Review
Fremlin packs a punch. -- Ian Rankin
A suburb of hell .. Chekhov meets Ruth Rendell .. Great fun .. Laughter turns to terror in this beautifully contrived plot by an unjustly overlooked mystery writer .. Makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up .. Fremlin breeds monsters from the minutiae of life and shows how lack of love and loneliness can cause them .. Take it on holiday with you. - The Times
Britain's Patricia Highsmith . . . The grandmother of psycho-domestic noir. - Sunday Times
Fremlin's admirably plotted novels and short stories are about people leading lives of quiet or vociferous desperation in suburban backwaters ... Splendid ... Got me hooked ... [I] read avidly [and] identify with kindred spirit protagonists. -- Ruth Rendell
Such a dark delight. Witty, unsettling 1950s domestic noir. Imagine Barbara Pym with arsenic. -- Clare Chambers
Extraordinary ... A slow-burning chill of a read by a master of suspense ... A richly drawn snapshot of life, love and family in post-war Britain. -- Janice Hallett
A joy ... Sinister, witty and utterly compelling. Fremlin was a genius. -- Nicola Upson
A lost masterpiece. -- Peter Swanson (on The Hours Before Dawn)
A vintage delight. - Marie Claire's Best New Books of 2023
Better than Highsmith in the paranoia and bug-eyed terror stakes because her settings are so ordinary ... Take it on holiday ... One of the most fantastically creepy scary books I've ever read. - BBC Radio 4 Open Book
Book Description
In this Waterstones Thriller of the Month, as recommended on BBC Radio 4's Open Book, one family's skeletons emerge on a 1950s seaside summer holiday in this classic mystery from 'Britain's Patricia Highsmith' and the 'grandmother of psycho-domestic noir' (Sunday Times)
About the Author
Celia Fremlin (1914-2009) was born in Kent and spent her childhood in Hertfordshire, before studying at Oxford (whilst working as a charwoman). During World War Two, she served as an air-raid warden before becoming involved with the Mass Observation Project, collaborating on a study of women workers, War Factory. In 1942 she married Elia Goller, moved to Hampstead and had three children. In 1968, their youngest daughter committed suicide aged 19; a month later, her husband also killed himself. In the wake of these tragedies, Fremlin briefly relocated to Geneva. In 1985, she married Leslie Minchin, with whom she lived until his death in 1999. Over four decades, Fremlin wrote sixteen celebrated novels - including the classic summer holiday seaside mystery Uncle Paul (1959) - one book of poetry and three story collections. Her debut The Hours Before Dawnwon the Edgar Award in 1960.
+91 9818282497
