Śpij, kochanie, śpij

by Joanne Harris, Agnieszka Barbara Ciepłowska (Translator)

Mroczna, gotycka powieść, która wciąga nas w grzeszny światek londyńskich artystów epoki wiktoriańskiej.

Henry Chester szuka modelki doskonałej. Znajduje ją w osobie młodziutkiej Effie i postanawia poślubić. Osiem lat później Effie – kobieta o urodzie dziecka oraz statecznym, zrównoważonym sposobie bycia – wydaje się żoną idealną. Pozory mylą. W jej duszy budzą się tajemne moce.
Uwikłana w romans z bogatym lekkoduchem Effie poznaje nowy, nieznany świat, gdzie rządzą szantaż, intryga oraz… rajfurka, która przed dziesięciu laty straciła jedyną córkę. Dziewczynka padła ofiarą morderstwa w dzień cotygodniowej wizyty Henry’ego Chestera.
Czy przyjaźń między dwiema kobietami ujawni groźną tajemnicę Henry’ego? Czy przeszłość odciśnie swoje piętno na przyszłości? Czy dokona się zemsta?

Jeżeli nie masz, drogi czytelniku, naprawdę silnej woli, otwórz tę książkę dopiero w piątek po pracy. Nie zdołasz się od niej oderwać, dopóki nie przeczytasz ostatniej strony.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Gothic, Horror, Romance, Historical, Fantasy

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Joanne Harris is also known as Joanne M. Harris

Joanne Harris is an Anglo-French author, whose books include fourteen novels, two cookbooks and many short stories. Her work is extremely diverse, covering aspects of magic realism, suspense, historical fiction, mythology and fantasy. She has also written a DR WHO novella for the BBC, has scripted guest episodes for the game ZOMBIES, RUN!, and is currently engaged in a number of musical theatre projects as well as developing an original drama for television.
In 2000, her 1999 novel CHOCOLAT was adapted to the screen, starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. She is an honorary Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge, and in 2022 was awarded an OBE by the Queen.
Her hobbies are listed in Who's Who as 'mooching, lounging, strutting, strumming, priest-baiting and quiet subversion'. She also spends too much time on Twitter; plays flute and bass guitar in a band first formed when she was 16; and works from a shed in her garden at her home in Yorkshire.

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm. I struggled with this a bit because I generally adore Joanne Harris. This is her "lost" second novel, and while it is certainly an improvement on her first novel, the dire " The Evil Seed", it doesn't quite live up to her later work.

It is a bit of a grim tale. Painter Henry Chester becomes obsessed with his child-model and marries her as soon as she comes of each. Once wed he finds she doesnt live up to his ideals and the couple quickly grow to despise each other. Throw in an affair or two, a local prostitute and Henry's obsession with young girls and it is a bit seedy for my tastes.

The other issue is it is just too long. Joanne Harris herself said it could have benefited from some better editing.

[Snow White · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't get into this one. Harris plays with her usual theme of asceticism versus carnality but it's too obvious here. The characters know themselves and their motives too well and are constantly explaining this to the reader instead of letting the reader draw their own conclusions. I could've done without the two male pov's as well. I despised them both but not in a good way: I hated reading their thoughts. It should've been Effie's pov the whole book. The atmosphere was off and so were the characterisations. The language was correct but too weighty. Dnf at 40%

[Ana Mardoll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sleep, Pale Sister / 9780061843181

"Sleep, Pale Sister" grabs you from the first page and never lets go. As you are dragged through the lives of a pale victim and her three persecutors, you are shown by turns the motivations and inner thoughts of her tormentors, by the compelling switches between narrative viewpoint. This is one of the hardest tricks to pull off in novels, yet Harris manages to make it look effortless. Each tormentor addresses themselves to us, explains their motives and urges that their view is the "right" one. As each villain "loves" our poor victim into the grave, we are touched with the deep sadness of the cruelties we can inflict on one another in our own deep selfishness.

