Julia Rochester

the-house-at-the-edge-of-the-world

About us

About Us (Header 4)

Kate-Atkinson

James-Baldwin

Marian-Keyes

haruki-murakami-320×320-1

Richard-Osman

Malorie Blackman

Lisa-Jewell

Charlie-Mackesy

Authors (Header 3)

Children&#039;s

Company

Discover

Fiction

Non-fiction

Penguin Classics

Penguin Shop (Header 5)

Useful links

Work with us

The House at the Edge of the World

Penguin Shop: 3 Clothbound Classics for £33

Darkly comic debut about a curious death in Cornwall intrigues to the very end

Intricate and involving, this is a writer to watch

A story that carries you along - clever plotting and a startling outcome. An impressive first novel

Wonderfully crisp and funny, and so full of vivid, surprising images that the reader almost doesn't notice the moment that deep secrets begin to be revealed. I enjoyed this book so much

Emma Healey, author of 'Elizabeth is Missing'

The sheer intelligence and wit of the writing is often funny, but as the story deepens the emotions darken . . . This is a terrific debut - and like that unhappy image of father, turning in his spangled arc, it stays in the mind

The House at the Edge of the World is, like its narrator, funny, sharp and also terribly sad

An obviously gifted writer. . . its strength lies in the understanding of human behaviour that underlies the unexpected twists and turns, each one of which moves from romanticism to credibility in a bracing way, so that the book's charm resembles that of a building such as Brighton Pavilion: engagingly fantastic in appearance, but structurally sound

Darkly funny... sharp-as-knives observations brilliantly capture the black undertow of this family story

A slippery tale of perception and manipulation... The text echoes of a thriller, though it is a character study in how much people can alter themselves to meet the wills of others; for marriage, family or the bond of twinship

When I was eighteen, my father fell off a cliff. It was a stupid way to die. 
 
The Venton family are used to living with ghosts. The death of Morwenna's father near Thornton House, the beloved family home in Devon, prompts both Morwenna and her twin brother Corwin to flee in opposite directions. 
 
But connections to the house - and family - are not so easy to break. When, seventeen years after their father's death, Corwin returns, he will force Morwenna to confront a terrifying truth from the past, one that will destroy everything they thought they knew about their childhood home. 
 
The House at the Edge of the World reveals how families tear themselves apart, and how they try to bind themselves together again.

LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION AND SHORTLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2016 
 
Part mystery, part psychological drama, Julia Rochester's The House at the Edge of the World is a darkly comic, unorthodox and thrilling debut 
 
When I was eighteen, my father fell off a cliff. It was a stupid way to die. 
 
John Venton's drunken fall from a Devon cliff leaves his family with an embarrassing ghost. His twin children, Morwenna and Corwin, flee in separate directions to take up their adult lives. Their mother, enraged by years of unhappy marriage, embraces merry widowhood. Only their grandfather finds solace in the crumbling family house, endlessly painting their story onto a large canvas map. 
 
His brightly coloured map, with its tiny pictures of shipwrecks, forgotten houses, saints and devils, is a work of his imagination, a collection of local myths and histo­ries. But it holds a secret. As the twins are drawn grudgingly back to the house, they discover that their father's absence is part of the map's mysterious pull. 
 
The House at the Edge of the World is the compellingly told story of how family and home can be both a source of comfort and a wholly destructive force. Cutting to the undignified half-truths every family conceals, it asks the questions we all must confront: who are we responsible for and, ultimately, who do we belong to? 
 
'Wonderfully crisp and funny, and so full of vivid, surprising images that the reader almost doesn't notice the moment that deep secrets begin to be revealed. I enjoyed this book so much' Emma Healey, bestselling author of Elizabeth is Missing

Julia Rochester grew up on the Exe Estuary in Devon. She studied in London, Berlin and Cambridge and has worked for the BBC Portuguese Service and for Amnesty International as researcher on Brazil. She lives in London with her husband and daughter.

The House at the Edge of the World

Format:

Buy the book from:

About Julia Rochester

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter