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Overview
Praised by critics on both sides of the Atlantic for its elegant and sensuous prose, "Talking to the Dead" tells the story of two sisters whose lives are bound by the hidden and surprising truth about the long-ago death of their infant brother.
Synopsis
Praised by critics on both sides of the Atlantic for its elegant and sensuous prose, "Talking to the Dead" tells the story of two sisters whose lives are bound by the hidden and surprising truth about the long-ago death of their infant brother.
Publishers Weekly
The mesmerizing fourth novel from this young British writer, winner of Britain's Orange Prize, is her U.S. debut, and it will surely make her name known on this side of the Atlantic. The book's preludea searing prose poem so evocative that it renders almost palpable the yew-scent of a sizzling hot summer graveyardis a promise of sensuality and intrigue that increases in intensity and produces a luxuriously gripping narrative. Nina and Isabel have a secret brother: his cot death when they were small changed their lives irrevocably. More than two decades later, when Isabel almost dies with the birth of her own son, Nina comes to help her out at her secluded country home. We quickly sense the deep bonds and tensions between the two sisters as Dunmore ingeniously swings the reader's sympathy from one to the other. Are we dealing with an angel and a devil? If so, which is which? Isabel's unmitigated selfishness seems shocking until Nina casually betrays her. Under the summer sun, long-smothered family nightmares inevitably surface. Despite the bristling heat her narrative conveys, Dunmore's style is coolly beautiful, with many a memorable phrase. "Things are happening here that safely belong on the news, but we can't switch them off," muses Nina, as the elusive sense of horror builds slowly into a thunderous finale, and the devil is revealed. (June)
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
The mesmerizing fourth novel from this young British writer, winner of Britain's Orange Prize, is her U.S. debut, and it will surely make her name known on this side of the Atlantic. The book's preludea searing prose poem so evocative that it renders almost palpable the yew-scent of a sizzling hot summer graveyardis a promise of sensuality and intrigue that increases in intensity and produces a luxuriously gripping narrative. Nina and Isabel have a secret brother: his cot death when they were small changed their lives irrevocably. More than two decades later, when Isabel almost dies with the birth of her own son, Nina comes to help her out at her secluded country home. We quickly sense the deep bonds and tensions between the two sisters as Dunmore ingeniously swings the reader's sympathy from one to the other. Are we dealing with an angel and a devil? If so, which is which? Isabel's unmitigated selfishness seems shocking until Nina casually betrays her. Under the summer sun, long-smothered family nightmares inevitably surface. Despite the bristling heat her narrative conveys, Dunmore's style is coolly beautiful, with many a memorable phrase. "Things are happening here that safely belong on the news, but we can't switch them off," muses Nina, as the elusive sense of horror builds slowly into a thunderous finale, and the devil is revealed. (June)Library Journal
In her first U.S. publication, the winner of Britain's prestigious Orange Prize for debuting women novelists limns the story of two sisters bound by a terrible tragedy in childhood.Kirkus Reviews
The story of two sisters who may have had a hand in their brother's death, British writer Dunmore's first novel to be published in the US, combines the suspense of a Hitchcock thriller with a captivating family drama.Nina loves London, but she's relieved to be invited out to the English countryside to help her ailing older sister, Isabel, after the difficult birth of the latter's first child. A wonderful cook who prefers to fix problems rather than talk about them, Nina, an artist and photographer, longs to make herself useful in the home of the beautiful sister she's always idolized. Others have arrived to help as well: Richard, Isabel's concerned but itinerant economist husband; Susan, a young baby-sitter who's just finished her nanny course; and Isabel's best friend, Edward, a homosexual who causes his share of resentment by keeping Isabel all to himself day and night for heart-to-heart chats in her room. The more the adults rub shoulders in the lovely house near the sea, the more the fissures between them become apparent. The weaknesses of Isabel's marriage are exposed when she orders Richard to sleep downstairs and subtly encourages his sexual interest in her sister. Susan, meanwhile, seems to want to keep baby Antony for herself, and Edward all but accuses the others of selfishly looking after their own petty needs while sweet Isabel languishes. The deepest, most horrifying family secret emerges only gradually in fragmentary images, as Nina begins to recall the demise of her infant brother when Isabel was seven and Nina four. Could Isabel have murdered that baby in a fit of sibling jealousy? If so, could she murder again? Nina struggles to remember what really happened during their childhood as time runs out for Antony and as the webs of family intrigue tighten around her.
Sophisticated, sensual, frightening, and remarkably visual: a first-rate debut.