The tormentors are incredibly varied and intensely compelling: a husband who hates his wife for being human and who punishes her for her own good to remove the sin from her; a lover who hates his darling for being more than a trinket and who torments her to break her spirit and satisfy his own desires; and a distraught mother who is so anxious to see her dead daughter again that she will hypnotize, drug, and abuse a sweet stranger in an attempt to regain what she has lost. Deeper and darker than other Harris novels, "Sleep, Pale Sister" offers no hope - only a painful, terrifying look at how even the 'normal' amongst us can become so consumed with our own desires and pain that we become willing to inflict pain on innocent bystanders. I highly recommend this novel as a gripping, terrifying read.

I should mention one thing: Harris seems to be working with a different Tarot tradition than the one I was taught, and it leads to some potential for confusion in the reading. She uses The Hermit to identify murderers and dark secrets, rather than as a card of withdrawal and meditation. The Hanging Man and Death are here regarded as bad omens, instead of as cards of change and growth. Most confusing of all is her use of The Star to indicate miscarriage and trauma, instead of as a card of spiritual healing. The fact that Harris uses a different interpretation of the Tarot did not in any way detract from the novel for me, but it is worth mentioning because I found the symbolism confusing on the first read-through.

~ Ana Mardoll

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Sleep Pale Sister’ is an early Joanne Harris novel and has a slightly unformed feeling in comparison to, say, Chocolat. It is a ghostly gothic melodrama, chiefly notable to my mind for the variations in character awareness of this. The two male narrators sometimes comment wryly that their lives resemble a gothic novel; at other times they forget it and are filled with such uncontrollable dread that they knock back laudanum until the situation improves. One of the female narrators, meanwhile, is the one turning all those depicted into players in a ghostly gothic melodrama. To my mind she was by far the most interesting character, perhaps because she remained the most mysterious. The titular pale sister, Effie, was largely a pawn and thus pitiful. Both leading men, however, were absolutely hateful. Their cavalier attitude can be summed up as, ‘Well I wouldn’t say that murdering women was a hobby of mine, but it’s bound to happen now and again isn’t it.’

The atmosphere of the whole thing is certainly oppressive, although I wouldn’t call it frightening. The relatively slow pacing creates definite tension and I was intrigued to see how events would play out. Nonetheless, the inconsistent level of self-consciousness within the narrative prevented me from being swept away by it. While it does not read as a pastiche of gothic melodrama, with a few changes I think it could have. Perhaps that would have worked better for me? As it was, I liked the imagery and theme of the Furies (as well as the cats named after them!), yet found myself observing the characters more dispassionately than I’d expect for such a melodramatic book.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was actually the first of Joanne Harris' books that I've read, which strikes me as odd since I consider myself a fan. But I realized that that "fan" status is based solely on the viewing of the movie Chocolat (Johnny Depp, Juliette Binoche) because the story was so wonderful. But that, of course, is absurd, because movies and their books are rarely more than representative of one another.

Having said that, I had high hopes that stayed with me through about the first half of this book, at which point I began thinking "I feel the ending is very close, what on earth are in the other 100-odd pages?" Turns out the denouement was all that was left, and even in retrospect I feel most of it could certainly have been left out. She lost sight of who the main character was and where the readers' interest lay. The multiple narrator approach might have made the reader engaged enough in the secondary characters to make us really that interested in their downfall, but it did not. And somehow even the mysterious and fascinating "gypsy" character was left behind from the middle of the book until almost the last chapter.
All in all, this book had a very engaging tone and great possibility but needed a much heavier edit (Harris herself says that she edited it maybe not as much as it should have been before it was re-released) to realize it's potential.

[Annabel Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book fit squarely into my super-love category. Mysterious, sensual, provocative, magical. On the cover a reviewer calls this book "a hauntingly evocative laudanum-dream of a novel" and I must say I agree completely. I have not read any of Ms. Harris's other books and I hesitate to, because this book seems to be a departure from her other type of work...and since I LOVE this book I imagine her other work might not work for me as well. But who knows? I might pick up Blackberry Wine.

