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The Outsider
From the time she was born, Emma Byrne was different from other children. Shy and reclusive, her world revolved around animals, so much so that by the time she was 15, Emma was a much sought after horse trainer. So who would try to harm this gifted young woman? Who was shooting in Crilly Woods on that fateful August day? Emma’s twin brother, Anthony, is determined to get to the bottom of what happened to his sister, and in the course of his investigations makes a terrible mistake, one that will change all their lives forever. The sometimes those who love us most hardly know us at all.
318 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
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July 9, 2015
It's hard to pin a certain genre to this novel. I'd say this is a kind of murder-mystery-family-drama-society-horse-novel.
Set in rural Ireland, spanning the years 1971-90, this story is focused on the Byrne family: The parents, Jack and Evelyn, and their twins, Anthony and Emma. Emma is kind of a special person and considered an outsider by most of the villagers. She is far from being mentally retarded, but she lacks skills in communicating with others and socializing. Even her parents and her brother sometimes have no clue how to deal with her. As a teenager she finds a job as a horse trainer on a nearby farm. Horses become her life, and she finally gets the recognition she deserves. At the age of seventeen, however, an incident occurs whose ramifications will change the life of three families forever.
What impressed me most about this novel is the elaborate development of the Emma character. Although this is not explicitly mentioned in the book, Emma apparently suffers from some form of autism. Up until now I have only known about this disorder from the books by Daniel Tammet (like Born on a Blue Day) and the movie about Temple Grandin. Arlene Hunt did a very fine job here. But it's not only Emma who is worth mentioning. The whole Byrne family, the neighbors and employers, and the "bystanders" are very well drawn out ... even the different horses!
If you expect a genuine fast paced crime novel, you probably will be disappointed. But, if you like to read about a tragic family history you won't go wrong with this book. A little tearjerker-ish? Yes, perhaps, but I loved it.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Set in rural Ireland, spanning the years 1971-90, this story is focused on the Byrne family: The parents, Jack and Evelyn, and their twins, Anthony and Emma. Emma is kind of a special person and considered an outsider by most of the villagers. She is far from being mentally retarded, but she lacks skills in communicating with others and socializing. Even her parents and her brother sometimes have no clue how to deal with her. As a teenager she finds a job as a horse trainer on a nearby farm. Horses become her life, and she finally gets the recognition she deserves. At the age of seventeen, however, an incident occurs whose ramifications will change the life of three families forever.
What impressed me most about this novel is the elaborate development of the Emma character. Although this is not explicitly mentioned in the book, Emma apparently suffers from some form of autism. Up until now I have only known about this disorder from the books by Daniel Tammet (like Born on a Blue Day) and the movie about Temple Grandin. Arlene Hunt did a very fine job here. But it's not only Emma who is worth mentioning. The whole Byrne family, the neighbors and employers, and the "bystanders" are very well drawn out ... even the different horses!
If you expect a genuine fast paced crime novel, you probably will be disappointed. But, if you like to read about a tragic family history you won't go wrong with this book. A little tearjerker-ish? Yes, perhaps, but I loved it.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
August 11, 2014
I wasn't sure how to rate this, because I wasn't sure how to categorize it. The summary on the back cover of Arlene Hunt's "Outsider" makes the book sound like a murder mystery, which it is. Kind of. But not really. A murder mystery implies that there is a corpse, an indication that the corpse was a victim of foul play, and that there is a search to find out the who, how, and why of the murder. I suppose all of these elements are present in the book, but none of them are at the forefront of the story. They certainly frame the story and give it a structure, but they are not what the story is about.
Of course, none of this actually diminishes the impact of the story. In fact, the lack of almost any typical murder mystery formula may, in fact, be to the book's advantage. It creates, in the reader's mind (mine, at least) a mental jarring that makes one wonder, in a good way, what the hell is going on here?
Set in Ireland, the novel follows the life and times of the Byrne family, specifically twins Emma and Anthony. Emma has always been a challenge. Quiet, anti-social and yet extremely intelligent, she has trouble making friends and is terrified of social situations.
Emma is autistic, and it is a testament to Hunt's writing abilities that she manages to convey this without using the word "autistic" once in the novel. Perhaps it's not a word that is commonly used by the culture or the time period of the novel. In any case, Emma is misunderstood by her family and community.
Until she finds her salvation: horse-whispering. She has always felt more comfortable around animals, and when an opportunity to work on a neighboring horse-farm opens up, she takes it. She quickly finds her talent and her calling, and she immediately builds a reputation for one of the best horse trainers and whisperers in the region.
Her brother, Anthony, however, has yet to find his way. He is a bartender with very few prospects or ambitions, and he does not have a great relationship with his parents.
While something significant happens one August afternoon that significantly alters the course of everyone's life in the story, I am not going to reveal what it is.
Because, honestly, the meat of the story is the dysfunctional relationships of the members of the Byrne family. While Emma may seem to be the central focus, she is actually the least problematic. In the end, the novel is about parent-child relationships and sibling relationships. It is about how our love for our children can sometimes be a stranglehold and a detriment to their development. It is about the things we say to our children that may not be significant to us but may have deep and lasting consequences for them. It is also about understanding and a lack of understanding and how either one could be a matter of life and death.
Of course, none of this actually diminishes the impact of the story. In fact, the lack of almost any typical murder mystery formula may, in fact, be to the book's advantage. It creates, in the reader's mind (mine, at least) a mental jarring that makes one wonder, in a good way, what the hell is going on here?
Set in Ireland, the novel follows the life and times of the Byrne family, specifically twins Emma and Anthony. Emma has always been a challenge. Quiet, anti-social and yet extremely intelligent, she has trouble making friends and is terrified of social situations.
Emma is autistic, and it is a testament to Hunt's writing abilities that she manages to convey this without using the word "autistic" once in the novel. Perhaps it's not a word that is commonly used by the culture or the time period of the novel. In any case, Emma is misunderstood by her family and community.
Until she finds her salvation: horse-whispering. She has always felt more comfortable around animals, and when an opportunity to work on a neighboring horse-farm opens up, she takes it. She quickly finds her talent and her calling, and she immediately builds a reputation for one of the best horse trainers and whisperers in the region.
Her brother, Anthony, however, has yet to find his way. He is a bartender with very few prospects or ambitions, and he does not have a great relationship with his parents.
While something significant happens one August afternoon that significantly alters the course of everyone's life in the story, I am not going to reveal what it is.
Because, honestly, the meat of the story is the dysfunctional relationships of the members of the Byrne family. While Emma may seem to be the central focus, she is actually the least problematic. In the end, the novel is about parent-child relationships and sibling relationships. It is about how our love for our children can sometimes be a stranglehold and a detriment to their development. It is about the things we say to our children that may not be significant to us but may have deep and lasting consequences for them. It is also about understanding and a lack of understanding and how either one could be a matter of life and death.
April 27, 2016
"I think I am normal. I am normal for me.” —Emma Byrne
Though Emma Byrne’s self-assessment that she is “normal for me” is accurate, her belief that she is simply “normal” couldn’t be more mistaken. Truth is, there is nothing normal about Emma, and there never has been.
From the time she and her twin brother, Anthony, were born to Evelyn and Jack Bryne, it was abundantly clear there was something different about Emma. She did not react to stimuli in the ways other babies did, nor did she grow out of her odd bahaviors as she aged.
Quite the opposite, she became even more entrenched in her highly particular mannerisms and routines, not caring at all about what conventional expectations, or her parents, demanded of her.
For those around her, Emma’s self-chosen isolation and taciturn nature make her difficult to deal with, and her occasional violent outbursts have earned her invitations to leave more than one school.
Emma’s unusual behavior has been hard for her parents to fathom, the situation made even more difficult by the everybody knows your business life they lead in their tight-knit rural community in 1970s Ireland. As far as her twin, Anthony, is concerned, Emma is a colossal embarrassment, one whose bizarre bahavior makes him a social pariah and target of bullying by association. He, of course, resents her deeply because of this.
