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Ventovieras
Michaelin ja Elizabethin avioliitto on lattea, täynnä rutiineja ja kinastelua. Tyhjänpäiväisellä vierailulla puolituttujen kartanossa Michael unohtuu katsomaan pientä taulua, jossa näyttää olevan vihreäpukuinen nuori nainen. Maalaus jää vaivaamaan Michaelia, mutta kun hän palaa katsomaan sitä, taulussa onkin naisen sijaan vain epämääräinen tahra.
Michael huomaa kuitenkin pian, ettei kaikki ole kuin ennen: aamujunassa vastakkaiselle penkille istahtaa nuori nainen, jolla on tummat silmät ja vihreä mekko. Itsevarma seuralainen saa Michaelin avautumaan henkilökohtaisista asioistaan, mutta kun Michael hetkeä myöhemmin palaa paikalleen, nainen on poissa.
Samaan aikaan Elizabeth huomaa puolisonsa muuttuneen: hänen miehensä on kuin herännyt pitkästä unesta hurmaavana, seksikkäänä ja seikkailunhaluisena. Muutos herättää kuitenkin kysymyksiä: Mitä Michaelin menneisyydessä on tapahtunut? Pitääkö häntä pelätä? Entä kuka on tuo nainen, joka ei päästä Michaelia otteestaan?
Ventovieras on englantilaiskirjailija Paul Tordayn taidonnäyte. Torday kuljettaa hyytäväksi muuttuvaa tarinaa vuorotellen Michaelin ja Elizabethin näkökulmista ja lataa heidän puheenvuorojensa väliin karmivia jännitteitä.
Michael huomaa kuitenkin pian, ettei kaikki ole kuin ennen: aamujunassa vastakkaiselle penkille istahtaa nuori nainen, jolla on tummat silmät ja vihreä mekko. Itsevarma seuralainen saa Michaelin avautumaan henkilökohtaisista asioistaan, mutta kun Michael hetkeä myöhemmin palaa paikalleen, nainen on poissa.
Samaan aikaan Elizabeth huomaa puolisonsa muuttuneen: hänen miehensä on kuin herännyt pitkästä unesta hurmaavana, seksikkäänä ja seikkailunhaluisena. Muutos herättää kuitenkin kysymyksiä: Mitä Michaelin menneisyydessä on tapahtunut? Pitääkö häntä pelätä? Entä kuka on tuo nainen, joka ei päästä Michaelia otteestaan?
Ventovieras on englantilaiskirjailija Paul Tordayn taidonnäyte. Torday kuljettaa hyytäväksi muuttuvaa tarinaa vuorotellen Michaelin ja Elizabethin näkökulmista ja lataa heidän puheenvuorojensa väliin karmivia jännitteitä.
300 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
43 people are currently reading
997 people want to read
About the author
Paul Torday
15 books176 followersPaul Torday burst on to the literary scene in 2007 with his first novel, SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN, an immediate international bestseller that has been translated into 28 languages and has been made into a film starring Ewan McGregor, Kristin Scott Thomas and Emily Blunt. His subsequent novels, THE IRRESISTIBLE INHERITANCE OF WILBERFORCE, THE GIRL ON THE LANDING, THE HOPELESS LIFE OF CHARLIE SUMMERS, MORE THAN YOU CAN SAY, THE LEGACY OF HARTLEPOOL HALL and LIGHT SHINING IN THE FOREST, were all published to great critical acclaim. He was married with two sons by a previous marriage, had two stepsons, and lived close to the River North Tyne. He died at home in December 2013.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 277 reviews
March 14, 2015
“How comfortable that idea is: that everything wrong with the human race is the result of some malfunction, some microscopic chemical change in our brains, some evolutionary wrong turning in our genetic code.”
The Girl On The Landing is the third novel by British author, Paul Torday. For ten years, Elizabeth has been married to Michael Gascoigne, ten years that Elizabeth says “demonstrated that at least I had commitment, although in my bleaker moments I thought that it might just be inertia”. Michael, boring but very wealthy, decent and reliable, begins to change after a weekend in Ireland, and Elizabeth discovers a spontaneous, romantic man she wishes had been present for those early years. Even when she discovers the reason for this profound change, and the danger it poses, she is reluctant to give this new man up.
This novel has a rather slow-moving start, but this tempo reflects the tone of the Gascoigne marriage, and as later events are described, the pace certainly picks up. Torday uses a twin narrative: Michael, who is eventually revealed to be an unreliable narrator; and Elizabeth, whose perspective demonstrates just how easily one can be ignorant of the true nature of one’s partner. Torday touches on the covert racism of the English Gentleman’s Club, as well as the medical profession’s opinion of what is “normal”, mental disorders and the drugs used to treat them: “…what type of human can conceive that a drug which obliterates the patient’s identity so entirely is a cure for anything?”
Torday said he trying to find the “ultimate novel” and wrote compulsively: each of his seven novels is a different genre, and The Girl On The Landing has been described as a subtle ghost story. This edition also contains a reading guide and a preview of the next book Torday wrote: The Hopeless Life of Charlie Summers. Said Charlie Summers makes a cameo appearance in this novel: Torday’s characters tend to do this. This thought-provoking novel is another brilliant Torday offering.
The Girl On The Landing is the third novel by British author, Paul Torday. For ten years, Elizabeth has been married to Michael Gascoigne, ten years that Elizabeth says “demonstrated that at least I had commitment, although in my bleaker moments I thought that it might just be inertia”. Michael, boring but very wealthy, decent and reliable, begins to change after a weekend in Ireland, and Elizabeth discovers a spontaneous, romantic man she wishes had been present for those early years. Even when she discovers the reason for this profound change, and the danger it poses, she is reluctant to give this new man up.
