The Girl Who Chased the Moon
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'A real and rare talent . . . an absolutely enchanting read.'
(www.novelicious.com )'It's a bewitching read in every sense, taking you to a world of regrets, missed opportunities and lost loves found again. Magical' (Glamour Must Read on THE SUGAR QUEEN )
'A bewitching tale laced with magic, hope and wit, a pure delight'
(Bookseller on THE SUGAR QUEEN )'This compelling book has it all - passion, romance and sibling rivalry. This is Sarah Addison Allen's first novel - she's definitely one to watch' (My Weekly on GARDEN SPELLS )
'Beguiling . . . leaves a magical spell that enchants as it draws you in. An absolute gem.' (Now on GARDEN SPELLS )
Product Description
Emily Benedict came to Mullaby, North Carolina, hoping to solve at least some of the riddles surrounding her mother's life. But the moment Emily enters the house where her mother grew up and meets the grandfather she never knew, she realises that mysteries aren't solved in Mullaby, they're a way of life. Here are rooms where the wallpaper changes to suit your mood. Unexplained lights skip across the yard at midnight. And a neighbour, Julia Winterson, bakes hope in the form of cakes, offering them to satisfy the town's sweet tooth - but also in the hope of rekindling a love she fears might be lost forever. Can a hummingbird cake really bring back a lost love? Is there really a ghost dancing in Emily's backyard? The answers are never what you expect. But in this town of lovable misfits, the unexpected fits right in. (20080901)
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
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
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Apparently Sarah Addison Allen is pushing "magical realism" as far as it can go without actually writing fantasy. "The Girl Who Chased The Moon" is a lushly written little novel that injects the everyday world of a little Southern town with magic, mystery and alluring sweetness, and Allen's writing is absolutely exquisite.
After her mother's death, Emily is sent to live in the town of Mullaby with her reclusive giant of a grandfather Vance Shelby, and soon finds that Mullaby is a strange place -- strange ghostly lights dance outside the house, and the wallpaper's pattern shifts to fit her moods. She quickly makes friends with Julia, a woman with a troubled past who has a knack for baking magical cakes, and a quirky young man named Win Coffey.
But Emily soon discovers that not all the people of Mullaby are so friendly -- especially the wealthy Coffey family -- and that her do-gooding mother used to be the cruel queen-bee. Over the days that follow, old secrets are laid bare as Julia confronts the ghosts of her thwarted high school love, and Emily discovers what her mother did to the Coffey clan -- and what secrets she exposed to the world.
Ghostly dancing lights that return lost jewelry, wallpaper that changes with your moods, a gentle giant, and a family that never EVER goes out at night. "The Girl Who Chased the Moon" has a gentle, magical air that makes it feel a little like a fairy tale in a small Southern town, and Sarah Addison Allen injects that feeling into almost every part of the book.
Her prose is simply exquisite -- she has a knack for describing everyday things in a delightful way (a smell is described as trailing "like a kite's tail"), and there are many poignant moments in the pasts of the characters (especially the cute story about why Vance checks the dryer). The subplots are woven together nicely into a silken rope, but the most important are a pair of coming-of-age stories -- one for the newly-orphaned Emily and one for the older, troubled Julia.
The only thing that bothered me was the fact that NOBODY would tell Emily what the Coffey family secret is through the book (although she guesses "werewolves"). At least Allen lightly sprinkles the plot with clues.
They're nothing alike, but Emily and Julia are a good pair of heroines -- one is a rather nice, ordinary girl raised by a seemingly morally perfect mother, and the other is a former Troubled Teen who has carved out a new life for herself. Sawyer seems like a charming jerk at first, but eventually Allen peels back the layers to show a genuinely loving, fearful man, and Win is an enchanting, mystery boy who seems to be passively breaking away from the past.
Magic and moonlight (though I can't recall any magnolia blossoms) "The Girl Who Chased The Moon" fill this southern fairy tale. Utterly enchanting.
After her mother's death, Emily is sent to live in the town of Mullaby with her reclusive giant of a grandfather Vance Shelby, and soon finds that Mullaby is a strange place -- strange ghostly lights dance outside the house, and the wallpaper's pattern shifts to fit her moods. She quickly makes friends with Julia, a woman with a troubled past who has a knack for baking magical cakes, and a quirky young man named Win Coffey.
But Emily soon discovers that not all the people of Mullaby are so friendly -- especially the wealthy Coffey family -- and that her do-gooding mother used to be the cruel queen-bee. Over the days that follow, old secrets are laid bare as Julia confronts the ghosts of her thwarted high school love, and Emily discovers what her mother did to the Coffey clan -- and what secrets she exposed to the world.
Ghostly dancing lights that return lost jewelry, wallpaper that changes with your moods, a gentle giant, and a family that never EVER goes out at night. "The Girl Who Chased the Moon" has a gentle, magical air that makes it feel a little like a fairy tale in a small Southern town, and Sarah Addison Allen injects that feeling into almost every part of the book.
Her prose is simply exquisite -- she has a knack for describing everyday things in a delightful way (a smell is described as trailing "like a kite's tail"), and there are many poignant moments in the pasts of the characters (especially the cute story about why Vance checks the dryer). The subplots are woven together nicely into a silken rope, but the most important are a pair of coming-of-age stories -- one for the newly-orphaned Emily and one for the older, troubled Julia.
The only thing that bothered me was the fact that NOBODY would tell Emily what the Coffey family secret is through the book (although she guesses "werewolves"). At least Allen lightly sprinkles the plot with clues.