Fortunately for all, there is one area where Emma’s uniqueness works to her advantage: she has an uncanny ability to commune with animals, especially horses. So gifted is she in her equine dealings, that at age 15 she officially leaves school to “study” at home, though in reality she ends up working full time for a friend of the family who trains and keeps horses. It’s a situation that finally appears to be working for everyone, until the fateful night a tragic occurrence sets in motion a chain of events that will irrevocably change the lives of everyone in their small Irish village.
In her latest offering, The Outsider, author Arlene Hunt takes what at first appears to be a relatively straightforward premise and weaves one of the deepest, most emotionally impactful stories I’ve ever had the pleasure and honor of reading. Though it is readily apparent to the reader that Emma falls on the relatively high-functioning end of the autism spectrum, given that the story starts in the early 1970s the people in Emma’s rural Irish village, including her family, have no idea what’s wrong with Emma—she’s just weird, disturbed. Her odd behavior is so striking, even from birth, that Emma’s Catholic father persuades her Protestant mother, Evelyn, to take infant Emma to a faith healer for what seems disturbingly like a half-assed exorcism. The event is so traumatic to Evelyn, she knee-jerks in the direction of refusing to (publicly) acknowledge anything is wrong with Emma, pushing her to do “normal” things even in situations where Emma is clearly uncomfortable and ill-equipped to function, let alone flourish.
It makes for awkward, painful family dynamics, especially as the twins age into their teen years. Their mother dutifully pursues a head in the sand approach, while their father becomes angrier and angrier over his inability to do anything to make Emma’s life easier. For his part, Anthony simply distances himself as much as possible, at first just from Emma, but eventually from the entire family. All the while, Emma moves through life with an earnest naivety that is both endearing in its purity and heartbreaking in its continual cause of strife for the Bryne family.
Writing a character with a disability of any kind is incredibly tricky business, and building a story around someone with autism is fraught with a particular set of perils. Because of well-intentioned, high-profile offerings such as the Dustin Hoffman film Rain Man, far too many people have a somewhat cartoony image of what it means to have autism, and don’t realize there is a broad spectrum of affectation, with people who suffer from autism spectrum disorder ranging in their symptoms from borderline catatonic to almost imperceptibly different from one who merely suffers from severe introversion. As The Outsider unfolds, it is abundantly clear Hunt did extensive research in order to get it right.
As written by Hunt, there is nothing cartoony about Emma, nor does Hunt ever go for cheap and easy sentimentality—she neither exalts Emma nor treats her with kid gloves, instead presenting her as a fully realized, highly complex young woman. By the time the lynchpin event of the story rolls around, the reader’s emotional investment in Emma is such that every wall she runs into, every torment she is made to suffer, every loss she endures cuts like a knife, for both Emma and the reader. And it’s at that point Hunt does something amazing—she takes what was already an emotional sledgehammer of a story and goes even deeper.
As events conspire to make a reluctant detective of Anthony, one who is less than adept at that, he sets out to unravel the mystery that sets the final act of the book in motion. In the process, he learns far more than he bargained for, both about what happened as well as about himself, and ends up making a decision from which there is no turning back. The Outsider is a remarkable dissection of life in a small, rural village, and the story richly delves into aspects of human behavior that are at times extremely unpleasant: bigotry, sexism, religious intolerance, callousness, casual cruelty. Through it all, Emma walks tall, truly representing a better angel of our human nature.
I read a lot of books, and am fortunate that I don’t come across many that I fail enjoy to one degree or another. It is extremely rare, however, that I read a book that truly touches me on an emotional level. I can count on one hand the books that have moved me to tears in my life, and The Outsider is one of them. It is a book I didn’t “enjoy” per se, but rather deeply appreciated, and I feel like I am a better person for having read it.
Though Emma Byrne’s self-assessment that she is “normal for me” is accurate, her belief that she is simply “normal” couldn’t be more mistaken. Truth is, there is nothing normal about Emma, and there never has been.
From the time she and her twin brother, Anthony, were born to Evelyn and Jack Bryne, it was abundantly clear there was something different about Emma. She did not react to stimuli in the ways other babies did, nor did she grow out of her odd bahaviors as she aged.
