Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #619212 in Books
• Published on: 2005-01-20
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

Review
'...bold and clever...evocative and compulsive...' E. Buchan 'Once you start reading a Beauman book, you can't put it down, as Rebecca's Tale attests...while both du Maurier and Beauman are great storytellers, Beauman really is the better prose writer' L.Grant 'Passionate, vivid, elusive...as compelling as the original. ...a real achievement' Joanna Trollope. 'Compelling, absorbing, captivating, haunting - (her) most ambitious and imaginative so far' E. Showalter

GUARDIAN
‘Unashamedly romantic and readable . . . Beauman is a captivating and artful storyteller – capable of making us believe the unbelievable'

Margaret Walters, SUNDAY TIMES
'Absorbing'

Customer Reviews

Haunting and engrossing, a superb book.
Sally Beauman's new novel, her first since the clever and intriguing 'Rebecca's Tale' is a magnificent novel that works on so many different levels.
Some might be put off by the title in thinking that this is a slight book or in some ways wishy washy.... Don't be!
This book captivates the reader within a haunting story about the lives of three sisters in 1960's Suffolk. The story moves to 1991 and we see the consequences of the events that have taken place. As the story unravels you find yourself reading a book that transends genre.

Sally Beauman has an intellegent and clever writting style that grips the reader in the mystery reminding me of early Robert Goddard and a narrative as rich and as personal as John Le Carre.

This may well be the best novel I read this year.

Worth a read
This is a story of three sisters, the youngest strange sad little Maisie, the unusually named Finn, and beautiful, selfish Julia. I found the opening section, told from Maisie's viewpoint, confusing for the first few chapters as I was unsure who the characters were. Indeed, at this stage I thought the book would disappoint. The writing seemed to lack the compelling mystery of `Rebecca's Tale' (a book I long resisted, convinced that nothing could live up to the original, but it was every bit as mysterious as Daphne du Maurier's story and, I thought, beautifully written). But as the story developed I became quite fond of Maisie and her voices from the past. Then suddenly the viewpoint changed. I found this disconcerting until I got used to a different voice. It was not long though before I became intrigued, moved, and hooked.

Overall, it was an absorbing tale, improving as it progressed, building momentum towards the final dénouement. I wouldn't rate it the best book this year, but certainly worth a read.

A really good read
If you've enjoyed other Sally Beauman books you should like this one; the characters are sufficiently well-developed to tell the tale, without being so detailed that they spoil the twists and turns in the plot. It's an interesting story, and well written. A really enjoyable read.