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Pilgrim State
 
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Pilgrim State (Hardcover)

by Jacqueline Walker (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
RRP: £14.99
Price: £10.49 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Sceptre (3 April 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0340960787
  • ISBN-13: 978-0340960783
  • Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.2 x 3.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 231,568 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Kate Bradley, The Bookseller (Choice)
'Pilgrim State is an extraordinary memoir that may become a word-of-mouth hit in the same way as Andrea Ashworth's Once in a House on Fire or Lorna Sage's Bad Blood. Throughout this intensely personal book, the fierce love and pride that the author feels for her mother punctuates every sentence. This will be read by mothers and daughters alike, and both will find a resonance in the lives of these two women.'


Review
'Pilgrim State is an extraordinary memoir that may become a word-of-mouth hit in the same way as Andrea Ashworth's Once in a House on Fire or Lorna Sage's Bad Blood. Throughout this intensely personal book, the fierce love and pride that the author feels for her mother punctuates every sentence. This will be read by mothers and daughters alike, and both will find a resonance in the lives of these two women.' (Kate Bradley, The Bookseller's Choice )

'From behind the boarded up windows of one of Americas most awful psychiatric institutions emerges a most profound woman: Dorothy Walker, who spirited her family to the relative safety of Great Britain despite enormous odds. A wonderful, deeply moving book.' (James McBride, Author of The Color of Water )

"Haunting, powerful and beautifully written, Dorothy's story resonates long after the final page."

(International Woman's Month Magazine )

'Fine, honest writing and acute personal insight . . . Jacqueline Walker has written this fond, striking memoir as a homage to a brave and beautiful woman.' (Iain Finlayson, The Times )

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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great, 10 April 2008
This is a deeply moving book full stark realities and wonderful metaphors mixed into one good read. It starts, in the first chapter, with a harrowing insight into the bureaucratic workings of the American Department of Justice while they interview Dorothy, who is a patient in the `Pilgrim State' mental institute in New York, and continues through the lives of her and her kids until the near present when Jackie, Dorothy's daughter (and the author), is talking to her own daughter Eleanor, which, in itself, is touching as it is a conversational type of narrative which is a nice way to give the human touch to the story.

The discrimination that the pregnant Dorothy received when looking for a room after she first comes to England, the first day in the playground for Jackie at her first English School, the nice couple who gave them their first room, the way Dorothy comes across, there are so many small, yet incredible, incidents in the book that it is hard to think of any one that stands out, the whole narrative is, although sad at times, very uplifting, it made me wonder about my own mother, who came from a foreign country to England, whether she had any similar problems.

This book is very enthralling; the reader needs to know what happens to each of the people in the book which makes it difficult to put down, I read it twice and enjoyed both readings immensely.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary memoir , 2 April 2008
By C. A. Partridge (London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
The book is beautifully written and brings to life the author's childhood. She uses prose in an almost poetic way to paint a vivid picture of growing up in Jamaica and London in the 1950s/60s. Her childhood experiences - although of course particular to her - have resonance for all of us, particularly women. I found it mesmerising and could not put it down.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant realising of time, place and character, 7 April 2008
By N. Thurkle (Edinburgh, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This book is emotional yet uplifting, evocative and accessible, intelligent but never pretentious. The story of two women's lives and how they inevitably intertwine, it is a moving and page-turning read. It is a beautifully realised story of one family, but reaches out to everyone who has ever been a mother, or had one.

'Pilgrim State' takes place in the USA, Jamaica and the UK, in the 1950s and 60s, taking cues from classical mythology and from real official documents from the time. Dorothy Walker, who at the book's opening has been forcibly sectioned at her husband's request, is separated from her children but is determined to win them back and give them a new life. She eventually brings them to the UK, but their problems are not over yet.

Among this book's strengths are the several utterly convincing voices in which it is told, including that of the author as a child; the vivid descriptions of place, especially of South London, which I identified with particularly as I was brought up there; and the strong character of Dorothy Walker, who simply commands respect and empathy. I would recommend it highly.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful account of a mother's life and a testament to her love and spirit
The joy of this book, aside from the beauty of the poetic prose and the vivid voice of the author as a young girl, are the threads of unmistakeable love and optimism which weave... Read more
Published 14 months ago by P. Bruce

5.0 out of 5 stars A pilgrimage across four generations and three countries
Pilgrim State is a tribute to the writer's mother, Dorothy, who died young forty years ago. But it is also a piece of history. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Dominic Eliot

5.0 out of 5 stars mothers, daughters and the spaces between them
Pilgrim State defies expectations and redefines a genre of fictionalised autobiography that has been tainted over recent years by writers eager to cash in on the public appetite... Read more
Published 14 months ago by R. Stopps

5.0 out of 5 stars An extraordinary memoir
This is a beautifully written memoir and is not to be missed. Jacqueline Walker writes with a rare lyricism in this true story of grit and struggle. Read more
Published 14 months ago by C. Siddall

5.0 out of 5 stars Pilgrim State
This book raised a flood of emotions in me with it's beautiful depiction of a family who are supportive and comforting to each other through the tribulations of poverty,... Read more
Published 14 months ago by N. Sarre

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing new novel of our times
An exceptional piece of writing that completely transcends the bounds of the modish misery memoire. The lyrical evocation of the emotional experiences of the familes of the... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Richard Choat

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