Quite the opposite, she became even more entrenched in her highly particular mannerisms and routines, not caring at all about what conventional expectations, or her parents, demanded of her.
For those around her, Emma’s self-chosen isolation and taciturn nature make her difficult to deal with, and her occasional violent outbursts have earned her invitations to leave more than one school.
Emma’s unusual behavior has been hard for her parents to fathom, the situation made even more difficult by the everybody knows your business life they lead in their tight-knit rural community in 1970s Ireland. As far as her twin, Anthony, is concerned, Emma is a colossal embarrassment, one whose bizarre bahavior makes him a social pariah and target of bullying by association. He, of course, resents her deeply because of this.
Fortunately for all, there is one area where Emma’s uniqueness works to her advantage: she has an uncanny ability to commune with animals, especially horses. So gifted is she in her equine dealings, that at age 15 she officially leaves school to “study” at home, though in reality she ends up working full time for a friend of the family who trains and keeps horses. It’s a situation that finally appears to be working for everyone, until the fateful night a tragic occurrence sets in motion a chain of events that will irrevocably change the lives of everyone in their small Irish village.
In her latest offering, The Outsider, author Arlene Hunt takes what at first appears to be a relatively straightforward premise and weaves one of the deepest, most emotionally impactful stories I’ve ever had the pleasure and honor of reading. Though it is readily apparent to the reader that Emma falls on the relatively high-functioning end of the autism spectrum, given that the story starts in the early 1970s the people in Emma’s rural Irish village, including her family, have no idea what’s wrong with Emma—she’s just weird, disturbed. Her odd behavior is so striking, even from birth, that Emma’s Catholic father persuades her Protestant mother, Evelyn, to take infant Emma to a faith healer for what seems disturbingly like a half-assed exorcism. The event is so traumatic to Evelyn, she knee-jerks in the direction of refusing to (publicly) acknowledge anything is wrong with Emma, pushing her to do “normal” things even in situations where Emma is clearly uncomfortable and ill-equipped to function, let alone flourish.
It makes for awkward, painful family dynamics, especially as the twins age into their teen years. Their mother dutifully pursues a head in the sand approach, while their father becomes angrier and angrier over his inability to do anything to make Emma’s life easier. For his part, Anthony simply distances himself as much as possible, at first just from Emma, but eventually from the entire family. All the while, Emma moves through life with an earnest naivety that is both endearing in its purity and heartbreaking in its continual cause of strife for the Bryne family.
Writing a character with a disability of any kind is incredibly tricky business, and building a story around someone with autism is fraught with a particular set of perils. Because of well-intentioned, high-profile offerings such as the Dustin Hoffman film Rain Man, far too many people have a somewhat cartoony image of what it means to have autism, and don’t realize there is a broad spectrum of affectation, with people who suffer from autism spectrum disorder ranging in their symptoms from borderline catatonic to almost imperceptibly different from one who merely suffers from severe introversion. As The Outsider unfolds, it is abundantly clear Hunt did extensive research in order to get it right.
As written by Hunt, there is nothing cartoony about Emma, nor does Hunt ever go for cheap and easy sentimentality—she neither exalts Emma nor treats her with kid gloves, instead presenting her as a fully realized, highly complex young woman. By the time the lynchpin event of the story rolls around, the reader’s emotional investment in Emma is such that every wall she runs into, every torment she is made to suffer, every loss she endures cuts like a knife, for both Emma and the reader. And it’s at that point Hunt does something amazing—she takes what was already an emotional sledgehammer of a story and goes even deeper.
As events conspire to make a reluctant detective of Anthony, one who is less than adept at that, he sets out to unravel the mystery that sets the final act of the book in motion. In the process, he learns far more than he bargained for, both about what happened as well as about himself, and ends up making a decision from which there is no turning back. The Outsider is a remarkable dissection of life in a small, rural village, and the story richly delves into aspects of human behavior that are at times extremely unpleasant: bigotry, sexism, religious intolerance, callousness, casual cruelty. Through it all, Emma walks tall, truly representing a better angel of our human nature.
