Product Description

Sian, tired of nightmares in which she meets a grisly end, decides she needs to get out more. Joining an archaeological dig at Whitby Abbey, she uncovers a mystery involving a long-hidden murder. Faber's novella is in turn thriller, romance, ghost story and meditation on the nature of sincerity.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66366 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 126 pages

The Guardian
"This is a man who would give Conrad a run at writing the perfect sentence...Room will now have to be made at Faber alongside Alasdair Gray, James Kelman, Irvine Welsh and A.L. Kennedy."

Bella Bathurst, The Herald
"Faber's disconcerting vision, his instinctive feel for pace and suspense, and his vision of an upside-down existence are too unsettling and too finely drawn to be knocked off course."

Time Out
"As well as possessing imaginative gifts, Michel Faber is a writer of unusual skill...Strong satire in the Swiftian tradition, rendered with outstanding narrative power - genuinely horrible and down-right weird."

Customer Reviews

Excellent atmospheric book with an unexpected twist.
Sian is troubled by nightmares and seeks solace in an archaelogical dig at Whitby, climbing 199 steps each day to the dig at the Abbey. Her growing concern about the nightmares and a lump in her leg are skilfully interweaved with her relationship with Magnus, his dog Hadrian and the unravelling of the story written on fragile paper in a bottle. The writing is spare and evocative, and conveys vividly and well the setting of the Yorkshire fishing town. The relationships between the main characters and the delineation of the author of the mysterious document are skilfully realised. I read it at a sitting and felt a sense of loss when I had finished it.

Brilliant
I came to this book having read "Under the Skin". Whilst it is completely different from the earlier novel, this book is certainally amongst my favourites. It's one of those books that can be read on many levels, as my English teachers were always saying: and some of the levels are only really apparent after reading it through. It may be short on pages, but it is long on literary craft and technique. Faber creates deep and believable characters and an impressive sense of place. I wanted to go to Whitby after reading it. Highly recommended.

made me cry with the last sentence
I ordered this through amazon.com.uk because I don't have access to this book through US booksellers. And I loved his book Under the Skin. The Hundred and Ninety-nine Steps got a bad review in the Times Literary Supplement but on the strength of his first novel, I had to order it. Read it in one sitting. Was absolutely captivating. A mystery, a love story, intertwined...had me guessing until shortly before the end. And then I knew the punch line - or so I thought. And then the final sentence was written. And I teared up. A surprise and emotional ending. It takes somebody extraordinary to be able to have one sentence at the end of a novel or novella to surprise an experienced reader, in a much unexpected way. But despite a bad review from the TLS, I had to get this book, and as is sometimes the case, reviewers miss the mark totally (at least to my way of thinking). From someone who is a fiction-aholic (and a lover of UK fiction), I truly loved this book.