This novel has a rather slow-moving start, but this tempo reflects the tone of the Gascoigne marriage, and as later events are described, the pace certainly picks up. Torday uses a twin narrative: Michael, who is eventually revealed to be an unreliable narrator; and Elizabeth, whose perspective demonstrates just how easily one can be ignorant of the true nature of one’s partner. Torday touches on the covert racism of the English Gentleman’s Club, as well as the medical profession’s opinion of what is “normal”, mental disorders and the drugs used to treat them: “…what type of human can conceive that a drug which obliterates the patient’s identity so entirely is a cure for anything?”
Torday said he trying to find the “ultimate novel” and wrote compulsively: each of his seven novels is a different genre, and The Girl On The Landing has been described as a subtle ghost story. This edition also contains a reading guide and a preview of the next book Torday wrote: The Hopeless Life of Charlie Summers. Said Charlie Summers makes a cameo appearance in this novel: Torday’s characters tend to do this. This thought-provoking novel is another brilliant Torday offering.
July 20, 2023
Michael and Elizabeth Gascoigne Elizabeth are both in their thirties and have been married for ten years, a marriage largely devoid of passion, the story is told in both their first persons. "It was what my mother used to call a ‘workable’ marriage.”
Michael is an orphan, and owner by inheritance of the Scottish Highlands estate Ben Carroun. He doesn’t need to work and spends much of his time down in London at his gentlemen’s club Groucher in Mayfair. The club is the beginning and end of his social life, rounds of golf, card games and petty internal squabbling's. Michael's personality reflects his existence. Dull and predictable.
Elizabeth works as a property for a woman’s magazine, a job she does to spend some time away from Michael rather than a need for extra income.
However, after a few days away staying in one of Michael's fellow club member's country house in Ireland, Michael’s personality starts to change. Elizabeth discovers an unopened packet of strange medication, Serendipozan, in the bathroom cabinet. Elizabeth starts asking questions and discovers that in her husband’s past he was known, as a child, as “Mental Mickey”. After the death of his parents Michael was diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent a year in a secure unit before, thanks to some “chemical engineering” was considered safe to release him.
Elizabeth's initial worries are tempered by her relief at finding that the lifeless man she thought she had married has been transformed into the passionate Mikey. He is becoming increasingly unpredictable, elusive, assertive, not to mention loving and amorous. But it soon becomes obvious to the reader that the only possible outcome to this story is a violent one.
The book is written from a first person point of view with roughly alternating chapters by Michael and Elizabeth. I found this very effective and the story really drew me in. Torday is such an intelligent writer and I found his depiction of a severe mental health problem absolutely riveting.
However, I found the end of the novel rather disappointing as it seemed to slip into the Gothic it also lapsed into a negative stereotype of the condition. Michael’s earlier account, his struggles to find a sense of self , his coming back to life as the anti-psychotics leave his system is wonderfully depicted. However, Elizabeth’s description of looking into his eyes and “trying to understand how much of what was behind them was still human” was really disappointing in its negativity. The fact that the novel finishes with Elizabeth only underlined this for me. My own son has been living with the condition with over a decade relatively normally so perhaps tempered my opinion.
Michael is an orphan, and owner by inheritance of the Scottish Highlands estate Ben Carroun. He doesn’t need to work and spends much of his time down in London at his gentlemen’s club Groucher in Mayfair. The club is the beginning and end of his social life, rounds of golf, card games and petty internal squabbling's. Michael's personality reflects his existence. Dull and predictable.
Elizabeth works as a property for a woman’s magazine, a job she does to spend some time away from Michael rather than a need for extra income.
However, after a few days away staying in one of Michael's fellow club member's country house in Ireland, Michael’s personality starts to change. Elizabeth discovers an unopened packet of strange medication, Serendipozan, in the bathroom cabinet. Elizabeth starts asking questions and discovers that in her husband’s past he was known, as a child, as “Mental Mickey”. After the death of his parents Michael was diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent a year in a secure unit before, thanks to some “chemical engineering” was considered safe to release him.
Elizabeth's initial worries are tempered by her relief at finding that the lifeless man she thought she had married has been transformed into the passionate Mikey. He is becoming increasingly unpredictable, elusive, assertive, not to mention loving and amorous. But it soon becomes obvious to the reader that the only possible outcome to this story is a violent one.
The book is written from a first person point of view with roughly alternating chapters by Michael and Elizabeth. I found this very effective and the story really drew me in. Torday is such an intelligent writer and I found his depiction of a severe mental health problem absolutely riveting.
However, I found the end of the novel rather disappointing as it seemed to slip into the Gothic it also lapsed into a negative stereotype of the condition. Michael’s earlier account, his struggles to find a sense of self , his coming back to life as the anti-psychotics leave his system is wonderfully depicted. However, Elizabeth’s description of looking into his eyes and “trying to understand how much of what was behind them was still human” was really disappointing in its negativity. The fact that the novel finishes with Elizabeth only underlined this for me. My own son has been living with the condition with over a decade relatively normally so perhaps tempered my opinion.
June 27, 2025
I thought The Girl on the Landing would be similar to Torday’s previous Salmon Fishing in the Yemen which was witty, sardonic and amusingly satirical. It was also a quixotic quest for something fanciful.
The Girl on the Landing starts mysteriously, in the deep and dark mists of not bonnie Scotland. I wanted to know what the mystery was, who is the girl in the green dress only Michael Gascoigne sees. A ghost? A figment of Michaels’s imagination? Are events in the past going to shape what happening today? Well in a sense yes, but not the way I thought they might.