I read a lot of books, and am fortunate that I don’t come across many that I fail enjoy to one degree or another. It is extremely rare, however, that I read a book that truly touches me on an emotional level. I can count on one hand the books that have moved me to tears in my life, and The Outsider is one of them. It is a book I didn’t “enjoy” per se, but rather deeply appreciated, and I feel like I am a better person for having read it.
July 20, 2016
Who killed the horse-whisperer's brother?...
John Connolly considers the author of THE OUTSIDER, Arlene Hunt, as one of the best of the young Irish crime writers. But this book is about no ordinary crime. In several short paragraphs in a Foreword, Hunt tells us this novel is about "misunderstanding, loneliness, bravery, isolation, love...about failing and triumph...about kindness." She has written a story about horses, a girl and her brother...and life in a small Irish community some thirty or so years ago.
Her protagonists are the twin children of Evelyn and Jack Bryne. Evelyn is the daughter of a District Court Protestant judge who marries a dark-haired Catholic farmer. The Brynes start married life in a near-derelict farmhouse with a parcel of five acres of land. They work hard and by the time their twins, a girl named Emma and a boy named Anthony, are teenagers, they live a comfortable life running a successful dairy farm.
Emma Byrne is a shy and reclusive child whose world revolves around animals. Thought at first to be autistic, she is apprenticed to help with a neighbor's stables and becomes a horse trainer, one who is especially talented in calming skittish horses. The primary action of the story concerns a riding accident, a shooting of a horse that Emma is training, and a traumatic beating of the sixteen year old girl.
When Emma's twin brother Anthony tries to discover what happened to his sister in Crilly Woods that fateful day in August, he and his parents face the ire of several villagers. Especially the parents of a couple of the town's bullies.
THE OUTSIDER is a contemporary tale for mature young adults and their parents. The story has no resolution yet is a powerful statement of the tragic consequences of a crime against young adults...the not-so-new crime of bullying.
John Connolly considers the author of THE OUTSIDER, Arlene Hunt, as one of the best of the young Irish crime writers. But this book is about no ordinary crime. In several short paragraphs in a Foreword, Hunt tells us this novel is about "misunderstanding, loneliness, bravery, isolation, love...about failing and triumph...about kindness." She has written a story about horses, a girl and her brother...and life in a small Irish community some thirty or so years ago.
Her protagonists are the twin children of Evelyn and Jack Bryne. Evelyn is the daughter of a District Court Protestant judge who marries a dark-haired Catholic farmer. The Brynes start married life in a near-derelict farmhouse with a parcel of five acres of land. They work hard and by the time their twins, a girl named Emma and a boy named Anthony, are teenagers, they live a comfortable life running a successful dairy farm.
Emma Byrne is a shy and reclusive child whose world revolves around animals. Thought at first to be autistic, she is apprenticed to help with a neighbor's stables and becomes a horse trainer, one who is especially talented in calming skittish horses. The primary action of the story concerns a riding accident, a shooting of a horse that Emma is training, and a traumatic beating of the sixteen year old girl.
When Emma's twin brother Anthony tries to discover what happened to his sister in Crilly Woods that fateful day in August, he and his parents face the ire of several villagers. Especially the parents of a couple of the town's bullies.
THE OUTSIDER is a contemporary tale for mature young adults and their parents. The story has no resolution yet is a powerful statement of the tragic consequences of a crime against young adults...the not-so-new crime of bullying.
November 6, 2013
This is not the usual Arlene Hunt novel but due to her talent and witchcraft it is still absolutely brilliant.
This is the story of a small, close-knit community and the way it reacts to someone who is a little bit different. It is haunting, no less disturbing than her other novels in the thoughts it leaves you with, but it is surprisingly easy to read for all that. She sets it all up and then leaves you guessing and even if you figure it out, you need to know how it all unravels. As ever her descriptions of place are simple yet effective, you shiver in the snow and sweat in the heat along with her characters, and with her word-perfect, naturally, rural Irish dialogue, you are there with them.