They're nothing alike, but Emily and Julia are a good pair of heroines -- one is a rather nice, ordinary girl raised by a seemingly morally perfect mother, and the other is a former Troubled Teen who has carved out a new life for herself. Sawyer seems like a charming jerk at first, but eventually Allen peels back the layers to show a genuinely loving, fearful man, and Win is an enchanting, mystery boy who seems to be passively breaking away from the past.
Magic and moonlight (though I can't recall any magnolia blossoms) "The Girl Who Chased The Moon" fill this southern fairy tale. Utterly enchanting.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Sarah Addison Allen yet again provides us with her outstanding skill in The Girl Who Chased the Moon. After finishing each of Allen's books there is a sense of joy and peace that is also touched with loss. Allen's literary skills are beautiful, mixing the worlds of love, nature, family and magic she is a true blessing to her adoring fans. Giants, things that glow in the night, human powers and intense love..... always a joy to read, hope we don't have to wait long for the next one.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The small town of Mullaby in North Carolina, where everybody knows everybody else's business, is a tough environment for Emily Benedict to be introduced, a young teenager coming to live with her grandfather after the death of her mother in a recent car accident. The town indeed proves to be not very welcoming to Emily on account of her mother's troubled relationship with the son of one of the town's most important families, but it's a side to her mother than Emily doesn't recognise and is unwilling to accept. There are other secrets however in the town that people prefer not to speak about, but there are also others who try to make Emily feel welcome, making Mullaby a strange and sometimes magical place to the young seventeen year-old girl.
The Girl who chased the Moon does seem to be pitched as a young-adult book, confronting issues of bereavement, bullying, self-harm, sexual awakening and teenage pregnancy - or simply just the difficulties of any young person trying to fit into an adult world that is difficult to comprehend, seeming to be made up of secrets that no-one wants to talk about. The book is however is anything but academic in its treatment of these issues, delicately casting a spell of mild magic over it all, without diminishing the importance of the subjects.
It's consequently a wonderfully light and entertaining read, with a laid-back Southern States feel that is delightfully enchanting and never talks down to the young reader. The author presents reasonably complex characters who are not entirely one thing or the other, but rather show many facets of their personality and have the capacity to be reflective and change. The magical elements then are not a distraction, but a way of expressing the complex emotional make-up of the characters and the forces of attraction that lie between them, and it works wonderfully.
The Girl who chased the Moon does seem to be pitched as a young-adult book, confronting issues of bereavement, bullying, self-harm, sexual awakening and teenage pregnancy - or simply just the difficulties of any young person trying to fit into an adult world that is difficult to comprehend, seeming to be made up of secrets that no-one wants to talk about. The book is however is anything but academic in its treatment of these issues, delicately casting a spell of mild magic over it all, without diminishing the importance of the subjects.
It's consequently a wonderfully light and entertaining read, with a laid-back Southern States feel that is delightfully enchanting and never talks down to the young reader. The author presents reasonably complex characters who are not entirely one thing or the other, but rather show many facets of their personality and have the capacity to be reflective and change. The magical elements then are not a distraction, but a way of expressing the complex emotional make-up of the characters and the forces of attraction that lie between them, and it works wonderfully.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great holiday read
If you're after a feel-good, romantic novel that's not too challenging, this would fit the bill nicely. It's written well enough, but there's nothing out of the ordinary about it. Read more
Published 2 months ago by JMV
On the right side of fantasy...
SAA spins a beautifully whimsical tale, touched with little specks of magic ensuring that it sits firmly on the right side of a fanatsy novel. Read more
Published 6 months ago by LittleReader
funny but not very much interesting
it's a good entertaining book, but that's all. it's a simple story,without suspense.the story of a girl that lost her mother, goes live with is grandpa wich is a giant, meets a boy... Read more
Published 6 months ago by haras24
Magical Reading.
If nothing is going right for you and you need something to lift your spirits, this book is for you. Gently magical, endearingly romantic, this happily ever after book is a joy. Read more
Published 7 months ago by The BMW
Loved it ...
Sarah Addison Allen writes "feel good" books like no other author.
Reading The Girl Who Chased the Moon is like being wrapped in your favourite blanket, it's marshmallow... Read more
Reading The Girl Who Chased the Moon is like being wrapped in your favourite blanket, it's marshmallow... Read more
Published 7 months ago by jaffareadstoo
the girl who chased the moon
this is the second book of Sarah's that I have read and am completely spellbound by her style of writing and never want the book to end. Read more
Published 7 months ago by jan
LOVELY, UPLIFTING AND EASY TO READ
This is a lovely little book that is light and easy to read.
Emily Benedict reluctantly goes to live with a grandfather she never met before, in a strange small town in... Read more
Emily Benedict reluctantly goes to live with a grandfather she never met before, in a strange small town in... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Eleni
Sarah Addison Allen
I have read all of Sarah Addison Allen books. They are easy to read and am whisked away to a delightful and magical world of fairies and delicious cakes.
Published 7 months ago by Sonny Tom
magic
such a cute magical book, the way she discribs the giant and all the little details I enjoyed very much. I love all her books and look farward to more
Published 8 months ago by heidi
another splendid read!
Fantastic, love the characters you really fall in love with Emily and Win, esp Julia and Sawyer ( who I imagined as Juliet and sawyer from the tv series lost lol ! Read more
Published 8 months ago by H
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.
|