This bleak tale turns into a metal disintegration story about what happens if you keep taking your Serendipozan, or if you decide to stop taking it: a deadened existence or a mercurial one with a very dark side. It is not a win-win.
The Girl on the Landing starts mysteriously, in the deep and dark mists of not bonnie Scotland. I wanted to know what the mystery was, who is the girl in the green dress only Michael Gascoigne sees. A ghost? A figment of Michaels’s imagination? Are events in the past going to shape what happening today? Well in a sense yes, but not the way I thought they might.
This bleak tale turns into a metal disintegration story about what happens if you keep taking your Serendipozan, or if you decide to stop taking it: a deadened existence or a mercurial one with a very dark side. It is not a win-win.
May 10, 2009
If you have read Salmon Fishing in Yemen you will enjoy this book, although it is a bit different. I actually found it rather creepy and actually looked behind me when going upstairs at night to bed. The story follows Michael, an unusual bloke, no money worries, crumbling estate in Scotland. He is quiet, reserved and married to Elizabeth. The story unfolds through each character's point of view. Is Michael starting to fall apart into a different reality - ie schizophrenia - or has he really seen 'the girl' from a picture on a landing in a large house he and Elizabeth visit. This is an intriguing story to be taken both ways, I suppose. We are asked to ponder what is 'normal' for Michael - drugged up to the eyeballs with lithium, or manic and hallucinating, convinced he can speak to people who are not there and who Elizabeth cannot see. But, can she.....? This book is very well written and slightly scary, but will have you on the edge of your seat.
November 12, 2012
This was recommended to me by a friend who said it shared a similar theme with something I've written. I just dearly hope it was just the theme and that the quality and style of the writing are in no way similar. Only people who know me should read this review TBH.
Have some thoughts/observations...
The story is told from two perspectives - a husband and wife (Michael and Elizabeth). While the story is mostly about the husband and his mental health we get more from her than him. This was a disappointment because it could have been really interesting to follow his thought process as it changed. His pieces were generally more insightful than hers too so that was a pity. Along the same lines, she talked about dull things like how much wine and what food she and her friends chose when eating.
Since this was recommended to me for the fact that it's supposed to make you question what's real and what's imagined a bit more from Michael would have been nice (again). And on that same note more information on his history would have been interesting too. Frankly I don't care much of anything about the location of their wedding marquee and how Elizabeth used to go riding because it was inconsequential and, frankly, did nothing for her character. And yeah - no spoiler warning because that is not spoiling you!
So to stop myself from just ranting on and on about Elizabeth and her dull, selfish perspective I will try to move on to other issues. For what he did get to say Michael's parts were mostly interesting and I looked forward to his chapters, except that after a while I got annoyed because he went back over the boring bits of when they'd been together. I did not need a recounting of mundane activities!!!
There's a big gap in the story on the part of the housekeeper, Mrs McLeish because
The time setting for when the story took place is a real bugbear of mine. In the first chapter or two you're given a very formal description which, in my opinion, sets the story up to be a bit older than it is. Mostly things about how the people interact and how they were getting ready for dinner/bed etc. Even something like keeping the dog in the car when they were at the house in Ireland - that's not really something I'd expect of modern people. So I was firmly placing the story in 1960s or 70s, some time where those behaviours could be expected as the dying embers of an old society but the technology (cars etc) still fit. So imagine my surprise when Elizabeth checks her emails on her phone!! I don't know, either I'm too separate from the rich and powerful or too close to them - I've worked with someone I could kind of see being Elizabeth but even then there's just too much of the old formality retained to make it realistic. The time period is never given (at all - so it could be any point after mobile phones had email on them). I guess to me it mostly smacked of someone who likes or still imagines posh/rich people are trapped in the world of Agatha Christie and can enjoy that in spectacular isolation. The medical science wouldn't have fit in an earlier time period and the attitudes didn't wholly fit in the modern day.
One of the - or THE main - aspects of the book was mental health to be exact,
The book has on the front a very proud announcement saying it's recommended by the Richard and Judy book club. Firstly I'm worried that my friend is reading things on their recommendation but that's not for here. Secondly - I guess that about says it. It's for women who live and die by their own perspective, who can only consider significant mental health conditions for how the problems of others affects them (and don't get me wrong that's a valid thing to explore but it's not the ONLY thing, especially when you choose to tell the story from both perspectives) and want to hear about
Rant over - don't read this book. Go listen to some fatuous cow talk about anything purely from her own perspective with no insight into how other people might feel about things.
And yes, it still got two stars - for Michael! Because his story was good and could have been far more interesting had he been sat next to someone else at that dinner party.
Have some thoughts/observations...
The story is told from two perspectives - a husband and wife (Michael and Elizabeth). While the story is mostly about the husband and his mental health we get more from her than him. This was a disappointment because it could have been really interesting to follow his thought process as it changed. His pieces were generally more insightful than hers too so that was a pity. Along the same lines, she talked about dull things like how much wine and what food she and her friends chose when eating.
Since this was recommended to me for the fact that it's supposed to make you question what's real and what's imagined a bit more from Michael would have been nice (again). And on that same note more information on his history would have been interesting too. Frankly I don't care much of anything about the location of their wedding marquee and how Elizabeth used to go riding because it was inconsequential and, frankly, did nothing for her character. And yeah - no spoiler warning because that is not spoiling you!
So to stop myself from just ranting on and on about Elizabeth and her dull, selfish perspective I will try to move on to other issues. For what he did get to say Michael's parts were mostly interesting and I looked forward to his chapters, except that after a while I got annoyed because he went back over the boring bits of when they'd been together. I did not need a recounting of mundane activities!!!
