The Ghost Writer
By John Harwood
(Mariner Books, Paperback, 9780156032322, 384pp.)
Publication Date: June 2005
Other Editions of This Title: Google eBook, Paperback, Hardcover
Categories: Mystery & Detective - General, Suspense
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In this tantalizing tale of Victorian ghost stories and family secrets, timid, solitary librarian Gerard Freeman lives for just two things: his elusive pen pal Alice and a story he found hidden in his mother's drawer years ago. Written by his great-grandmother Viola, it hints at his mother's role in a sinister crime. As he discovers more of Viola's chilling tales, he realizes that they might hold the key to finding Alice and unveiling his family's mystery-or will they bring him the untimely death they seem to foretell?
Harwood's astonishing, assured debut shows us just how dangerous family skeletons-and stories-can be.
John Harwood is the author of two books of Victorian Gothic suspense, The Ghost Writer and The Seance. He lives in Hobart, Australia.
PRAISE FOR THE GHOST WRITER
"[Harwood's] novel is an homage, a Victorian ghost story that honors the likes of Dickens and Henry James . . . A smart, stylish and mesmerizing book."-THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD
"Does [Alice] have some connection to Gerard's creepy, semi-insane mom? And to those Victorian horror tales that Gerard keeps stumbling across? What's she hiding, anyway? The answers are yes, yes, and wait and see . . . It's like A. S. Byatt's Possession. But without all that distracting poetry."-TIME
"Harwood''s debut is a haunting literary gothic, a slow-building suspense thriller. Lyrical, labrynthine. An atmospheric paranormal thriller with many surprises."
"''''The Ghost Writer," is a first-class creeper, a literary ghost story in the Victorian tradition."
"A compelling ghost story and an auspicious debut."
"Intricate and engrossing. Harwood raises the ghost of the Victorian ghost story. One ghoulishly absorbing read. B+." <br>
"Compulsively readable. A wonderful debut, evoking a century''s worth of family history, by a multitalented and artistically ambidextrous newcomer."
"Spooky and gripping, a chilling tale sure to make your spine shiver on even the hottest summer day."
"A creepy literary mystery. A terrific debut, very accomplished and assured."
"The Ghost Writer" is a grand Victorian tale in which Gerard becomes increasingly certain something wicked his way comes.
"Combines suspense that keeps readers up with a literary voice that allows them to respect themselves in the morning."
"Sly nods to spooky literary spinsters - James'' Miss Jessel, Dickens''s Miss Havisham - set the tone for this confident debut."
"By the last page, all loose ends have been tied up, but the uncanny still clings to everything."
-Laura Miller
"You can''t help being dazzled by Harwood''s inventiveness, especially his sure-footed mastery of prose style. [An] entertainingly accomplished first novel."
"A fabulous, very spooky ghost story in the classic mode that will remind some people of A.S. Byatt''s "Possession."<br>
-Laura Miller
"As a mystery, The Ghost Writer is irresistible, pushing all the genre''s gothic buttons and casting a convincingly Dickensian pall."
"An elegant homage to the Victorian ghost story tradition. Like Dickens''s The Pickwick Papers, Harwood makes your flesh creep."
"An exceptionally inventive first novel."
"Harwood has written a smart, stylish and mesmerizing book."
This book is on these lists:
AudreyZ0520's Wish List by AudreyZ0520Cracraj's Wish List by cracraj
Fantasy by wallhagens
Books to buy 2 by lccushman
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