- Hardcover: 160 pages
- Publisher: Hamish Hamilton Ltd; 1st Edition edition (19 Aug 1991)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0241131464
- ISBN-13: 978-0241131466
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 13.2 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,209,975 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
Product Description
Product Description
This first novel explores the chain of events which, in the social circumstances and mores of Scotland of the forties and fifties, cause the bizarre death of a young girl. This novel won the RSL's Winifred Holtby Prize for the best regional novel of the year.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This hauntingly beautiful novel gets under your skin from the moment you read the first line. Janet is a dysfunctional teenager. Her struggles with the encroaching world of womanhood make for searingly comic reading, despite a dark underlay of doom. Weird and wonderful.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Elspeth Barker's macabre tragicomedy is mesmerising, haunting and entertaining. She uses language with a poet's deftness and evokes the east of Scotland not only through description, but also through the vernacular of the narration. The heroine of the piece, Janet, is an awkward and sympathetic character beautifully and believably constructed with a cast of characters that are so dislikeable as to emphasise Janet's alienation. Motifs and themes run through this short book giving clues pointing towards the sharp, exacting and tragic end that is the perfect finale to a tale of such bleak and bitter humour.
Half way through the book, I read a line which made me realise I had heard a snippet of this story on Radio Four's Book at Bedtime some thirteen years ago. For a single line, heard out of context, to have stayed with me for that long to have finally been put in its place is both satisfying and testament to the strength of Barker's prose.
I'd also like to add that it is a tragedy that this book is currently out of print.
Half way through the book, I read a line which made me realise I had heard a snippet of this story on Radio Four's Book at Bedtime some thirteen years ago. For a single line, heard out of context, to have stayed with me for that long to have finally been put in its place is both satisfying and testament to the strength of Barker's prose.
I'd also like to add that it is a tragedy that this book is currently out of print.
Format:Paperback
I was introduced to this novel when a sample of it was used as a reading comprehension exercise in my English class at school. I really enjoyed the evocative writing, particularly the descriptions of spools of thread in a haberdashery and a small stuffed donkey, and the main character, Janet, came across very strongly. She is stubborn, imaginative (at times to the point of delusion), and apparently disliked by most of the other characters. The novel essentially tells her life story, starting off with Janet as a difficult young child dealing with the birth of two younger siblings, and continuing through to adolescence, with the family living in a remote castle where her parents run a boys' school.
I can understand to a certain extent why the other characters (including her parents) feel as they do about Janet, but on the whole she seems badly done by. She is, either way, a fascinating young girl, with a rich internal life, and makes for a delicious novel.
I can understand to a certain extent why the other characters (including her parents) feel as they do about Janet, but on the whole she seems badly done by. She is, either way, a fascinating young girl, with a rich internal life, and makes for a delicious novel.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Review
The book arrived on time and was what I had asked for. I wish the seller had been explicit about there being writing throughout the book - it would have informed my decision... Read more
Published 16 months ago by MP
brilliantly written
This is one of my favourite books (and I read a lot). What makes this book special for me is the sheer beauty of the prose and Elspeth Barker's wonderful ability to blend tragedy... Read more
Published on 1 Oct 2002 by "cathsmal1"
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
