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The Very Thought of You (Paperback)

by Rosie Alison (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
RRP: Ł12.99
Price: Ł7.78 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

  • Paperback: 350 pages
  • Publisher: Alma Books Ltd (18 Jun 2009)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1846880866
  • ISBN-13: 978-1846880865
  • Product Dimensions: 21 x 13.4 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 7,790 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

"Rosie Alison's debut novel grips from start to finish. Beginning with the story of a young girl evacuated to a country house at the start of the war, it opens up to include doomed romances, thwarted love affairs, innocence corrupted, and a cast of characters that are as passionate as they are believable. Alison writes with a real understanding of the period and true compassion for her characters and the plot develops in unexpected and often shocking ways. Without question one of the best debuts I've read in recent years and an important addition to the growing body of literature which concerns itself with the effect of the Second World War on the people back home." --John Boyne

"A polished and striking debut." --Waterstone's Book Quarterly


Product Description

England, 31st August 1939: the world is on the brink of war. As Hitler prepares to invade Poland, thousands of children are evacuated from London to escape the impending Blitz. Torn from her mother, eight-year-old Anna Sands is relocated with other children to a large Yorkshire estate which has been opened up to evacuees by Thomas and Elizabeth Ashton, an enigmatic childless couple. Soon Anna gets drawn into their unhappy relationship, seeing things that are not meant for her eyes - and finding herself part-witness and part-accomplice to a love affair, with tragic consequences. A story of love, loss and complicated loyalties, combining a sweeping narrative with subtle psychological observation, "The Very Thought of You" is a haunting and memorable debut.
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Customer Reviews

20 Reviews
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 (13)
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Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (20 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
19 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful novel, 20 Jun 2009
This is a delicately, passionately,honest and beautifully told story set in World War II. Anna is a young girl from London sent to the Yorkshire countryside to escape the Blitz. She resides in the huge home of Thomas Ashton and his wife who have converted their home into a school. Anna is a sweet, gentle serious girl who is drawn into the lives of the Ashtons. Elizabeth Ashton it unable to bear children and is bitter, resentful and deeply unhappy in her life and marriage (resulting in affairs and betrayal). Thomas Ashton is wheel chair bound due to Polio, a kind, gentle and studious man who falls in love with the quiet teacher, Ruth Weir.
The story is told in such a way that the reader is drawn into the characters lives and it really was a joy to read this short but sweet novel. This book is quite unlike many novels set in war time England as it doesnt focus on the physical, political aspects of the time but on the people who just happened to live during this period of history and how it subtly affects their lives and stories.
I loved this story and would highly recommend it to others who love a good read - and a good love story!
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10 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Very, very dull and failed to make any real impression on me, 30 Oct 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
Often when I read a book, or listen to a CD, or watch a DVD I find myself making mental notes of what I might say in a review. However, in this case I had the problem that when I finished the book, I found myself with a blank slate - I had great difficulty finding things to say about it as it just left so little impression on me. It is just so very dull. The best you can say about the writing is that it is clear and easy to read, hence 2 star rather than 1. Indeed it is almost journalistic in style, it tells the story in a simple way, in simple words, but it lacks any kind of spark that would make it stand out as good, unusual or exciting writing. Characterisation of the various people in the novel is approached in a systematic way, almost making a catalogue of their features, and the characters are thus truly dull and unbelievable. The story is likewise not really credible and is told in a dreary way as it limps from chapter to chapter. A combination of awful characterisation and a dreary story is not a sound basis for good fiction. Various relationships between characters are an integral part of what story there is, but are not portrayed very convincingly - there is no lust, no passion, no drama, no excitement and no beauty. Indeed, attempts to portray very loving relationships degenerate all too readily into descriptions that are sickly, flaccid, cringe-inducing and hyperemotional to the point of tedium.

In summary, dull from the first to the last page and definitely not an author I would look out for in the future.
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14 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Pure emotion!, 30 Jul 2009
By Mr. A. P. Gow - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
In this vividly emotional account of wartime Britain, Rosie Alison explores the exquisite yearning of separated souls and charts a young evacuee's painful apprenticeship of love as she is thrust into the midst of a troubled adult relationship.

This is a story told with a delicate attention to the inner life of its seven characters which peaks in rhapsodic moments of romantic longing, erotic charge and histrionic devastation. It has a Woolfian aspect in its expansive symphony of voices but feels underpinned by the epic rigor of a historical drama, lending it an unmistakable cinematic quality.

The writer distills the emotional intensity of the war - a period in which the private realm of human experience was shaped so mysteriously by unforeseen forces - and shows how this was not only a time of harrowing separation but one of new beginnings and opportunities, when new identities could be embraced or loves and causes pursued.

I very much enjoyed the sense of spontaneity that the writer breathes into her characters, each of them on the verge of life-changing decisions and confronted by new horizons. Above all this is a story for the reader who yearns for intensity in feeling, who recognises the ecstasy of longing; a scale of emotion perhaps unknown to our present generations but one that should never be forgotten.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A powerful, moving, soul-searching novel..............
'The Very Thought of You' is a tremendously powerful novel, which transports the reader back to the early days of the 20th Century, through affluence, the Great War and all the... Read more
Published 5 days ago by laineyf

4.0 out of 5 stars Good debut novel...
I liked this book and read it in a few days which is always a good sign. I really liked the main character, Anna, and thought her early days were brilliantly brought to life. Read more
Published 5 days ago by Hannah Bourne

3.0 out of 5 stars Hardly in the same league as 'The Go Between' or 'Atonement'
Publishers naturally want to sell books. Sometimes, in fact, probably quite often, they do the books themselves, and the eventual reader a great disservice by overselling... Read more
Published 6 days ago by titaniamoth

2.0 out of 5 stars False Advertising
After reading all the rave reviews of this book, I ordered it with high hopes.The prospect of a novel focusing on the life of an evacuee child interested me very much, and it went... Read more
Published 7 days ago by Kate Charles

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Debut Novel
The way the characters lived their lives captured some of the stiffness of the 30's and 40's of UK Britain as well as pent up passion and longings of the people involved. Read more
Published 8 days ago by Mrs. Angela H. Smith

3.0 out of 5 stars On the whole, pretty dull...
Rosie Alison's debut novel quite simply was not for me. It was nice. And nice isn't really good enough for me. Where was the passion? The fire? The drama? Read more
Published 8 days ago by LittleReader

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding début novel
A beautiful and incredibly moving novel about relationships and love. While it is set in wartime Britain, the war is a backdrop and the characters are the story... Read more
Published 9 days ago by Alison

2.0 out of 5 stars Limp, slight and trite
Ok, so every other reviewer here has given this 5*, but I'm not trying to be provocative, I just genuinely disliked pretty much everything about this book. Read more
Published 9 days ago by Roman Clodia

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful First Book
I absolutely loved The Very Thought of You and look forward to the next offering from Rosie Alison. The characters were believable and the interaction between them was cleverly... Read more
Published 11 days ago by Louise Messik

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully crafted - The very thought of you
Spanning the period from the outbreak of WWII to the present, this book beautifully illustrates how the effects of war can span generations without them even realising it... Read more
Published 12 days ago by auntynellie

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