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The Hiding Place
 
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The Hiding Place (Hardcover)

by Trezza Azzopardi (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
Price: £14.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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The Hiding Place + Remember Me + Winterton Blue
Price For All Three: £29.37

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  • This item: The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Picador; First Edition edition (25 Aug 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0330390759
  • ISBN-13: 978-0330390750
  • Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 14 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 129,393 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #2 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > A > Azzopardi, Trezza

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Trezza Azzopardi's mesmerising debut novel, the Booker-shortlisted The Hiding Place, chronicles the life of a Maltese immigrant family in 1960s Cardiff, Wales, and is a beautifully evocative tale that ignites memories of family, childhood, violence and poverty for one young woman.

Returning to Tiger Bay, Cardiff, for her mother's funeral, Dolores Gauci encounters her sisters for the first time in 30 years after Social Services disbanded them following their father Frankie's abandonment and their mother Mary's attempted suicide. For Dol, aged five when her family is splintered apart, memory is a broken glass pane--a jagged window into the past, permitting only a distorted view and sharp, painful images. Dol remembers the fire, as it licked and then devoured her arm; the rabbit's skin being peeled from flesh,; the self-inflicted scars on her sister's arms; her father's belt cutting into skin.

Sifting through the embers of her childhood, Dol desperately tries to rekindle a flame in her deadened family. Confronting ghosts past and present, she draws a palpable picture of a childhood long-forgotten. Sight, sound, smell and touch caress and burn the reader's senses. Azzopardi questions how Dol, a child at the time, can "remember" and casts into sharp relief the fallibility of the individual's perception of the world--seen from multiple perspectives, there can never be one truth. She revels in disorienting the reader by glimpsing the world from the most unusual, exhilarating angles:

"This is what happens just before I am born: It's 1960. My parents, Frankie and Mary, have five beautiful daughters."

Like an impressionist painter, the author can with just a few simple strokes bring a scene to vibrant life, whether it is the single girls in the bar who leave "the imprints of their bored thighs" remaining "awhile upon the shiny leatherette" or the matchless beauty of the descriptions of Dol's deformity: "a closed white tulip standing in the rain, a church candle with its tears flowing down the bulb of a wrist". Azzopardi's bright flame is sure to burn for a long time to come. --Nicola Perry

Product Description
A novel of childhood and family feuding, set in the Maltese community of Cardiff's Tiger Bay. Seen through the eyes of Dolores, it tells the story of her compulsive gambling father, Frankie, who loses everything to his rival Joe Medora, head of the Maltese Mafia.

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Hiding Place
89% buy the item featured on this page:
The Hiding Place 4.4 out of 5 stars (19)
£14.99
The Hiding Place
8% buy
The Hiding Place 5.0 out of 5 stars (5)
£7.99
Winterton Blue
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Winterton Blue 4.5 out of 5 stars (2)
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Customer Reviews

19 Reviews
5 star:
 (12)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Just finished, 23 Nov 2001
By das1@lineone.net (Manchester, England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Hiding Place (Paperback)
Just completed this strange novel. I enjoyed the story even though it was hearbreaking. The characters were very well drawn and there are quite a lot of them. One aspect of the book is that I thought it tied up the story very well at the end, but now knowing how the characters turn out I really want to read the book again, and pick up all the subtle characterisation clues which I missed in my rush to find their destiny. But the point is that I never re-read books, so s this book very different, or am I just getting lazy ?
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this book, couldn't put it down. Eagerly awaiting more, 12 Dec 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The Hiding Place (Paperback)
This was a lucky find in the book shop.Attracted by the black and white cover picturing three of the girls, and the brief description, I discovered a book that I enjoyed immensely. I loved the way the book built up towards the end and then came back to the present to answer some of the issues left open. It also left me shifting through the information in my head to piece together everything I had read - to me, this is the sign of a really good book.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Did I live this in another life?, 19 Jul 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The Hiding Place (Paperback)
Trezza Azzopardi's first book is a raw collection of memories of what today would be called a dysfunctional childhood, but in the '60s was the familys' own business. I don't know if this is a sign of good writing, but although I have never been to Malta, or Cardiff for that matter, I felt as though I had lived exactly the life that the author describes. Some of the recollections are truly shocking and yet I was not shocked, it seemed part of the life the reader was involved in, albeit a million miles from my own life. Interwoven were subtle references that made sense of what had already been read, making a sudden, sometimes stomach wrenching sense.It may be a cliche, but I truly could not put this book down until I had finished and I cannot imagine Trezza Azzopardi having any more in her to share with us, I can only hope she does.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A strange but beautiful book
The first ten pages may baffle you, but persevere: it's worth it. This is a beautifully written book of great sadness, the slow-moving, perhaps, but unstoppable story of a woman... Read more
Published 12 months ago by zen dog

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful but sad book
Trezza Azzopardi was recommended to me by a colleague, this is the first of her books that I've read and I found it a gripping, beautifully-written read. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Love Books

5.0 out of 5 stars Exellent Read
This is an excellent book, well written, emotional, with a tint of reality. Tezza is a master in character building and narration. Read more
Published on 29 Dec 2006 by Joseph Farrugia

5.0 out of 5 stars Maybe it's a cultural thing
This book is an incredible achievement for a first novel, even when you consider that the author studied for the MA in Creative Writing at UEA. Read more
Published on 6 April 2006

2.0 out of 5 stars Sorry but I just dont get it
What I don't get is what all the hype is about. It just left me cold. Try as I might I couldn't develop an attachment for any of the characters except for the narrator. Read more
Published on 19 Aug 2005

4.0 out of 5 stars A fine first novel
It's a relief to be able to write positively about a first-time novelist. Azzopardi's taken the safest route and written something that is obviously leavened with autobiography... Read more
Published on 16 Jul 2001

3.0 out of 5 stars Terrific debut, terrific writing but didn't enthrall me
I really wanted to read and enjoy this book. The writing was, as promised quite outstanding and admirable in its quality, but for me that's all it was. Read more
Published on 2 Jul 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting brilliance
Azzopardi has created one of the best novels of recent years. The world she evokes is laced with sinister, haunting details, each unveiling the disturbing truth behind Dolores's... Read more
Published on 5 Jun 2001

3.0 out of 5 stars It left me cold
Try as I might, I just can't see what all the fuss is about. This book was short-listed for the Booker Prize 2000, and has had rave reviews. Read more
Published on 4 Jun 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars At last in paperback
Wow this book is just fantastic the best thing to come from South Wales since Ash On A Young Man's Sleeve by Dannie Abse. Read more
Published on 9 April 2001

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