Imprint: Penguin
Published: 02/05/2019
ISBN: 9780241983461
Length: 288 Pages
Dimensions: 198mm x 18mm x 129mm
Weight: 202g
RRP: £8.99
'A compulsive page-turner. Fuller creates an atmosphere of simmering menace with all the assurance of a latter-day Daphne du Maurier' The Times
Frances Jellico is dying. A man who calls himself the vicar visits, hoping to extract a deathbed confession. He wants to know what really happened that fateful summer of 1969, when Frances - tasked with surveying a dilapidated country house - first set eyes on the glamorous bohemian couple, Cara and Peter. She recalls the relationship they forged through sweltering days, lavish dinners and elaborate lies, and the Judas hole through which she would spy on the couple.
Were the signs there right from the beginning?
Or was it impossible to avoid the crime that split their lives open like rotten fruit?
***
'Bewitching, otherworldly . . . full of dark foreboding. Claire Fuller is a dazzling storyteller' Scotsman
'An atmospheric page-turner that speeds us towards a bloody climax of shocks and surprises' Irish Times
'Sinister and suspenseful, this gothic novel simmers with guilt, lust and envy' Mail on Sunday
'Multi-layered, lush, twisty and brilliantly clever' Sunday Mirror
Imprint: Penguin
Published: 02/05/2019
ISBN: 9780241983461
Length: 288 Pages
Dimensions: 198mm x 18mm x 129mm
Weight: 202g
RRP: £8.99
Nothing is quite what it seems in this engrossing, moreish novel about a naïve woman and the hedonistic couple who beguile her
Rich and compelling. Fuller is an accomplished writer
Reminds me of JL Carr's A Month in the Country, Daphne Du Maurier's Jamaica Inn, and Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Incredibly atmospheric, vivid, and intriguing. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't reading a forgotten classic.
A stealthy shocker about thwarted desire. A sinister, slow-burn tale that saves its most heart-wrenching revelation for last
A twisty, thorny, darkly atmospheric page turner about loneliness and belonging
As haunting as tuberose and delicate as a scalpel
Heady, claustrophobic . . . makes for perfect heatwave reading. Echoes Penelope Lively's Booker-winning Moon Tiger, Anita Brookner's Look At Me, and Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger
A rich and hypnotic read
This darkly smouldering, desperately sad, superior psychological thriller contains shades of Zoe Heller's Notes On A Scandal
It is rare for me to put down a novel and then immediately consider rereading it to see what cleverness I might have missed. This time, though, I am tempted.