There's a big gap in the story on the part of the housekeeper, Mrs McLeish because
The time setting for when the story took place is a real bugbear of mine. In the first chapter or two you're given a very formal description which, in my opinion, sets the story up to be a bit older than it is. Mostly things about how the people interact and how they were getting ready for dinner/bed etc. Even something like keeping the dog in the car when they were at the house in Ireland - that's not really something I'd expect of modern people. So I was firmly placing the story in 1960s or 70s, some time where those behaviours could be expected as the dying embers of an old society but the technology (cars etc) still fit. So imagine my surprise when Elizabeth checks her emails on her phone!! I don't know, either I'm too separate from the rich and powerful or too close to them - I've worked with someone I could kind of see being Elizabeth but even then there's just too much of the old formality retained to make it realistic. The time period is never given (at all - so it could be any point after mobile phones had email on them). I guess to me it mostly smacked of someone who likes or still imagines posh/rich people are trapped in the world of Agatha Christie and can enjoy that in spectacular isolation. The medical science wouldn't have fit in an earlier time period and the attitudes didn't wholly fit in the modern day.
One of the - or THE main - aspects of the book was mental health to be exact,
The book has on the front a very proud announcement saying it's recommended by the Richard and Judy book club. Firstly I'm worried that my friend is reading things on their recommendation but that's not for here. Secondly - I guess that about says it. It's for women who live and die by their own perspective, who can only consider significant mental health conditions for how the problems of others affects them (and don't get me wrong that's a valid thing to explore but it's not the ONLY thing, especially when you choose to tell the story from both perspectives) and want to hear about
Rant over - don't read this book. Go listen to some fatuous cow talk about anything purely from her own perspective with no insight into how other people might feel about things.
And yes, it still got two stars - for Michael! Because his story was good and could have been far more interesting had he been sat next to someone else at that dinner party.
June 4, 2016
I will have to think some more about this book. Is it believable? I guess for the plot to be so I have to accept the author's premise that evil has a genetic basis and can be passed through generations, the 'bad seed' theory. There is something nagging at me about the storyline though, as though I have missed a clue that will make the whole novel more plausible. This book is a gothic thriller, set not in the genre of the nineteenth century but in the Scottish highlands of the twenty-first century. I understand that Michael (Mikey) Gascoigne can 'see' the Lamia but not that she/it is also visible to his wife Elizabeth. Michael is a damaged soul, a boy who was treated for a severe mental illness with lithium/ mind altering drugs in order to curtail the 'voices' that haunt him and drive him to commit acts of violence but also give him powers to conceal himself in order to move though the landscape unseen and unheard. Michael grows up and marries Elizabeth. But the man who marries Elizabeth is a drug-controlled version of his true self, and the situation really goes pear-shaped when he decides that he will no longer continue to take his medication, and he begins to revert to his 'true self'. Slow-moving at first, but this is intentional, a metaphor/allegory for the slow-moving life of the drugged Michael before he reverts to passionate 'Mikey' and his marriage and life with Elizabeth really heats up and spirals out of control. Scary in parts, but believable? Hmmmm.
3.5 stars
I think what is troubling me is the role of the housekeeper, Mrs MacLeish. Why did the author include her character and not flesh out her relationship with Michael? It seems that she is the only remaining witness to his life as a child and it is obvious that she knows more about him than she tells Elizabeth. Why does she disappear without any further involvement?
3.5 stars
I think what is troubling me is the role of the housekeeper, Mrs MacLeish. Why did the author include her character and not flesh out her relationship with Michael? It seems that she is the only remaining witness to his life as a child and it is obvious that she knows more about him than she tells Elizabeth. Why does she disappear without any further involvement?
June 10, 2019
Pleasant, enjoyable, entertaining read.
November 26, 2024
Vanaf het begin van het boek groeit een sluimerend gevoel van mysterie, dat uitmondt in onwillekeurige rillingen en nagelbijtende spanning richtingde ontknoping.
Moeilijk om weg te leggen, moeilijk ook om los te laten nadat ik het boek definitief dichtklapte.
Moeilijk om weg te leggen, moeilijk ook om los te laten nadat ik het boek definitief dichtklapte.
July 25, 2015
"Apparitions and mental conditions, inventions and creations of the mind."
This story is about letting go, returning to a more wild state, a place before nations and nationalities a place where legends, sensual, sexual passions and the true savage live, a place where you follow your instincts till you howl at the moon. Commune with the goddess and hunt animal all animals, till you disappear into the primordial forest in your mind.
A marriage of convenience between two strangers, and old fashion life where modernity is intruding into the set British ways of doing things, old gentleman's clubs, fishing trips, boring social dinners, a boring boring life, where Michael unbenounced to everyone has began a plan of escape, a transformation into a past where there were only primordial men and forests. The first glimmer is a girl in a painting, followed by her ever growing reality that awakens in him a surprising Michael, that sparks passion in his wife, even love, controversy in social circles and a dislocation of reality, that seeps like blood into every cranny of their lives.
Very well written, full of atmosphere and contradictory feelings for the reader, the characters are well written and the settings feel real and full of life. Avery different thriller that is not about capture but scape and there is where this book will have some detractors, it is not conclusive but open ended and even allegorical in its ending like the feelings it awakens in Michael; that like his namesake is a fallen angel of sorts.
This story is about letting go, returning to a more wild state, a place before nations and nationalities a place where legends, sensual, sexual passions and the true savage live, a place where you follow your instincts till you howl at the moon. Commune with the goddess and hunt animal all animals, till you disappear into the primordial forest in your mind.
