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The Beacon
 
 

The Beacon [Kindle Edition]

Susan Hill
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)

Print List Price: £7.99
Kindle Price: £5.22 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
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Product Description

Review

It is a little masterpiece (Daily Telegraph )

Review

`This enigmatic novella tracks the full impact of Frank's book, probing notions of guilt and truth'

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 176 KB
  • Print Length: 162 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0701183403
  • Publisher: Vintage Digital (17 Aug 2010)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B003ZDO8Z2
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray: Not Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #21,114 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
45 of 45 people found the following review helpful
By Reuben
Format:Hardcover
Susan Hill's new novella is a dark delight; a tale infused with Gothic undertones - I was left drawing comparisons with "Wuthering Heights" (albeit obliquely). "The Beacon" itself centres on one family and how the inexplicable motives and resentment of one member, Frank, throw his siblings' understanding of themselves and their joint past into jeopardy and confusion.

The plot is tightly structured and full of suspense. It switches between past and present as the main character, May, recalls her life and that of her three siblings, Colin, Frank and Berenice, and the emotional damage each sustains from having to live with tainted memories of their childhood. It is a story of betrayal and revenge, but also of a life left unfulfilled, the untold memories and secrets that could be present in any family's past, and the human capacity to corrupt and manipulate.

The result is ambiguous and sinister, the reader being left unsure just as the characters in the story are, what is true and what "The Cupboard Under the Stairs" really signifies.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By Mrs. Katharine Kirby TOP 100 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
When I heard this on Radio 4's Woman's Hour Drama I couldn't wait for each daily episode. However their treatment of this small, perfect story gave a different slant to the inherent ambiguity of the book. 'The Cupboard Under the Stairs' was given more importance, maybe for sensationalism, than in the book. The mood created by their nervy music and presentation of Frank and May's lives side by side over emphasised their parts whereas the actual book has much more to offer.

So it is truly really worth still reading The Beacon even if you have already listened to the broadcast. Susan Hill has created a taut, absorbing, tidy novella (eat your heart out Ian McEwan, for `On Chesil Beach', which for me, failed to deliver). `The Beacon' is a perfect execution of the genre.

Susan Hill has, tucked neatly into her elegant writing, the explanation you need which is only hinted at in that radio drama. In offering the clues needed to understand the story she fleshes out the characters more satisfactorily. Catching you up in her powers and transporting you to The Beacon farmhouse with ease and experience, not a word jars. Quiet country days slip by and the suffocating world of living forever in an area where everyone knows your business, or thinks they do, is exquisitely pictured. Family tensions and accommodations, the release from binding ties, all keep you reading straight through to the end.

This is the kind of book that leaves you thinking about it long after and longing to discuss it, a very clever piece of work indeed.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars Deeply disappointing 4 July 2011
Format:Paperback
It starts very well and it fizzles out. The central mystery -- the theme of the book -- is the impact on his family of a dishonest book produced by the youngest child, Frank. At the end, I thought: Well, so what? Why have I just wasted my time reading this book? Thank God it was so short.

Frankly, I don't believe the author put anything like enough effort into writing it. It often feels like a first draft, and there's one glaring clash of Point of View that reinforces that view -- I can't believe she'd have left it in if she'd edited the book properly. I was deeply disappointed at the end. Good charcater studies and perfect word choice are simply not enough if the story has not been worked through. I'm giving it two stars; the second is because I feel generous.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved the anecdote about Patricia Hogg
I really enjoyed the anecdote from May's life about her school friend Patricia Hogg who inexplicably shunned her when she went to stay with her family for the weekend. Read more
Published 18 days ago by Mot Juste
5.0 out of 5 stars Susan Hill
Susan Hill can do no wrong wrong as far as I'm concerned such a wide range of subjects each in it's own style. Yes every egg a bird ( sorry ) !
Published 1 month ago by Mr. P. J. Gardiner
4.0 out of 5 stars A strange, disquieting read
Anyone who has doubts that short novels can pack a punch should really give this one from Susan Hill a try. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jl Adcock
3.0 out of 5 stars The pull of the past
The remote farmhouse is home to the Prime family over several generations. The four children of the current generation all leave at some point and this novella is the story mostly... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Stuart Sussex Scribe
3.0 out of 5 stars the beacon by susan hill
not one of her best novel, not a lot of stiry attached to it, I have read similar storys to this one.
Published 2 months ago by Mrs Carol A Beattie
3.0 out of 5 stars Oh dear...
I take no pleasure in putting this into the three star 'it's all right' category. It may well be "controlled... Read more
Published 7 months ago by lily mandolin
4.0 out of 5 stars Family Betrayals
'The Beacon' opens with the death of matriarch Bertha Prime, a long-term invalid. Her daughter May, who never married and has devoted her life to caring for first both her parents... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Kate Hopkins
3.0 out of 5 stars Buried at The Beacon
Susan Hill, as ever, excels at brooding atmospherics and subtle characterisation. In this book she introduces us to the Prime family, subsistence farmers in the north of England... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Clive A. H. Still
4.0 out of 5 stars Lost Opportunities
This is my second reading of a novella by Susan Hill (SH) after 'The Man in the Picture'. In 'The Beacon', she plots well again, writes in a simple style, evokes an empathic... Read more
Published 9 months ago by P. A. Doornbos
5.0 out of 5 stars Susan hill Novel
This book arived on time and was in good condition. Susan Hill is an excellent novelist and well worth a read.
Published 15 months ago by E. M. Hughes
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