β Scribed by Susan Hill
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
What happens to a family when one of the brothers publishes his misery memoir? Is his litany of childhood torment a complete invention? Or was there really a cupboard under the stairs?
The farmhouse was called The Beacon and they had been born and reared there, May, Colin, Frank and Berenice, but only May had been left for the last 27 years . . .
May had been the clever daughter and she had escaped the shelter of The Beacon, just once, to go to university. But in London she had been pursued by nameless terrors, the victim of fears and anxieties. Now she was the spinster daughter, the one who stayed, who nursed her father after his accident and looked after her mother in her old age.
Frank was the one who got away. He married and moved on. But why does no one ever mention Franks name?
Richly atmospheric, evoking mystery, ambiguity and suspense, The Beacon is a novella which continues to resonate beyond the final pages.
Controlled, sparse and powerful writing Woman and Home Beautiful, clean prose...[an] absorbing story Literary Review An almost perfect little literary novel outside any genre...it possesses the light tug of menace and almost invisible haze of tension that characterise Hill's ghost stories...a novel of great structural and stylistic control Guardian Magnificent...It is all done so well, so wisely, that this short book is richly satisfying...it is a little masterpiece Daily Telegraph This enigmatic novella tracks the full impact of Frank's book, probing notions of guilt and truth, and deftly capturing those family bonds that warp even as they appear to nurture Daily Mail Captivating... There is, from the start, a highly charged atmosphere of anxiety and ambiguity...the suspense and mystery work perfectly, and for this Hill's economy is exactly what is needed Financial Times Compelling, cut through with sloe-sharp details as Hill exhibits complete mastery of the tools at her disposal... Like a ringmaster flicking her whip, Hill manipulates an awful, pathetic irony uncoloured by melodrama... Reader's familiar with Hill's novels will not be surprised by the long spell cast by this one. Nor will they be disappointed in this spare and understated book, whose richness and intensity belie its elegant economy of effect. It is a moving, evocative and rewarding novel The Times Short, beautifully crafted and gripping... Hill's astute and skilful probing of motives and the ambiguities of appearances extends the reach of the novel much wider Sunday Times A clever novel that's timeless in its tension-building storytelling Good Housekeeping A brilliantly eerie little tale...with a very adroitly handled contemporary theme: the misery memoir Scotland on Sunday
Susan Hills novels and short stories have won the Whitbread, Somerset Maugham and John Llewelyn Rhys awards, and been shortlisted for the Booker. She is the author of the ghost stories The Woman in Black; The Mist in the Mirror; and The Man in the Picture, and of the series of crime novels featuring policeman Simon Serrailler.
π SIMILAR VOLUMES
Golden sand, pounding surf, a sense of endless possibility--and four unforgettable stories of love, friendship, and second chances... **The Brass Ring by Lisa Jackson** It's a beautiful June day, perfect for a wedding--until Shawna learns that her fiancΓ©, Parker, has been involved in a car crash.
Walter Sands, the private eye of Dover Beach, returns in this memorable sequel. The president of the United States has arrived in Boston. Her job: convince New England to become part of the new government formed in the aftermath of nuclear war. Walter's job: protect America's President from The Se
*Rudolph!* is a first-person account of the behind-the-scenes workings at the North Pole. Narrated by Bernard Rosewood, one of the elves of the North Pole Consortium, the story begins with Santa's realization that a young girl's request to get her dad back for Christmas isn't going to happen. Dad, y