A marriage of convenience between two strangers, and old fashion life where modernity is intruding into the set British ways of doing things, old gentleman's clubs, fishing trips, boring social dinners, a boring boring life, where Michael unbenounced to everyone has began a plan of escape, a transformation into a past where there were only primordial men and forests. The first glimmer is a girl in a painting, followed by her ever growing reality that awakens in him a surprising Michael, that sparks passion in his wife, even love, controversy in social circles and a dislocation of reality, that seeps like blood into every cranny of their lives.
Very well written, full of atmosphere and contradictory feelings for the reader, the characters are well written and the settings feel real and full of life. Avery different thriller that is not about capture but scape and there is where this book will have some detractors, it is not conclusive but open ended and even allegorical in its ending like the feelings it awakens in Michael; that like his namesake is a fallen angel of sorts.
December 14, 2018
An easy read with a beautiful setting. I wasn't fond of the unanswered questions at the end. Elizabeth was a bland character. I enjoyed the chapters from Michael's perspective more.
July 24, 2013
Well well well, I certainly was not expecting that. Don't read a blurb, don't read a synopsis if you'd like an old Victorian Gothic horrors set in the cold, remote of Scotland (my home!) dive right in like I did and be swept away in a tale that leaves you breathless. The twist and turns come thick and fast, astounding you at every turn of the page. A fantastic, and indeed, a very gripping read, I started an finished on the same day!
March 15, 2023
Maybe a rating of 3 stars is a bit unfair. I'm not sure if I enjoyed it more than that but it has left me feeling jittery and unsettled. A sign of good writing....??? Mmm...going to mull it over today. Haha!
June 17, 2010
This is a library book read for Hartwell WI book club.
The book started out to be just another relationship drama, but as Michael dispeared and Mikey emerged as the book progressed it became more and more like a thriller. I didn't quite understand the Lamia references through the book, but that was made clear at the end. The book kept me hooked in and I really enjoyed it. I look forward to hearing what the rest of the book club think of it tonight.
The book started out to be just another relationship drama, but as Michael dispeared and Mikey emerged as the book progressed it became more and more like a thriller. I didn't quite understand the Lamia references through the book, but that was made clear at the end. The book kept me hooked in and I really enjoyed it. I look forward to hearing what the rest of the book club think of it tonight.
February 6, 2017
What a fantastic novel. It is scary and thought provoking and heartbreaking. But so good. Have so many questions. Was it real or not?
May 7, 2015
I have often said that one of the reasons that I enjoy being part of a book group is that I am required, at least once a month, to read out of my comfort zone. The Girl on the Landing by Paul Torday was well out of my comfort zone! I had heard of Paul Torday and his first novel, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen which was published in 2007, was made into a major British film starring Ewan McGregor in 2011. So I was very interested to be reading a book by this author. He turned to writing late in life and scored a huge international hit with that first novel, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.
He wanted to find what he termed the “ultimate story”, one that would bewitch readers, and he went on writing compulsively because he was still trying to find out what it was. To this end, each of his seven novels explored a different genre. Torday admitted once that, after discovering his ability to get published, he perhaps treated writing like learning to ride a bike: he kept pedalling like mad because he was afraid that if he fell off he might not be able to get back on. He sometimes suggested that he might stop writing, but never really meant it, and at his death left uncompleted yet another novel. He was born in Croxdale, County Durham, England. He was the eldest of three sons of Laszlo Torday and his Irish wife, Eileen. His father had emigrated from Hungary with his parents in the late 1930s and the family settled in the north-east as government grants were available for business set-ups. Laszlo was a physicist and his father a scientist and they founded an electroplating business that would develop into marine engineering.
Torday went to the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle and late won a scholarship to study English at Pembroke College, Oxford. After he graduated, his father insisted that he should do a business course in Manchester. He subsequently joined the family firm, Torday & Carlisle.
What Torday never publicly disclosed was that his extraordinary output, one book a year from 2007, reflected a personal race against time. He had wanted to write all his life but he was faced with a cancer diagnosis shortly after his first book was swept away on the whirlwind of an international award-winning literary sensation and he recognised the extent to which his time might be limited. Paul Torday, author and businessman, born 1 August 1946; died 18 December 2013 survived by his wife, Penelope, his sons and two stepsons and three grandchildren.
The Girl on the Landing tells the story of Michael and Elizabeth who have a steady, if passionless, marriage. Michael is utterly reliable, decent and dull. His life consists of Grouchers, his Mayfair gentleman’s club, and Beinn Caorrun, the Perthshire estate he inherited from his parents. He remains indivisible from it, much to Elizabeth’s frustration. She was not drawn to Michael only for his money: Elizabeth finds in Michael the complete dependability her father lacked, although she is aware that they do not laugh a lot together. Even on the morning of her wedding, Elizabeth finds herself half hoping that Michael will not turn up but of course, he does.
The story is told by Michael and Elizabeth in roughly alternating chapters. The Girl on the Landing begins 10 years later when, staying for the weekend in an Irish country house, Michael is struck by a painting of a girl in a green dress walking across a landing. On mentioning it to his hosts, Michael is confused to be told that there is not a girl in the picture. He goes back to check and discovers that the girl is no longer there. This the first in a series of unsettling jolts, as Michael’s internal reality starts to conflict with the outside world as perceived by those around him. The girl in the green dress starts appearing to Michael more and more frequently, and introduces herself as Lamia. Her presence, at first beguiling, becomes increasingly ominous, until it seems she “was always whispering to me, whether I was awake or asleep”.