But I digress...

I gave this book five stars because the voice of the author was so strong, and the ethereal dreamy weirdness of the book never faltered. It jitterbugged between four different narrators in chapters which were sometimes only a few pages long. Each voice was clearly recognizable, and each character was achingly damaged and seeking to escape past mistakes. At the beginning it was kind of hard to keep going, but it picked up in the middle and the web of deception and betrayal was cast. I just LOVE tragic, intense, mystical/magical stories like this one. The strange Victorian misogynist viewpoints were also fascinating to read. I really liked this book. It's probably not for everyone but it's definitely going onto my keeper shelf for when I want a really tragic, transporting story.

[Tocotin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought this book because the title sounded intriguing, and there was a promise of some of the story being set in a brothel. The beginning was really good, but then it became more and more predictable, then mystical in a very cheap way, and then simply boring. At one point I started to wonder if and how anything was going to happen, because the story seemed to be so close to the end, and there were still over 100 pages remaining.
It tried very hard to be a VERY Gothic novel (the word "Gothic" was frequently repeated), too hard actually. There were lots of props and circumstances gathered and piled to create an impression of oppression (lol) and fear and foreboding, but the characters themselves were so flat and one-dimensional I couldn't believe in any of them. A pale damsel, an evil hypocrite, a cynical rake (who wasn't cynical because he HAD to feel and fear the power of the wimmin, lol), a loyal servant, and a brothel madam who played God Almighty and neglected her establishment - ewww.
I understand that this author is quite famous and has a big following, but... this book just lacks surprise and subtlety. It's a very fast read, however, and the style isn't bad, if a bit too movie-like.

[Emiliya Bozhilova · Rating 1 out of 5]

Поредица от глупави и кошмарни случки. Тук Харис я е ударила здраво сачмата, но без капка смисъл. Противна книга.

[etherealfire · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of Joanne's first and 'lost' books which entices, shocks and lulls you into it's gripping clutches.
Told in the different voices of the main characters we unravel the story of Henry Chester who has dark hidden secrets and his lovely, young wife Effie as they become seduced by dark shadowy characters and drugs into a world of blackmail and intrigue.
Madness plays a big part in this novel, whether it has its roots in drugs, temperament, grief, lust or superstition but we definately see a spiral into a dark and dependant world by both Henry and Effie.
It's quite a page turner even though there is no amibiguity about the ending, as the story goes on the reader knows what will happen but it's no less compelling or chilling for that and it leaves a certain sense of sadness behind for poor Effie.
I really enjoyed it as Joanne Harris does have a way of getting into your head and making you question the characters.

If you have read A Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Nieffergegger you will find a lot of similarities with the ghost theme and cemetries and ...well, I don't want to give the story away, but if you enjoyed one you'll probably enjoy the other!

[t · Rating 4 out of 5]

greatly gothic, viciously victorian, moodily mystical.

all men to jail IMMEDIATELY. i hate all things you have done in the name of power, sensuality, and ‘reason’.

also surly fanny could’ve saved effie/martia somehow. i know that would deflate the crescendo somewhat but PLEASE. those girls need a hug

[Nadia Batista · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comecei a ler este livro em Novembro (se não estou em erro), um pouco a medo. A minha única experiência com Joanne Harris foi Chocolate, há cerca de 10 anos, e lembro-me de não ter gostado, provavelmente por adorar o filme, e tinha medo que fosse aquele tipo de romances cor-de-rosa e sem sal que andam por aí. No entanto, esta sinopse, a evocar as minhas memórias de Lolita, finalmente convenceram-me a pegar no livro e em boa hora o fiz!

