Product Description

In the aftermath of the First World War, the painter Walter Cox cherishes the place of his childhood to keep the pulse of his art alive. Haunted by his work, his young daughter Meredith has her own fight: to quell the power of her inner life.

Deeply affecting, shot through with a shimmering apprehension of the natural world, EARTH AND HEAVEN is about life's fragility, and the power of love and painting to disturb, renew and reveal us to ourselves.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23747 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Adele Geras
'A terrific writer' Adele Geras

Review
'Beautiful... Clever, compelling' (The Times )

'A compassionate account of the life of an artist, particularly strong in its evocation of post-war London and the countryside of Kent' (Woman and Home )

'Memorable, poetic... Wonderfully evocative writing - you can almost smell the hop vines as you read' (Ms London )

'Descriptive brilliance... Its emotional tenor remains buoyant and unfaltering from the first page to the last' (TLS )

'A terrific writer' Adele Geras (Adele Geras )

The Times
'Beautiful... Clever, compelling'

Customer Reviews

A sweet and gentle love story of an aspiring artist.
I thoroughly recommend this book. It is a sweet and gentle love story, which is slow to unfold, but develops into a satisfying read right up to the closing words.

It is the story of an impecunious artist and his life and loves, during the years between the 1st and 2nd World Wars. It is also the story of the changing world of art, as Europe emerges after the destruction of the 1st World War and artists begin to experiment and create, and the criticism and skepticism with which this new emerging art is regarded. Vivid images of paints and paintings, oils and watercolors, sculpture and woodcarvings are all splashed throughout the book, like live canvases at an exhibition.

Walter's artistic talent is recognized early, and he enrolls at The Slade School of Art to learn to draw and paint professionally. The details of his art classes are fascinating, and the stories of "Terrible Tonks", the President of the School and other faculty members, are all factually correct and very interesting. Walter meets Sarah studying wood engraving at the school and they soon marry, and have a family.

They struggle as artists - recognition doesn't come with the passing years. But with love and trust they build a warm and welcoming home until tragedy enters their lives, and twists the beauty and harmony of their existence into something frightening and ghostly. Something between Earth and Heaven.

The author's style, although sparse and crisp, is evocative and lyrical. The book is full of contrasts. The softness of rural Kent, where Walter lives with his family, and the harshness of grimy London where he studies, winter winds and summer breezes, busy streets and quiet country lanes, sorrow and happiness, reality and imagination, all described with clarity and conciseness.

It has been a long time since a book has been powerful enough to make me weep so profusely. I immediately ordered more of Sue Gee's books!

Sue Gee equals her achievement of"The Hours of the Night"
In this generous, leisurely novel, Sue Gee shows her ability to create character and place - London after the First World War, the hop-fields of Kent. As with "The Hours of the Night", she deals with loss - for Walter, who has lost his brother in the First World War; for his friend Euan, who is grieving for his comrades killed at Passchendaele... Sue Gee excels at the tensions of relationships, and at evoking the textures and pleasures of daily life. Also, this carefully-researched novel gives insights into various art movements of the period between the wars and up to the rise of Nazism - showing how some artists responded to the conflicts while others ignored them. A long and absorbing read, confirming Sue Gee's status as one of the best novelists writing today.

A novel full of sadness and loss.
This story spans the era between the 1st and 2nd world wars.
We join the characters reeling from losses sustained during WWI, trying to pull their lives together and start again.
This is followed by an interesting period set amongst students of art at a London college.
The main characters then move down to rural Kent, an idylic existence marred by the struggle to make ends meet and then by another tragic loss.
The remainder of the novel deals with the effects of this loss and the struggle of the characters to drag themselves back from the brink caused by the trauma.
The subject is dealt with compassionately and with feeling, but it is definately not a feel-good book.
The end I predicted half way through, soon after 'the lover' was introduced, and the language I found overly descriptive and flowery.
I regret I was not as enthusiastic about this book as other readers. However, if you enjoyed this book, I would recommend The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard : set after the end of WWII and written in similar descriptive style, and also Isobel Allende's Paula : A touching story of loss based on Ms Allende's real life in Chile, told to her dying daughter.