Elizabeth begins to notice a change in her husband’s behaviour. Her slight unease at discovering an unopened packet of strange medication is tempered by her relief at finding that the lifeless man she thought she had married has been transformed into the passionate Mikey. He takes her to Rome, Italy, where, in contrast to their first honeymoon, “a few damp days” in a cheerless hotel in Ireland, their time together seems “an endless daze of wine, and food, and happiness”. However, it is a happiness that proves short-lived when they return to London, England. Elizabeth starts asking questions and discovers that in her husband’s past he was known, as a child, as “Mental Mickey”. Then, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent a year in a secure unit before, thanks to some “chemical engineering” otherwise known as Serendipozan, it was considered safe to release him. The important thing, the psychiatrist tells Elizabeth, is that Michael keeps taking his medication. Of course, he has already stopped.
I found the end of the novel rather disappointing. Torday is such an intelligent writer that almost until the very last word I was expecting him to play with the reader, to overturn the stereotype of the violent schizophrenic. He does not do so and, as a depiction of a severe mental health problem, the book portrays a negative stereotype. Elizabeth takes over the narration and we lose touch with the reality of her husband’s experience. Michael’s earlier account is brilliantly handled. He struggles to find a sense of self and he describes his sense of coming back to life as the anti-psychotics leave his system. Elizabeth’s description of looking into his eyes and “trying to understand how much of what was behind them was still human” fails to convince. It is so negative as a description of mental health, that it is really disappointing.
Nevertheless, The Girl on the Landing is well worth reading, although it did not appeal to me.
He wanted to find what he termed the “ultimate story”, one that would bewitch readers, and he went on writing compulsively because he was still trying to find out what it was. To this end, each of his seven novels explored a different genre. Torday admitted once that, after discovering his ability to get published, he perhaps treated writing like learning to ride a bike: he kept pedalling like mad because he was afraid that if he fell off he might not be able to get back on. He sometimes suggested that he might stop writing, but never really meant it, and at his death left uncompleted yet another novel. He was born in Croxdale, County Durham, England. He was the eldest of three sons of Laszlo Torday and his Irish wife, Eileen. His father had emigrated from Hungary with his parents in the late 1930s and the family settled in the north-east as government grants were available for business set-ups. Laszlo was a physicist and his father a scientist and they founded an electroplating business that would develop into marine engineering.
Torday went to the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle and late won a scholarship to study English at Pembroke College, Oxford. After he graduated, his father insisted that he should do a business course in Manchester. He subsequently joined the family firm, Torday & Carlisle.
What Torday never publicly disclosed was that his extraordinary output, one book a year from 2007, reflected a personal race against time. He had wanted to write all his life but he was faced with a cancer diagnosis shortly after his first book was swept away on the whirlwind of an international award-winning literary sensation and he recognised the extent to which his time might be limited. Paul Torday, author and businessman, born 1 August 1946; died 18 December 2013 survived by his wife, Penelope, his sons and two stepsons and three grandchildren.
The Girl on the Landing tells the story of Michael and Elizabeth who have a steady, if passionless, marriage. Michael is utterly reliable, decent and dull. His life consists of Grouchers, his Mayfair gentleman’s club, and Beinn Caorrun, the Perthshire estate he inherited from his parents. He remains indivisible from it, much to Elizabeth’s frustration. She was not drawn to Michael only for his money: Elizabeth finds in Michael the complete dependability her father lacked, although she is aware that they do not laugh a lot together. Even on the morning of her wedding, Elizabeth finds herself half hoping that Michael will not turn up but of course, he does.
The story is told by Michael and Elizabeth in roughly alternating chapters. The Girl on the Landing begins 10 years later when, staying for the weekend in an Irish country house, Michael is struck by a painting of a girl in a green dress walking across a landing. On mentioning it to his hosts, Michael is confused to be told that there is not a girl in the picture. He goes back to check and discovers that the girl is no longer there. This the first in a series of unsettling jolts, as Michael’s internal reality starts to conflict with the outside world as perceived by those around him. The girl in the green dress starts appearing to Michael more and more frequently, and introduces herself as Lamia. Her presence, at first beguiling, becomes increasingly ominous, until it seems she “was always whispering to me, whether I was awake or asleep”.
Elizabeth begins to notice a change in her husband’s behaviour. Her slight unease at discovering an unopened packet of strange medication is tempered by her relief at finding that the lifeless man she thought she had married has been transformed into the passionate Mikey. He takes her to Rome, Italy, where, in contrast to their first honeymoon, “a few damp days” in a cheerless hotel in Ireland, their time together seems “an endless daze of wine, and food, and happiness”. However, it is a happiness that proves short-lived when they return to London, England. Elizabeth starts asking questions and discovers that in her husband’s past he was known, as a child, as “Mental Mickey”. Then, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent a year in a secure unit before, thanks to some “chemical engineering” otherwise known as Serendipozan, it was considered safe to release him. The important thing, the psychiatrist tells Elizabeth, is that Michael keeps taking his medication. Of course, he has already stopped.
I found the end of the novel rather disappointing. Torday is such an intelligent writer that almost until the very last word I was expecting him to play with the reader, to overturn the stereotype of the violent schizophrenic. He does not do so and, as a depiction of a severe mental health problem, the book portrays a negative stereotype. Elizabeth takes over the narration and we lose touch with the reality of her husband’s experience. Michael’s earlier account is brilliantly handled. He struggles to find a sense of self and he describes his sense of coming back to life as the anti-psychotics leave his system. Elizabeth’s description of looking into his eyes and “trying to understand how much of what was behind them was still human” fails to convince. It is so negative as a description of mental health, that it is really disappointing.