Valete de Copas e Dama de Espadas conta a história de Henry Paul Chester e a sua esposa Effie, mudando de perspectivas entre estes dois, Moses Zachary Harper, inimigo de Chester, e Fanny Miller, dona de um bordel. Chester, pintor, conhece Effie desde pequena, tornando-se obcecado por a pintar nas mais diversas representações, acompanhado o seu crescimento, até acabar por se casar com ela (Lolita vibes everywhere). Effie, uma espécie de mosca morta, pensa encontrar em Moses a sua salvação, e tudo vai acabar num plano concebido por Fanny, com os seus próprios motivos para desejar a queda de Chester. Basicamente, todos contra o pintor, cada um com os seus propósitos, e todos a amarem Effie, cada um com as suas razões pessoais. Não quero dar muitas mais pistas sobre a história, pois é simplesmente fantástica. Os segredos de Chester e Fanny dão vida à narrativa.
Uma das primeiras coisas que me fez gostar bastante do livro foi a forma como está escrito. Não consigo especificar, mas a história parece viva, as palavras parecem hipnotizar o leitor... não sei. Algo incrivelmente mágico está ali. Depois - e foi isto que me fez não adorar o livro de morte - Effie e Moses começaram a aborrecer-me um pouco, desviando um pouco o meu interesse. Cheguei ao fim do livro e pensei que se tratavam todos de um bando de loucos, tão simples quanto isto.
Tal como disse anteriormente, Effie é uma mosca morta. Eu compreendo que o que se passou logo no início do casamento com Chester, a forma como era tratada, as doses de láudano, tudo junto a faça uma sombra, mas mesmo assim, pareceu-me volátil e fácil demais para sentir alguma compaixão por ela. Moses a mesma coisa, o típico bon vivant, um pouco irritante, cheio de falsas promessas. Henry Paul Chester era um ser horrível, mas como personagem era brutal. E Fanny Miller, a melhor coisa que podia ter acontecido a este livro.
Aquele final foi um pouco vago, todo o esoterismo à volta de Fanny fica no ar, mas mesmo assim, um livro muito bem escrito, uma ideia bem executada e sem dúvida uma leitura que vale bem a pena.
Algo que mudaria em Valete de Copas e Dama de Espadas seria, talvez, o número de páginas. Chega a um ponto na narrativa em que eu me perguntei que raio é que ainda poderia acontecer em tantas páginas que ainda faltavam, e acaba por ser tornar um pouco repetitivo. É verdade que aprofunda a miséria e desespero das personagens, mas isso poderia ter sido feito com igual impacto e em menos páginas.

Um aparte: apesar da tradução escolhida para o título na nossa língua ser bastante apelativa (e acaba por ser justificada durante a história), não posso deixar de ter pena da poesia trágica do título original que ficou perdida: Sleep, Pale Sister.

Este livro restabeleceu a minha fé em Joanne Harris. Na estante estão mais dois livros seus para ler, na esperança que me surpreendam tanto como Valete de Copas e Damas de Espadas. Apesar de não contar com um drama tão lúgubre como esta história, espero apaixonar-me pelas suas outras narrativas.

Aconselho este livro a toda a gente - é assim tão bom.
Bónus: há gatos 😀

http://eu-e-o-bam.blogspot.com/2018/0...

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sleep, Pale Sister falls into a category of books in which I cannot get enough of. The story takes place in the Victorian era (one of my favourites). The narrative switches between four characters, each of which has a very distinctive and recognisable voice, and each of which is in some way damaged. We have Henry Chester, a successful artist, and the son of a deeply religious Methodist minister, Effie Chester, firstly his muse, then his wife. Moses Harper, a bit of a rogue, also an artist but not well recognised such as Henry. And finally we have Fanny Miller, a brothel owner, and the mother of Marta, murdered by Henry Chester some years earlier.
Despite the fact that Marta is dead, she is very much present in the rooms of Fanny’s brothel.
Moses sees Effie and decides he’d like to have a dalliance with her, so he worms his way into Henry’s life, wanting him to be his patron. It’s not long before Effie has fallen for him, helped by the fact she’s unhappy in her marriage to Henry.
By chance, Moses and Effie encounter Fanny at the fair, and Fanny soon realises that Effie is married to the murderer of her daughter. A plan is made by Fanny, a plan in which she can not only bring her dead daughter back, but get the ultimate revenge on Henry Chester for the murder of Marta. The plan involves using Effie as a pawn. Moses readily agrees to Fanny’s plan as he sees it a way to earn easy money. The plan is hatched and put into action. It works exactly how Fanny hopes, and the final step is staged. But that part goes horribly wrong, and ends in death.
The scene is very atmospheric, dark, gothic, and haunting. The story is quite dreamlike and ethereal at times. I love anything with a gothic setting, and this didn’t disappoint me. It’s very eerie, and the tension in the story is built to perfection.

[Denise Mullins · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Sleep, Pale Sister” is a campy gothic novel that ultimately suffers in its attempts to comingle too many themes that individually merited more serious development. We are introduced to uptight artist Henry Chester whose young ward Effie is groomed as his model until at 17, she is married to her much older benefactor. While Henry espouses puritanically repressed attitudes of sexuality, ostensibly meant to maintain Effie’s purity, his weekly sojourns to a nearby brothel reveal his hypocrisy and debauched desires. As he furthers attempts to suppress his bride’s budding sexuality using threats prescribed by a smarmy psychoanalyst, she finds an outlet through the unsavory lothario Mose Harper. Although the plot at this point held promise, complications involving an alter ego figure of Effie became muddied as supernatural elements developed and destroyed the potential of her seductive darkness .
The book does raise questions of Victorian society’s cruelty in regard to treatment of children and the control men exerted over their wives fearing diagnosis of hysteria, overdosing with laudanum, or confinement in asylums. I just wish these had been handled with the usual restraint and mastery that Joanne Harris used in her more recent novels.

[Cristine · Rating 5 out of 5]

From what I've read of other reviews, every one dislikes this book. I have the opposite opinion. I love this book. I love the darkness of it and the intregue. There is that taste of the Victorian morbid love of death and disception. I love that time period in the art and the clothing, so this book was right up my alley, literally. True that this book is not like her others which are more full of life, love, and intertwined history with her other books of fiction. This one contains more of a gothic horror story spun by a gypsy feline lover. It is not a bad book in any way, but don't expect a Chocolat kind of feel from this book because you won't get that at all! Every author has dark days and I don't doubt dark books, this one just happens to be her dark novel.

[Gabriella e Vincenzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decisamente surreale, mi ha lasciato in alcune parti senza parole e senza la forza di riuscire a staccare gli occhi dalle pagine,che scorrevano veloci sotto il mio sguardo...
Ad un certo punto non si riusciva più a capire se c'era una separazione tra il reale e il surreale....

I personaggi descritti in maniera impeccabile...ho odiato henry dalle prime pagine in cui è apparso, mentre il modo in cui é stato descritto Mose mi é piaciuto... Ricco di sfumature e di "vite"

Bella anche l'ambientazione nella Londra dell'Ottocento.... Adatta anche per l'atmosfera gotica che in alcune parti si è creata....

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Sleep, Pale Sister' is one of Joanne Harris's earliest novels and due to popular demand was re~released and when you read it, you will find out why. Sleep, Pale Sister tells the story of Effie and the men in her life who set out to hurt in the cruelest manner possible. Effie finds a way to have her revenge in this dark novel. The chapters are told from the perspective of each separate characters which makes the story more interesting, you find out more about their pasts, the people they are.

A very dark, very gothic and interesting book.

[Sofia Brito · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Joanne Harris and her gallery of characters and stories. But this story misses the spot somewhere and doesn't really hold together. Effie/Marta, Fanny, Mose and the infamous Henry with their secrets and addictions are not memorable enough to make this book work.

[Shahrun · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very random series of events staring 4 very different people each with their own agendas. Not sure I really liked this book. It's all rather weird and confusing. Just when I thought things were getting exciting and going some where, it didn't. Almost felt like I was on a drug when reading it.

[Tita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vejam a minha opinião mais detalhada em vídeo, AQUI. 

