Product Description

Laura is born to a wealthy family, and lives on a vast Northumberland estate - until her father gambles everything away on the billiard table. Many years later, and still haunted by memories of the past, Laura moves to London and begins an affair with a much older, well- known artist. But she also becomes increasingly dependent on alcohol and then heroin, with devastating consequences.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #406371 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Review
"'A brilliant first novel.' Vogue"

About the Author
Harriet Vyner is the author of Groovy Bob, a biography of the sixties art dealer, Robert Fraser.

Customer Reviews

A chore
This book is a real chore to get through! I heard the author being interviewed on BBC radio 4 and thought her novel sounded intriguing as she had crossed the class divide from silver spoon to prison and herion addiction. It could have been good but was extremely disappointing and I agree with the other two reviewers. The woman cannot write. How did she get this published, and how did she get interviewed on national radio? I wish there was a no star option.

Disappointing and almost unreadable
I picked up this novel hoping for what the Amazon synopsis describes - i.e an interesting coming-of-age story with a desperate degeneration from wealth and privilege into alcohol and heroin, together with an in-depth analysis of Laura's and her father's coming-to-terms with their changing fortunes.
I was, however, disappointed. The narrative style is oddly disjointed, flat and unevocative. The grammar is terrible and the use of adjectives is grossly overindulgent.
Worse than this, the book is almost completely devoid of emotion or characterisation except in terms of class! Everyone appears to be less beautiful, intelligent and, most importantly, rich than her and is thus described as 'vulgar' or 'tiresome' or 'middle-class' or 'tasteless' or 'provincial'!
We know from the blurb on the jacket that Laura has had some serious misfortunes - losing the Northumberland estate, being subjected to an episode of abuse as a child, heroin addiction, prison - but to be honest it's virtually impossible to feel any sympathy for Laura, who seems like a very unpleasant character indeed. As well as this, I found it difficult to get caught up in the story, as the prose style is so unreadably stilted.
All in all, this book leaves a rather nasty taste in the mouth and, like heroin, prison and the very posh, is probably best avoided.

Waste of money
I was just about to enter a very poor review of this book when I found that someone else had got there before me. I'm currently on page 74, and, to be honest, don't know if I can be bothered to finish it. It obviously doesn't get any better. The overall story may be interesting, but ploughing through such poor writing makes me wonder whether this book was edited in any way - if it was, it bears out everything one reads about poor standards of education! How can the publishers have allowed this through?
I bought this book after reviews in the glossies, and really wish I hadn't. I will be selling my copy on eBay, as there is no way I intend to bother with it again. One star is too good for it.