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: #120478 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

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.

Nice read if a little 'affected'
Very enjoyable book, but I found the language at times a bit 'cute' eg Euan asks the young 4 year old 'What are you making?' the boy replies'A mess' and there was a lot of 'Of course' - it sounded like one voice coming out of the same head and the children don't sound like children at all. However for all that it was very absorbing and illuminating about art and WW1 - though the eventual relationship between Euan and Meredith lay a bit uncomfortably - what sort of love was it between an old man and very young girl? Hmmmm....well worth the read

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.