read. And a 'must read' it certainly is as it moves from love and life into loss and shock and eventually hope.
Published 11 months ago by R. M. Spence
3.0 out of 5 stars In the Springtime of the Year, Susan Hill
I was a bit disappointed in this story as I bought it on the basis of Jo Brand's recommendation. I think maybe it speaks particularly to someone who has been through a similar... Read more
Published on 1 Jan 2011 by Lucy
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