It is a good sized book, over 300 pages and yet with short chapters you find that you steam through it, one more chapter before I do the washing up, one more before I go to bed, oh, just one more. And then you are there, on the last page wondering how you got there and wishing there were more to come.
Loved it, great cover, more gentle than her other books, and yet no less moving and the characters will stay with you like old but lost friends.
This is the story of a small, close-knit community and the way it reacts to someone who is a little bit different. It is haunting, no less disturbing than her other novels in the thoughts it leaves you with, but it is surprisingly easy to read for all that. She sets it all up and then leaves you guessing and even if you figure it out, you need to know how it all unravels. As ever her descriptions of place are simple yet effective, you shiver in the snow and sweat in the heat along with her characters, and with her word-perfect, naturally, rural Irish dialogue, you are there with them.
It is a good sized book, over 300 pages and yet with short chapters you find that you steam through it, one more chapter before I do the washing up, one more before I go to bed, oh, just one more. And then you are there, on the last page wondering how you got there and wishing there were more to come.
Loved it, great cover, more gentle than her other books, and yet no less moving and the characters will stay with you like old but lost friends.
August 2, 2017
I really liked this book and will read more of the author's books.
January 20, 2017
There is no doubt about it that Arlene Hunt is an amazing author! This novel captured me within the first few pages. At about 100 pages in, I was not quite sure on which path this story was going to take me - that is the best part about this novel. I could not predict the outcome/ending in the beginning, which I have a tendency to do with numerous stories. I have read some of Arlene's previous work and I must say that this book is in a league of its own and very different, but in a good way. Although, I probably enjoy her previous novels more.
I have never had much interest in horses, not that I don't appreciate their beauty or that I don't love animals- this story was descriptive enough from the Character Emma's point of view, that I felt like I had grown up with horses my whole life. Kudos to Arlene.
Even though this novel could be classified in many different genre's, I actually appreciated the pace and found it rather intriguing from start to finish. A perfectly delivered Gothic masterpiece.
I have never had much interest in horses, not that I don't appreciate their beauty or that I don't love animals- this story was descriptive enough from the Character Emma's point of view, that I felt like I had grown up with horses my whole life. Kudos to Arlene.
Even though this novel could be classified in many different genre's, I actually appreciated the pace and found it rather intriguing from start to finish. A perfectly delivered Gothic masterpiece.
July 15, 2014
Disclosure: I know Arlene via the Novel Fair where she gave me great encouragement with my own work. But happily I can say that knowing someone doesn't make me turn the pages, and this did - The Outsider is a compelling, claustrophobic work about twins growing up in a rural village in Ireland where the girl – Emma – turns out to be a talented horse-trainer but has an odd personality which leaves her open to bullying. Her brother, Anthony, strives to defend her – but when he fails and Emma suffers badly for it, he realises he must take on powerful, darker forces in the horse industry. I did not agree with one particular decision made by Emma and her family in the book, but other than that, a powerful illustration of the emotional savagery that lies below the surface of polite Irish society. When I got off the DART, I had to sit on a station bench to finish reading it!
May 11, 2014
When writers read a story, they tend to put it under the microscope. We are not easy beings to please, but once again I was taken aback by how Arlene Hunt can pack so much within her sharp, no nonsense, no excess flab allowed, style of writing.
The Outsider is an unusual story, and during the reading of it I was struck by a great many things. Too often whether it is in the written form through books, or visually on the cinema or television, we get the same things rehashed over and over again. The Outsider is not like that. It is different.
We’re all familiar with the expression of a story staying with you long after you finish it. The Outsider will be one of those books for me.
The Outsider is an unusual story, and during the reading of it I was struck by a great many things. Too often whether it is in the written form through books, or visually on the cinema or television, we get the same things rehashed over and over again. The Outsider is not like that. It is different.
We’re all familiar with the expression of a story staying with you long after you finish it. The Outsider will be one of those books for me.
November 20, 2014
Country people are awful, especially the children. Also, the book could have started at chapter four and lost nothing of value. I kept expecting Evelyn's family to have some significance toward the end, but they never did, so that whole bit about them didn't seem to have any relevance. And the stuff about Jack's farm being run-down when he bought it didn't seem to be meaningful either. Also, I don't understand the point of revealing Gully's murder right at the start, since we then spend the entire rest of the book waiting for it.
