Daughters Of The House

Description

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize Secrets and lies linger in the very walls of the solid old Normandy house where Ther se and Leonie, French and English cousins, grow up after the war. Intrigued by adults' guilty silences and the broken shrine they find in the woods, the girls weave their own fantasies, unwittingly revealing the village's buried shame, a shame that will haunt them both for the rest of their lives.

Michele Roberts is the author of eleven highly-acclaimed novels as well as short stories and poetry, most recently collected in All the Selves I Was. Half-English and half-French, she lives in London and Mayenne, France.

'Remarkable and beautifully written' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 'A brave and richly imagined novel, full of thrilling set pieces. The new prestige it seems likely to earn for one of our best writers is long overdue.' GUARDIAN 'Subtle and persuasive' COSMOPOLITAN 'An intense piece of writing, in which the transfigured mundane world of recipes, parental prohibitions and almost ritualised gossip is posed against official purity and religiosity, and shown to be superior.' TLS 'The writing is English at its very best... the prose pulses with a sense of dangerous energy, only just held in check... compelling... incisive and brilliant.' INDEPENDENT 'It makes for a strong, concentrated read, deftly managed by the author, and I am nor surprised that the Booker Judges put it on their shortlist.' THE TIMES 'Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, this novel deserves to win.' NEW STATESMAN AND SOCIETY 'Few will deny the artistry with which it is written, or its dark, unsettling grace.' TIME OUT 'Remarkable and beautifully written novel... her best book yet.' Hermoine Lee, INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 'Writing of the highest order... certainly deserves to be read.' THE SPECTATOR