[Monica. A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il bel fante di cuori e la dama di picche
discorrono sinistri di defunte passioni

Fra colti richiami a Baudelaire, Shakespere, Tennyson e Rossetti, si consumano le sorti dei personaggi di questa macabra commedia degli orrori.
Come non pensare ad Efiie Gray leggendo le triste storia di Effie Chester?
Il marito, Henry Chester, emulo di Mr Ruskin, ha una strana predilezione per la fanciullezza e ambisce a diventare un celebre pittore esposto all'Academy e, perchè no, ben inserito nella cerchia preraffaelita.
Le depravazioni di Mr Chester sono così atroci sin dall'infanzia che la sua mente malata deve giustificarle con una sorta di possessione mentre, nell'atà adulta, finisce con il mascherarle dietro una facciata di perbenismo e dovozione cattolica.
Ne fa le spese la povera Effie, sua modella dall'infazia e poi giovane moglie sfortunata, la mente ottenebrata da cioccolata calda e laudano che, con non pochi richiami shakespeariani, la fanno lentamente scivolare verso un triste destino.

Profetica questa poesia di Rossetti, Il Sonno di Mia Sorella.

Trovò il sonno la vigilia di Natale:
infine l'ombra greve a lungo negata
delle palpebre esauste l'ha alleviata
dal dolore che nulla poteva sanare.

Altra presenza "bizzarra" è una certa Fanny Miller, omonima della più celebre modella di Rossetti e Hunt, con lei condivide il mestiere di prostituta ma in questo caso evolutosi in tenutaria di bordello.
In una Londra gotica fra le cui vie ci si può imbattere, con un po' di fortuna, in Rossetti, Hunt, Ruskin e nei Morris, ma forse più facilmente, nel Dr Jekill e il suo Mr Hyde, dove gli incontri galanti e illeciti si consumano, non a caso, nella cornice del cimitero di Highgate, si viene introdotti gradualmente all'interno di questa storia torbida e malata e, prima di rendersene conto, se ne è totalmente invischiati, risucchiati dal suo vortice di lascivia e perversione.
La storia sembrerebbe esser tutta qui ma, complice un pomeriggio tedioso, un tendone e una lettrice di tarocchi e il corso degli eventi cambia bruscamente, vengono alla luce atroci delitti dimenticati e se ne pianificano di nuovi, tutto diventa peggiore di quanto si potesse immaginare.
Un libro corale dove gli "attori" di questa grande messa in scena hanno singolarmente voce in capitolo.
Procedendo nella lettura si nota una continua intrusione nella storia da parte degli interessati che, capitolo per capitolo, non fanno altro che dare la loro versione dei fatti, creando non poca confusione e facendoci quasi pensare di esser seduti al tavolo di una seduta spiritica, di ascoltare le voci e i lamenti degli spettri chiamati in causa ad esporre i loro tormenti.

Strane forze domimano questi personaggi, poteri occulti li giudano, magia e superstizione si insinuano subdolamente all'interno di questa triste coppia, Fanny Miller, vera burattinaia della storia, irretisce tutti, lettore compreso che, stordito da laudano e cloralio scorrenti a fiumi, perde il senso della realtà e rischia di scivolare insieme ai personaggi in un limbo in cui veglia o sonno, incubi o realtà, tutto diviene possibile e giustificabile.

[Kaelie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this book several times (I should probably just buy it for all the times I go to the library for it) and every time I notice something different. The first time I read it, I didn't really understand the storyline, because it requires you to pay close attention to details and everyone's history--not too difficult, in the long run.

The characters were just so different and interesting that I couldn't help but get sucked in by this book. Effie is so weak physically but she is spiritually one of the strongest characters I have ever read. She is constantly demeaned by her husband, strapped down by Victorian Society's strict rules. It is sad to see her husband lose his love for her when she reaches puberty.

The story is somewhat tragic, and leaves you with goosebumps. Harris is one of the best story-tellers I have come across, on the level of Neil Gaiman.

I loved this book, and I keep coming back for more.

