- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Viking Penguin Inc (April 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0670896365
- ISBN-13: 978-0670896363
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 17 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 5,334,113 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Frances Fyfield is now universally acclaimed as one of this country's finest crime writers, with a depth of psychological understanding quite the equal of the previously unassailable duo of PD James and Ruth Rendell. The intense and expressive quality of her prose illuminates narratives that both celebrate traditional storytelling values and explode them. Undercurrents may well be her most disturbing work yet. In the past, some male readers may have been discomforted by her recurring preoccupation with male violence against women, but Henry Evans, the protagonist of this novel, is the perfect conduit for both the male and female reader into a truly mesmerising narrative.
When Henry was backpacking around India some 20 years before, he encountered the beguiling Francesca Chisholm. Francesca's father died, and Henry's reluctance to alter his travel plans obliged her to leave without him. For all of his adult life, he has regretted this decision, and finally resolves to travel to the English coastal town of Warbling (the name is the book's only miscalculation) to track her down. But Henry is in for a shock. It's a very wet February, and his hotel is flooded, so he is obliged to stay at a strange alternative hostel. The solicitor who has traced Francesca suggests that he regard her as dead but Henry persists. He discovers that Francesca has confessed to killing her five-year-old son, drowning him in the sea. She is imprisoned and the case appears to be closed. But is it? Henry decides to find out precisely what happened. And his scarifying odyssey into the dark night of the soul--both his and hers--is something he finds himself unprepared for.
Fyfield adroitly presents her protagonist with an implacable mystery--but the solving of this mystery is no mechanical trick, as it so often was in the golden age of crime fiction. The journey Henry undertakes will change him forever, and the insights into the troubled Francesca's psyche are as rich and profound as anything in literary fiction. As always with this author, the characters are fastidiously created, and the taut structure of the plot is accentuated by the relative brevity of her narrative. Some may wish for a longer book, but there isn't a wasted word here, and anyone in doubt as to Fyfield's position in the pantheon of English crime writing should not hesitate.
--Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Minette Walters
'Fyfield at her best compelling disturbing but always elegant ... '
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Atmospheric but elusive,
By A Customer
This review is from: Undercurrents (Paperback)
This is the second Frances Fyfield book I've read and it will most likely be the last. I found her style of writing very hard going, with elusive characters and very unrealistic dialogue. She evokes the atmosphere of an out of season seaside town well but I found her characterisations to be very airy fairy and not true to life. Great if you like this sort of stuff, but give me Ruth Rendell any time. Something to get the teeth into, with believable characters!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing,
By
This review is from: Undercurrents (Paperback)
I was recommended this book by a friend of mine, and reading the back cover I was looking forward to an enjoyable read. Undercurrents tells the story of Henry Evans who finds himself in search of a woman, Francesca Chisholm, who he met whilst backpacking in India. Over twenty years have passed and when he arrives at her home town on the seaside in England, all is not as he expected... Francesca's had a son, who has been murdered, and she has confessed to it. Henry doesn't believe it is possible so goes out to seek the truth.Fyfield cleverly intertwines the story of the book with letters written by Francesca from her prison cell, casting more mystery onto the truth behind the story. The problem I had with this book though was that it was somehow just boring... yes, there is suspense; yes, it is quite well written although the characters are a bit lacking in my view and the dialogue is sometimes a bit basic; yes, it is difficult to put down. However, the story doesn't really go anywhere, it struck me as a good idea but an opportunity lost in the way it was written. When I finished the book I was disappointed. The overview on the back cover suggests a far more exciting perhaps psychological thriller, but this simply doesn't deliver. Looking at the reviews here, they seem to be quite mixed and I guess what one person finds an enjoyable read another may find boring. I wouldn't be able to recommend this book to anyone though.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A strangely compelling book: elegant, gentle, yet shocking.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Undercurrents (Hardcover)
I had never before read any books by Frances Fyfield. I therefore had no idea of what to expect and by reading the back cover, was expecting a pacy, modern thriller, perhaps in the style of Nicci French.The central character Henry Evans, an American, embarks on a journey to Warbling in England, on a quest to look for his lost love of twenty years before, Francesca Chisholm. He finds out that she has committed some terrible crime, and is drawn into the world of the inhabitants of Warbling, who all seem to have something to hide... I was at first disappointed at the seemingly slow pace, but as I read on, was captivated by the beautiful, old-fashioned, effortless writing of the author. An author takes time to engage the reader into the lives of the characters and the setting in which they lived. There is certainly an undercurrent in the author's writing style, a sense of the ominous, whenever you turn the page. The only criticism I have, is that I never felt passionately enough about any of the characters. The book is so removed from being over emotional that it prevents the reader from feeling strongly for the characters. A compelling read nevertheless.
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