Nevertheless, The Girl on the Landing is well worth reading, although it did not appeal to me.
January 7, 2021
Many people loved this book, I just couldn't get in to it.
October 2, 2024
If some body had told me at the end of the first 100 pages where we would end I would not have believed it. All about relationships how well we know each other and the often hidden trauma of mental health problems. Highly recommended
July 15, 2013
Interesting book with an interesting approach, if nothing else.
Contemporary books with Victorian era suspense are rather sparse, so I was glad to come across this one since I completely, completely adore gothic horror. There's something very special in that style - above all it is the way how the most respectful and well-behaved ladies and gentlemen become faced with something completely inexplicable and monstrous that defies their rationalist world view. But not only that, in this book everything happens in a modern day world, through modern day knowledge and science. That allows the book to be viewed from various interesting additional perspectives.
In essence, the plot is very faithful to the gothic style (quite reminiscent of Le Fanu's Green Tea in fact). A man sees a female in a painting. The mysterious female begins to haunt him, but it appears that no-one else can see her. Strange things happen. Is the woman a ghost, or is the man mad? That is the question. The mandatory descriptions of inherited countryside mansions, gentlemen's clubs, wealth, monocles and tweed jackets have not been forgotten either.
The thrill in the novel was mainly great and the author managed to retain descent amounts of mystery for the reader to ponder, before the last pages anyway. I also got really good laughs from a particular scene where the protagonist destroys a dinner atmosphere by explaining about the mitochondrial DNA origins of Brits, making everyone thinks there's something seriously wrong with him because gasp - he isn't talking about "normal" things like golf or hunting or gossip. I'm all too familiar with that! However in some ways in general the approach was a little bit too scientific, almost so that this novel could be considered to stigmatise mental illness (schizophrenia) to obnoxious degrees.
The author did not really explore the parapsychological vehicle, rather the book presents the view that everyone who sees or hears imaginary things is mad, must be locked up and medicated. I don't claim that this is what the author wants to say, instead from between the lines one can see that he has a somewhat anti-psychiatric agenda. And there are a couple pretty obvious plot details pointing to this.
Towards the end stages the book had some sections which I found very hard to read. It angered me and... I wished the things would have been written to go differently. It's frustrating to be vague but I feel it's hard to say much about the content without spoiling the plot. The characters could have had more depth as well, especially the protagonist's wife, and sometimes it seemed as if the author would have tried all too hard to make his puppets move the story to a certain direction instead of achieving a natural flow. That distracted me.
Overall though, I still enjoyed the book and found it entertaining and fascinating. Personally I would like to give it rather high points.
Contemporary books with Victorian era suspense are rather sparse, so I was glad to come across this one since I completely, completely adore gothic horror. There's something very special in that style - above all it is the way how the most respectful and well-behaved ladies and gentlemen become faced with something completely inexplicable and monstrous that defies their rationalist world view. But not only that, in this book everything happens in a modern day world, through modern day knowledge and science. That allows the book to be viewed from various interesting additional perspectives.
In essence, the plot is very faithful to the gothic style (quite reminiscent of Le Fanu's Green Tea in fact). A man sees a female in a painting. The mysterious female begins to haunt him, but it appears that no-one else can see her. Strange things happen. Is the woman a ghost, or is the man mad? That is the question. The mandatory descriptions of inherited countryside mansions, gentlemen's clubs, wealth, monocles and tweed jackets have not been forgotten either.
The thrill in the novel was mainly great and the author managed to retain descent amounts of mystery for the reader to ponder, before the last pages anyway. I also got really good laughs from a particular scene where the protagonist destroys a dinner atmosphere by explaining about the mitochondrial DNA origins of Brits, making everyone thinks there's something seriously wrong with him because gasp - he isn't talking about "normal" things like golf or hunting or gossip. I'm all too familiar with that! However in some ways in general the approach was a little bit too scientific, almost so that this novel could be considered to stigmatise mental illness (schizophrenia) to obnoxious degrees.
The author did not really explore the parapsychological vehicle, rather the book presents the view that everyone who sees or hears imaginary things is mad, must be locked up and medicated. I don't claim that this is what the author wants to say, instead from between the lines one can see that he has a somewhat anti-psychiatric agenda. And there are a couple pretty obvious plot details pointing to this.
Towards the end stages the book had some sections which I found very hard to read. It angered me and... I wished the things would have been written to go differently. It's frustrating to be vague but I feel it's hard to say much about the content without spoiling the plot. The characters could have had more depth as well, especially the protagonist's wife, and sometimes it seemed as if the author would have tried all too hard to make his puppets move the story to a certain direction instead of achieving a natural flow. That distracted me.
Overall though, I still enjoyed the book and found it entertaining and fascinating. Personally I would like to give it rather high points.
June 26, 2014
So I went into this book not knowing what it was about and I went out of this book still unsure of what I just read.
The story is narrated by two narrators, Elizabeth and Michael, who lead a rather cold marriage. Nothing exciting happens, Elizabeth keeps going on about how she got into this situation and that she is okay with her dull, desinterested husband.
Until things start changing and he starts paying attention to her, showing her what her marriage could have been like and she falls in love with this new version of her husband.
Unfortunately this new version only existst because he stopped taking some medication which suppressed things that are resurfacing now and have to be dealt with.
I really had problems with the writing of this novel, it was really difficult to get into, and the change between narrators (or who the narrators were in the first place) was not well done.
Then I didn't like the characters and their behavior all throughout the book.
Then the issue with the medication and everything connected to that was so superficial and to some extent unbelievable that it drove me up the wall.