[Free Fall · Rating 4 out of 5]

An elderly artist paints a young girl-child and falls in love with his impression of her, as a sweet creature who can only be totally obedient. A rake sees her, at which time she discovers passion in having her affair with him. Then, she starts developing an alter ego, which leads to tragic consequences.

None of the main characters were "nice," in any way. They were all deeply flawed, making me sympathize with them, pity them, and hate them.

The story jumps from one point of view to the next, with possibly more introspection than action. There's never a truly peaceful moment, though, because the story starts out disturbing and even when it seems there might be a moment of happiness, there's always that little niggling, tiny phrase that says this cannot end well.

Definitely reminiscent of Edgar Allen Poe, especially his Fall of the House of Usher, it's spooky with a hint of the fantastical.

[Djrmel · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the plus side, it's very gothic. Every main character is not only damaged, but intent on damaging the others. There's a perverted artist, a heart of stone prostitute, a lecherous user of women, and the misused, misunderstood, emotionally stunted young woman they all revolve around. That the story is told by each of those characters in a nearly consecutive format makes it all fit together a little too neatly. There's no mystery as to who will do what to whom next, by the middle of the book you know all will be explained as soon as it happens. This was one of Harris's first books, and wasn't even released world wide until her later novels became popular. It does read as a more amateur work - there's a lot of story, a lot of character, a lot of setting - all with the feeling that it could have been done better with a little less.

[Peter Chandler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A darkly gothic tale indeed, engaging and provocative in parts if certainly not without its flaws. Those flaws mainly comprising of two and, when the book gets one of those right it seems to go awry with the other. The constant switching of narrators between the four main characters can create a rather dislocating experience and make it difficult to really connect with any of them. Then, particularly with the unnecessarily drawn out ending, when it does linger on any one voice for long enough it just gets a bit too heavy-handed. Stylish, but certainly not subtle. Still a very decent read though and, of course, an early work so I can but wonder how it might have come out were it written later by a more experienced hand.

[Bonnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just finished reading two other Joanne Harris books, so I decided to read this one. To be brutally honest, the story was really bizarre and I'm not entirely sure I understand what happened.

What's the book about? Well, just take a middle aged artist who's also a pedophile, his slightly creepy, very thin, very young, drug addict wife, a brothel owner, one of its' patrons and a girl that died twenty years ago, add in a little witchcraft and a death scene befitting Romeo and Juliet and there you go.

This isn't a book that I would recommend. If you do read it, you'll have to let me know what you think...

[Lisa Daly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Joanne Harris at her best. As a gothic novel set in 19th Century Britain it is a million miles away from Chocolat and the Lollipop Shoes, yet it reminded me of these books because of the depth of the characters. Each damaged character is caught up in his or her own selfish vision of the future but I wanted to know what happened to each of them and raced through this book in a day. If I have any criticism it is that the ending is a little unsatisfactory, but maybe that is just because the various characters didn't receive the outcome I would have liked.

[AlenGarou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Malato

è un romanzo che cercavo da tempo e devo dire che non mi ha deluso. All'inizio è un pò difficile da ingranare, ma poi la lettura si fa più fluida ed invitante. La Harris è riuscita a non scrivere un mattone emotivo grazie al suo stile scorrevole, ma se devo commentare questo libro con una parola, non ho nessuna difficiltà a trovarla.
Malato. Questo libro è orribilmente e splendidamente malato. Ma non in modo esplicito e crudo; è qualcosa di più profondo, qualcosa che tocca e macchia l'anima dei personaggi fino a distruggerla.
Alla fine la pace interiore non esiste.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is brilliantly done to give a peek into the twisted thinking of many men during the Victorian era towards women. Henry is obsessed with simultaneously trying to capture the innocence of woman, and convinced of their inherent sinfulness. As the book continues on, it is a downward spiral into madness and supernatural revenge. A wonderful read for anyone who loves Gothic literature, the Victorian era, or the Pre-Raphaelites!

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

not liking this very much...but fairly determined to finish it anyway.
Update - the story is getting a bit better and I will finish it, but the characters are sort of flat and I don't really care one way or the other what happens to them.