- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Portobello Books Ltd (1 Jun 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1846271398
- ISBN-13: 978-1846271397
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.2 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 741,424 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Telling
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
* Praise for Jo's previous novels: 'Powerfully moving' TLS; 'Beautifully written and constructed - both disturbing and entirely convincing' Bernard O'Donoghue; 'An impressive and arresting debut - The usual patronising praise-word for the successful first novel is 'promising' but [Baker] doesn't just promise, she delivers.' Niall Griffiths
The Daily Mail
Baker's spare, visual prose is a treat to read
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I find this book quite difficult to rate. There are two stories:one present day and one from the past. I thoroughly enjoyed the history about the Chartists and how the people tried to deal with the injustice of the system. The characters were vivid and the plot was very interesting. However, the present day story, which was presumably just to present the historical plot, was extremely boring and the protagonist was bland. The story would have worked far better on its own as a historical novel instead of the writer trying to prissy up the plot with the ghost story which, in my opinion, didn't work.
Overall though, worth reading for a historical interest.
Overall though, worth reading for a historical interest.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Like her previous novel - The Mermaid's Child - 'The Telling' treads the terminator between reality and fantasy with intimations of the supernatural. However this has deep roots in geography (Lancaster and South Cumbria) and history (The Chartist Movement).
Written in first person the story is told through the eyes of a contemporary young woman whose mother has died and whose village cottage needs sorting and a young woman in the 19th century whose family lived in the same cottage and whose lodger, with his books and political beliefs, is an updated Miltonian Satan disturbing the oppressed innocence of the rural 'garden' with the apples of his knowledge.
The writing is a sustained exercise in creating mood and character through detail making this a book to be savored slowly rather than wolfed down. What I particularly enjoyed was the strong rooting in the observed-in-detail historical setting. When a book focusing on an historical period leaves you thinking - Yes, that is what it must have been like - then you know you have something special in your hands.
Highly recommended.
Written in first person the story is told through the eyes of a contemporary young woman whose mother has died and whose village cottage needs sorting and a young woman in the 19th century whose family lived in the same cottage and whose lodger, with his books and political beliefs, is an updated Miltonian Satan disturbing the oppressed innocence of the rural 'garden' with the apples of his knowledge.
The writing is a sustained exercise in creating mood and character through detail making this a book to be savored slowly rather than wolfed down. What I particularly enjoyed was the strong rooting in the observed-in-detail historical setting. When a book focusing on an historical period leaves you thinking - Yes, that is what it must have been like - then you know you have something special in your hands.
Highly recommended.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Dual timeframe novels about a woman discovering secrets buried in an old house seem to be ten a penny at the moment, but this is one of the best I've read recently. The historical aspect concerns the Chartists (a group I remember vaguely from A Level History) who were campaigning for rights and education for workers. Their enigmatic envoy Robert Moore, who is based on a real Chartist leader, comes to lodge in the house of a young girl, Elizabeth, and the tension between them mounts as Robert encourages Elizabeth's love of literature and she slowly becomes obsessed with him.
In the modern thread, Rachel is suffering from post-natal depression coupled with grief over the death of her mother, so when she starts to hear voices and feel strange sensations in the house her mother has bequeathed her, she thinks it's her mind playing tricks on her.
I did enjoy this aspect of the book but if I had to make a criticism it would be that, aside from living in the same house, the link between Rachel and Elizabeth's stories is a bit tenuous and I would have liked Rachel to have delved more deeply into the history of the house and found out more about Elizabeth's time there after her marriage. Still a highly recommended read though.
In the modern thread, Rachel is suffering from post-natal depression coupled with grief over the death of her mother, so when she starts to hear voices and feel strange sensations in the house her mother has bequeathed her, she thinks it's her mind playing tricks on her.
I did enjoy this aspect of the book but if I had to make a criticism it would be that, aside from living in the same house, the link between Rachel and Elizabeth's stories is a bit tenuous and I would have liked Rachel to have delved more deeply into the history of the house and found out more about Elizabeth's time there after her marriage. Still a highly recommended read though.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A tale of two eras
This book is a twin track work examining the lives of two women in different eras, one set in the mid eighteenth century and the other in the present day. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Peter Carty
fascinating
This is a pairing of stories. A woman visits the home of her dead mother to clear it out and begins to sense another presence there. Read more
Published on 3 Mar 2009 by Mr. Malachi O'Doherty
A wonderful book that kept me awake reading until 2am...
I read this book late into the night in two sittings with, as some books can lead you to have, a delightfully selfish disregard for all that I might need to do the next day. Read more
Published on 30 Dec 2008 by Flossie Teacakes
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