Aside from that though it was a pretty good story, and I liked Emma.
Aside from that though it was a pretty good story, and I liked Emma.
July 19, 2014
Another strong novel by Hunt. This time she charts the effect of bullying on one family with a horse whispering autistic daughter. Except that storyline sentence doesn't do justice to the complex and credible family and community web she depicts. Strong plot, as you'd expect from a writer perhaps better known for crime fiction, modern small town Irish setting which rang totally true and vivid scenes of violence, desperation, and courage. One to try.
April 24, 2016
How can we get children and young people to tell their parents when life gets tough. This touching story of the Bryne family, their misunderstandings and life in rural Ireland is a good read. It is uncomfortable in parts, identifies many of good and difficult aspects of living in a small community and raises the issues of how we deal with difference. The image of the daddy retreating behind the newspaper certainly resonated with me!
November 13, 2013
I loved this book. It is one of those stories that stays with you long after you close the cover on the last page.
Arlene Hunt can tell a great story really well. The novel is a tragic story yet fulfilling. The characters were so real to me and the novel so well crafted that I read it in almost one sitting.
Arlene Hunt can tell a great story really well. The novel is a tragic story yet fulfilling. The characters were so real to me and the novel so well crafted that I read it in almost one sitting.
January 22, 2014
Unlike the author's previous works this isn't crime but instead a dark slice of rural gothic. Arlene Hunt gets under the skin of small town Ireland, uncovering all the secrets and resentments of country life in a haunting page turner. I would definitely recommend.
March 19, 2014
A real page turner - I raced through this - it was an excellent read, I felt like I was right there in the world of the book - the description of Emmas relationship with the horses was wonderful, this is a beautiful intelligent atmospheric read.
January 6, 2014
3.5. Kept me reading, but i was always reading and never there. Unless there is some 1950s version of Ireland with horses and dales.
September 1, 2014
It was a bit depressing, but even though I felt really sad I couldn´t stop reading it.
It's a beautiful book about a very difficult disease, in a time that people didn´t understand it.
It's a beautiful book about a very difficult disease, in a time that people didn´t understand it.
March 29, 2016
An unusual story set in a rural community, where family and social tensions ultimately lead to violence and tragedy. Arlene Hunt’s clever and sympathetic character portraits set this book apart.
December 1, 2016
Boring
Don't bother buying this book, it was very boring, couldn't even finish it. I read half of the book & it was a struggle to get that far. Save your money
Don't bother buying this book, it was very boring, couldn't even finish it. I read half of the book & it was a struggle to get that far. Save your money
April 17, 2017
I picked this up a few years ago as part of a StoryBundle (I think ‘Outsiders’ was the theme). Early in the month I read The Chosen and thought it was OK. The Outsider however was a pleasant surprise!
The synopsis on GoodReads makes this sound like a murder mystery, but it definitely doesn’t read like one. It’s hard to pin down the genre, but it’s more of a family led drama. We follow the family from when the twins are kids. Emma is very much an outsider, with her brother Anthony wanting to distance himself from her. But over the years we see that the twins really do care for each other.
I honestly don’t know how to better describe this novel, I would just recommend picking it up and finding out for yourself.
It’s a great exploration of people, I particularly love Emma. And while Anthony isn’t necessarily the best person, he is a great character. I also really enjoyed the portrayal of small town life
The synopsis on GoodReads makes this sound like a murder mystery, but it definitely doesn’t read like one. It’s hard to pin down the genre, but it’s more of a family led drama. We follow the family from when the twins are kids. Emma is very much an outsider, with her brother Anthony wanting to distance himself from her. But over the years we see that the twins really do care for each other.
I honestly don’t know how to better describe this novel, I would just recommend picking it up and finding out for yourself.
It’s a great exploration of people, I particularly love Emma. And while Anthony isn’t necessarily the best person, he is a great character. I also really enjoyed the portrayal of small town life
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews