Book description
A comically sinister tale of wicked spirits and suburban mediums from
the Man Booker Prize-winning author of 'Wolf Hall' and 'Bring Up the Bodies'.
Alison Hart, a medium by trade, tours the dormitory towns of London's
orbital ring road with her flint-hearted sidekick, Colette, passing on
messages from beloved dead ancestors. But behind her plump, smiling
persona hides a desperate woman: she knows the terrors the next life
holds but must conceal them from her wide-eyed clients. At the same time
she is plagued by spirits from her own past, who infiltrate her body and
home, becoming stronger and nastier the more she resists…
Shortlisted for the Orange Prize, Hilary Mantel's supremely suspenseful
novel is a masterpiece of dark humour and even darker secrets.
'Magnificent…It's one of the greatest ghost stories in the language, but
it's far more than just a ghost story - it's a novel of desperate
truthfulness - a majestic work, truly.' Philip Pullman
'Sparkling, sinister and supremely original.' Sunday Telegraph
'As black as a tar barrel and very, very funny.' The Times
'Laceratingly observant, a masterpiece of wit, heavy with atmosphere.
It is also gloriously insolent and slyly funny: full of robust,
uncluttered prose and searing moments.' Independent
'Pins elusive Middle England to the page in all its creepiness: a place
blank and disconnected, yet fatally self-absorbed.' Rachel Cooke, Observer
'An elegant, atmospheric tale and a nuanced portrait, full of ironies.' Tatler
'Chilling, creepy and endlessly inventive.' Kate Saunders, The Times
'Hilary Mantel has done something extraordinary. She has taken the
ethereal halfway house between heaven and hell, between the living and
the dead, and nailed it on the page.' Fay Weldon, Guardian
'Has the kind of gallows humour that makes you laugh out loud…A real
page-turner, a darkly humorous take on the enduring effects of childhood
trauma.' Mslexia
'A deep, disturbing, violently amusing and subversive work.' Daily
Telegraph Hilary Mantel is the author of thirteen books , including A
PLACE OF GREATER SAFETY, BEYOND BLACK, and the memoir GIVING UP THE
GHOST. Her two most recent novels, WOLF HALL and its sequel BRING UP THE
BODIES, have both been awarded The Man Booker Prize - an unprecedented
achievement.
