Baskerville
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| |||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Trade in The Baskerville Legacy: A Novel for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Plus, get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
A period-perfect exploration of ambition and resentment, ideal for a misty autumn night by the fireside --Financial Times
O'Connell infuses real events and people with fiction to make this clever, atmospheric and elegant chiller. --The Times
4/5 stars... A thrilling novella... Doyle himself becomes not a villain but a dark character bedevilled by a complex private life and his mania for spiritualism... A rip-roaring addition to the extended library of all things Holmes. --Metro
Engrossing... an eerie, pitch-perfect gothic tale, but it is also more than just a piece of literary archeology, probing questions of authorial ownership and fate and language in an atmospheric tour de force. --Catholic Herald
O'Connell infuses real events and people with fiction to make this clever, atmospheric and elegant chiller. --The Times
4/5 stars... A thrilling novella... Doyle himself becomes not a villain but a dark character bedevilled by a complex private life and his mania for spiritualism... A rip-roaring addition to the extended library of all things Holmes. --Metro
Engrossing... an eerie, pitch-perfect gothic tale, but it is also more than just a piece of literary archeology, probing questions of authorial ownership and fate and language in an atmospheric tour de force. --Catholic Herald
Product Description
I like the way your mind works, said Doyle. We should work on something together. Pool our resources.
What do you say?
I said I would enjoy that very much.
When a young journalist, Bertram Fletcher Robinson, meets his writer hero Arthur Conan Doyle on a troop ship coming back from South Africa, he is delighted especially when the creator of Sherlock Holmes suggests they collaborate on a real creeper of a story.
But the experience will prove traumatic for both of them. And when the result of their labours, The Hound of the Baskervilles, is finally published, it will be credited to one author alone.
Based on real events, The Baskerville Legacy is a creeper in its own right: a thrilling, frequently terrifying exploration of friendship and rivalry, love and lust, ambition and the limits of talent. It takes us from the clattering heart of Edwardian London to the eerie stillness of ancient West Country moorland, where a treacherous mire might swallow a man in seconds...
What do you say?
I said I would enjoy that very much.
When a young journalist, Bertram Fletcher Robinson, meets his writer hero Arthur Conan Doyle on a troop ship coming back from South Africa, he is delighted especially when the creator of Sherlock Holmes suggests they collaborate on a real creeper of a story.
But the experience will prove traumatic for both of them. And when the result of their labours, The Hound of the Baskervilles, is finally published, it will be credited to one author alone.
Based on real events, The Baskerville Legacy is a creeper in its own right: a thrilling, frequently terrifying exploration of friendship and rivalry, love and lust, ambition and the limits of talent. It takes us from the clattering heart of Edwardian London to the eerie stillness of ancient West Country moorland, where a treacherous mire might swallow a man in seconds...
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
John O'Connell's new book may be relatively short, but don't be put off by its brevity. Weaving a tale based partly on fact, and a lot of fiction here is the supposed collaboration between Bertram Fletcher Robinson, and Arthur Conan Doyle on the ever popular book 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', in Fletcher's own words.
Fletcher meets Doyle on a ship coming back form the Boer War and they get chatting. This leads to Doyle buying a plot off of Fletcher for a story, which will later become the famous 'Norwood Builder' tale of Sherlock Holmes, and then a proposal from Doyle for a collaboration for a story. Fletcher thinks Doyle is just being polite initially but Doyle is perfectly serious. Thus after meeting again and coming up with a skeleton of a tale they meet again on Dartmoor to begin some research. But are things what Fletcher is expecting? As Doyle tries to manipulate Fletcher into doing his bidding, Fletcher is suffering from withdrawal symptoms, and things don't go according to plan.
There are appendices to this story as well as an afterword, which you have to read if you do not know anything about the real events.
Fletcher meets Doyle on a ship coming back form the Boer War and they get chatting. This leads to Doyle buying a plot off of Fletcher for a story, which will later become the famous 'Norwood Builder' tale of Sherlock Holmes, and then a proposal from Doyle for a collaboration for a story. Fletcher thinks Doyle is just being polite initially but Doyle is perfectly serious. Thus after meeting again and coming up with a skeleton of a tale they meet again on Dartmoor to begin some research. But are things what Fletcher is expecting? As Doyle tries to manipulate Fletcher into doing his bidding, Fletcher is suffering from withdrawal symptoms, and things don't go according to plan.
There are appendices to this story as well as an afterword, which you have to read if you do not know anything about the real events.
6 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A small, black, hardback book, with gold lettering and creamy-white pages. It could be a pocket-book or a diary, and it could be an eminently suitable place to make a record of events to be set aside for some future date when the truth may, finally, be told.
And that is just what this book is. It is the testimony of Bertram Fletcher Robinson, making clear his role in the creation of The Hound of the Baskervilles. I hadn't heard of Bertram Fletcher Robinson before I spotted this book, but I was quickly intrigued. What was his role?