The mystery part of the novel kept me going, as I was hoping for a resolution at the end, but there was none. There was just more confusion and no real statement was made on anything.
I really cannot recommend this book.
The story is narrated by two narrators, Elizabeth and Michael, who lead a rather cold marriage. Nothing exciting happens, Elizabeth keeps going on about how she got into this situation and that she is okay with her dull, desinterested husband.
Until things start changing and he starts paying attention to her, showing her what her marriage could have been like and she falls in love with this new version of her husband.
Unfortunately this new version only existst because he stopped taking some medication which suppressed things that are resurfacing now and have to be dealt with.
I really had problems with the writing of this novel, it was really difficult to get into, and the change between narrators (or who the narrators were in the first place) was not well done.
Then I didn't like the characters and their behavior all throughout the book.
Then the issue with the medication and everything connected to that was so superficial and to some extent unbelievable that it drove me up the wall.
The mystery part of the novel kept me going, as I was hoping for a resolution at the end, but there was none. There was just more confusion and no real statement was made on anything.
I really cannot recommend this book.
December 17, 2017
Mysterious tale of a man with secrets... it grew on me as I read on
I didn't like this much to start with, but I persevered as I have loved other Torday novels. As I came to understand the characters more and see the twists emerge, I appreciated the build-up, the tricks employed, the tension built. It reminded me a little of 'Death of an Owl' in terms of some of the characters and situations.
An enigmatic man, quite cool and hard to fathom proposes to a woman he first meets at a party. Having feelings towards him not quite of 'love' Elizabeth says yes to Michael, they build a quiet life of routine but no real passion, travelling between London and his family home in a rural part of Scotland. Eventually some secrets emerge that change both our perception of the characters and their own.
It's a slow build up, but does pay off for patience. The narration is shared between the married couple and gives a good insight both into how they see each other and their relationship and how they see themselves. It's nicely conveyed and as we learn more, clarity eventually descends.
Not instantly as riveting as 'Salmon Fishing' but it's a good read if you like a slow-burner.
I didn't like this much to start with, but I persevered as I have loved other Torday novels. As I came to understand the characters more and see the twists emerge, I appreciated the build-up, the tricks employed, the tension built. It reminded me a little of 'Death of an Owl' in terms of some of the characters and situations.
An enigmatic man, quite cool and hard to fathom proposes to a woman he first meets at a party. Having feelings towards him not quite of 'love' Elizabeth says yes to Michael, they build a quiet life of routine but no real passion, travelling between London and his family home in a rural part of Scotland. Eventually some secrets emerge that change both our perception of the characters and their own.
It's a slow build up, but does pay off for patience. The narration is shared between the married couple and gives a good insight both into how they see each other and their relationship and how they see themselves. It's nicely conveyed and as we learn more, clarity eventually descends.
Not instantly as riveting as 'Salmon Fishing' but it's a good read if you like a slow-burner.
October 15, 2009
This is the first book I've read by Paul Torday. It kept me on the edge of my chair. I don't want to put any spoilers in, but it did interweave human drama, English manners, suspense, and something extra... sort of dark, sort of odd, and it kept me turning the pages! I won't say any more...
November 28, 2016
A great read. Especially the last 3rd...i couldn't put it down. It turned into a real page turner.
July 30, 2021
An interesting little dive into mental health issues. First Torday that I've read and I would like to read more.
April 12, 2021
A blemish in the list of otherwise good books I’ve read this year.
July 27, 2024
4.5 IMO. An interesting and readable 'thriller'
November 13, 2024
Enjoyable read. A bit of a slow starter but then I couldn’t put it down! The last few pages were chilling and intense.
March 30, 2025
Tämä olikin yllättävän jännä, koukuttava ja hyvä!
October 12, 2020
This book was intriguing and went in a different direction to what I expected. I didn't mind that at all. Initially I found the writing quite formal, but I quickly got used to it - it suited that narrator (one of two) very well.
April 5, 2016
This is possibly the most unexpected horror story I've ever read. It isn't really a horror story, of course - but by the time I was about halfway through, I was reading it with such an overpowering sense of foreboding, it might as well have been!
The story starts very prosaically, with two rather boring people married to each other and doing ordinary things. I guess some people might have found the start slow, but almost immediately there are indications that Michael isn't quite himself and that something odd is happening - and that kept me interested. As I continued, clues began to emerge and I got more and more anxious about what might happen to Elizabeth in particular.
Eventually I was on such tenterhooks that I read the last third of the book in one long session. As a result I didn't entirely do the book justice, because at times I was almost speed-reading - I just had to find out what was going to happen. The frightening climactic scene didn't have quite the impact it should have because by that time, I found it too hard to slow down!
Some people have claimed the ending was intended to set up a sequel. I don't agree: I think it's in line with the unsettling tone of the rest of the book. The author doesn't want to leave us with a complete happy ever after.
The story starts very prosaically, with two rather boring people married to each other and doing ordinary things. I guess some people might have found the start slow, but almost immediately there are indications that Michael isn't quite himself and that something odd is happening - and that kept me interested. As I continued, clues began to emerge and I got more and more anxious about what might happen to Elizabeth in particular.
Eventually I was on such tenterhooks that I read the last third of the book in one long session. As a result I didn't entirely do the book justice, because at times I was almost speed-reading - I just had to find out what was going to happen. The frightening climactic scene didn't have quite the impact it should have because by that time, I found it too hard to slow down!
Some people have claimed the ending was intended to set up a sequel. I don't agree: I think it's in line with the unsettling tone of the rest of the book. The author doesn't want to leave us with a complete happy ever after.
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