Doyle acknowledged the assitance of Fletcher, an American magazine suggested that he may have done even more than was acknowledged, but some years later Doyle's son and literary executor claimed that Fletcher's role was of any significance.
And so we have conflicting claims. Where does the truth lie? John O'Connell's novel provides an audacious answer, in a novel purporting to be a document put away by Robinson.
Robinson, a journalist, meets the famous writer when they are both travelling by boat, from South Africa to England. Each knows the others work, and so they become travelling companions. And Robinson aspires to write crime fiction. He tells Doyle some of his ideas, and is stunned when Doyle offers to buy one of them. Robinson's confidence grows.
The two men continue their acquaintance back in London, and in time Doyle suggests a visit to Robinson's family home on Dartmoor to work together on a new book ...
The style was plain, but everything was clear and everything rang true. I found it easy to believe that I was reading the words of Robinson the journalist.
On Dartmoor the story darkened. Doyle behaved strangely. Robinson was unsettled. And I began to wonder just how reliable his account was.
The wheels were in motion and a chain of events, events that chimed well with Doyle's novel and his life, lead to a dark denouement.
The final chapters really are the highpoint of the book. They are so cleverly constructed it is, they play wonderfully with the conventions of the gothic mystery, and they left me very unsettled.
The author wrapped his story around the known facts very well, and then he provides a useful explanation of where known facts end and fiction begins in an afterword.
I wasn't entirely convinced by his account, and I'm not sure that it answers all of the questions that were raised, but it was a lovely dark entertainment for an autumn evening.
And now my curiosity is piqued. I am eager to reread The Hound of The Baskervilles, to compare it with other stories of Sherlock Holmes, and to learn more about its author.
Or authors ...
And that is just what this book is. It is the testimony of Bertram Fletcher Robinson, making clear his role in the creation of The Hound of the Baskervilles. I hadn't heard of Bertram Fletcher Robinson before I spotted this book, but I was quickly intrigued. What was his role?
Doyle acknowledged the assitance of Fletcher, an American magazine suggested that he may have done even more than was acknowledged, but some years later Doyle's son and literary executor claimed that Fletcher's role was of any significance.
And so we have conflicting claims. Where does the truth lie? John O'Connell's novel provides an audacious answer, in a novel purporting to be a document put away by Robinson.
Robinson, a journalist, meets the famous writer when they are both travelling by boat, from South Africa to England. Each knows the others work, and so they become travelling companions. And Robinson aspires to write crime fiction. He tells Doyle some of his ideas, and is stunned when Doyle offers to buy one of them. Robinson's confidence grows.
The two men continue their acquaintance back in London, and in time Doyle suggests a visit to Robinson's family home on Dartmoor to work together on a new book ...
The style was plain, but everything was clear and everything rang true. I found it easy to believe that I was reading the words of Robinson the journalist.
On Dartmoor the story darkened. Doyle behaved strangely. Robinson was unsettled. And I began to wonder just how reliable his account was.
The wheels were in motion and a chain of events, events that chimed well with Doyle's novel and his life, lead to a dark denouement.
The final chapters really are the highpoint of the book. They are so cleverly constructed it is, they play wonderfully with the conventions of the gothic mystery, and they left me very unsettled.
The author wrapped his story around the known facts very well, and then he provides a useful explanation of where known facts end and fiction begins in an afterword.
I wasn't entirely convinced by his account, and I'm not sure that it answers all of the questions that were raised, but it was a lovely dark entertainment for an autumn evening.
And now my curiosity is piqued. I am eager to reread The Hound of The Baskervilles, to compare it with other stories of Sherlock Holmes, and to learn more about its author.
Or authors ...
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
THE BASKERVILLE LEGACY: A CONFESSION is a small, perfectly formed novel. Before finding this little gem, I have to admit that I was unaware of the story behind Doyle's work, "The Hound of the Baskervilles", however this did not diminish my pleasure in reading O'Connell's novella. THE BASKERVILLE LEGACY is a mix of fact and fiction - the afterword at the end of the book explains where these two blur - but it is also an examination of friendship, passion, creativity (both the process and ownership) and rivalry.
I would recommend this novel to anyone, not just lovers of Holmes or Doyle. An intriguing little book. Although I haven't read Doyle before, I may just have to go and read "The Hound..." now, and if I do, I am sure that THE BASKERVILLE LEGACY will be in the back of my mind.
I would recommend this novel to anyone, not just lovers of Holmes or Doyle. An intriguing little book. Although I haven't read Doyle before, I may just have to go and read "The Hound..." now, and if I do, I am sure that THE BASKERVILLE LEGACY will be in the back of my mind.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Fiction > Historical
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.
|
