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Heart Is a Burial Ground
'There is an addictive pungency to this exotic tale of lives lived loudly' Sunday Times 'The remarkable life of Caresse Crosby, now retold by her great-granddaughter' Observer'I will describe it as best I can. This is their story. Or perhaps just mine. Let us begin, again . . .' A vivid and inventive debut novel about four generations of women in a family, their past and their legacy, which evokes the work of Kate Atkinson, Tessa Hadley and Virginia Baily. On a brisk day in 1970, a daughter arrives at her mother’s home to take care of her as she nears the end of her life. ‘Home’ is the sprawling Italian castle of Roccasinibalda, and Diana’s mother is the legendary Caresse Crosby, one half of literature’s most scandalous couple in 1920s Paris, widow of Harry Crosby, the American heir, poet and publisher who epitomised the ‘Lost Generation’. But it was not only Harry who was lost. Their incendiary love story concealed a darkness that marked mercurial Diana and still burns through the through Diana's troubled daughters Elena and Leonie, and Elena’s young children. Moving between the decades, between France, Italy and the Channel Islands, Tamara Colchester’s debut novel is an unforgettably powerful portrait of a line of extraordinary women, and the inheritance they give their daughters.'Sensual, evocative and rich with observational truth, this is a vivid and intricate portrait of three extraordinary women' Jeremy Page, author of Salt'Evocative' Good Housekeeping 'This is a bold, striking and confident novel filled with vivid, sometimes shocking, scenes. It spans decades, generations and continents without ever feeling disjointed. This is a stunning introduction to an intriguing new voice in British fiction, who does real justice to her prodigious forebear' Netgalley reviewer
368 pages, Paperback
First published March 8, 2018
6 people are currently reading
250 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
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December 9, 2022DNF.
June 28, 2019
I found this book a little hard to get into as it jumps between places, times and characters quite a lot. Once I had all of that sorted out though, it did like the book. I wouldn't say that I enjoyed it, as the themes that are covered are rather dark (dysfunctional families, abuse, mental issues, toxic relationships etc.), but it made me curious about the real people behind the characters and I have learnt quite a lot during my research about Caresse Crosby and her family.
March 7, 2018
What can a daughter learn from her mother? Four generations of women of one family suffer from their respective mother’s way of life, the choices they made and the future they planned for their kids. The first generation is embodied by Caresse Crosby, Harry Crosby’s wife, a young American who freed herself from Puritan Bostonian convictions and was looking for freedom and a life for the arts in Europe. Her daughter Diana grows up in Paris between all the famous people of the so called “Lost Generation” and never had to chance to just be a girl, too much was projected in her. Diana’s daughters Elena and Leonie found ways of opposing their mother by opting for very traditional models of love and life. Elena’s young children, one even unborn, are now the fourth generation who grows up with a heavy legacy.
The novel oscillates between times and places. We meet the Parisian It-crowd of the twenties when Caresse and Harry have their big time and Diana is just a girl. Then we jump to Caresse’s last days in Italy, decades after she has lost her husband and when her grand-daughters are already grown-up women. Another 20 years on, Diana’s life is coming to an end. Yet, no matter what point in time in general or in the characters’ life, the core question is always the same: what do you expect from life and how much love do you need?
Alternating the setting surely makes the novel lively, on the other hand, the development of the characters suffers from this non-linear or non-chronological arrangement. Even though you can make out especially Diana’s development, her daughters, for example, remained a bit a mystery for me. What I found intriguing, however, was the highly complex mother-daughter relationship which becomes very clear in every constellation: on the one hand, unconditional love and the hope that the daughter can break away from conventions and find love and happiness in life, on the other hand, the fact that they cannot live up to their own ideals and that wishes are not fulfilled makes them also reproachful and mean in their later life.
It is quite interesting to see that the author Tamara Colchester herself is a descendant of this family. This raises the question of how much fiction and how much reality you can find in the text. No matter the answer, it’s a novel about strong women and the choices we make in our lives.
The novel oscillates between times and places. We meet the Parisian It-crowd of the twenties when Caresse and Harry have their big time and Diana is just a girl. Then we jump to Caresse’s last days in Italy, decades after she has lost her husband and when her grand-daughters are already grown-up women. Another 20 years on, Diana’s life is coming to an end. Yet, no matter what point in time in general or in the characters’ life, the core question is always the same: what do you expect from life and how much love do you need?
Alternating the setting surely makes the novel lively, on the other hand, the development of the characters suffers from this non-linear or non-chronological arrangement. Even though you can make out especially Diana’s development, her daughters, for example, remained a bit a mystery for me. What I found intriguing, however, was the highly complex mother-daughter relationship which becomes very clear in every constellation: on the one hand, unconditional love and the hope that the daughter can break away from conventions and find love and happiness in life, on the other hand, the fact that they cannot live up to their own ideals and that wishes are not fulfilled makes them also reproachful and mean in their later life.
It is quite interesting to see that the author Tamara Colchester herself is a descendant of this family. This raises the question of how much fiction and how much reality you can find in the text. No matter the answer, it’s a novel about strong women and the choices we make in our lives.
November 17, 2020
I like a story that follow generations of a family and shows how the characters grow depending on the base of family is present your life and the obstacles they have to face each generations and then at the end see what's travel the family gone through. It's very interesting concept and this book delivered it in a way but wasn't thrilled by the journey. It was a decent book but nothing really memorable or something to knock my socks off.
Read
May 28, 2024DNF
March 4, 2018
It's rare I don't finish a book... but this one just did nothing for me.
I got to half way through before realising some of characters were actually based on real people.
It felt a bit of a failure struggling to 3/4 of way through then giving up... but life's too short.
I think my main issue was I just didn't like the characters... or the time hopping. That was very distracting.
Just not for me I'm afraid.
I got to half way through before realising some of characters were actually based on real people.
It felt a bit of a failure struggling to 3/4 of way through then giving up... but life's too short.
I think my main issue was I just didn't like the characters... or the time hopping. That was very distracting.
Just not for me I'm afraid.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 12, 2018
This book isn’t the kind that I normally read. That’s not to say that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy it. But it is certainly a different way to spend a few days. And it was definitely an education, one I will probably repeat at some point in the future. I get the feeling that this novel is one that will reveal hidden gems with each and every re-reading. And when I’m in a more reflective mood, there are going to be some amazing gems that reveal themselves.
Although this isn’t my typical pace of story, I loved the techniques and the writing used by the writer. Dealing with my own family dramas and study commitments ironically helped to highlight the strength of some of the themes and storylines throughout this novel. Having a number of storylines flowing throughout and jumping across timelines means that this can be a little more of a convoluted novel than the types I normally read when I have mountains of study. But it also helped to highlight the complex relationships, intricacies, and lingering effects of the past.
I loved the strong ties of mothership and womanhood throughout this tale. The intergenerational tale was a little difficult to follow, especially at first, but it highlighted the complexities that such relationships have. Not only between one generation and the next, but the ones that will follow too. The power of these women not only helps to sculpt the children, but also helps to scar them. The flightiness of one woman creates a more secluded personality in the next. And so on and so forth so the actions of the past can be felt to reverberate throughout the generations.
I loved the themes of strength, honour and loyalty between the three women. The idea that there is a bond that can’t be broken, even when there is a multitude of bitterness is an interesting reminder of the fact that we can’t choose family. The fact that it runs through the women of a generation, emphasized not only the ties of family, but also the bonds of womanhood. Strong women are often ridiculed, and there are so many ways in which being a strong woman, in any generation, can be difficult. These difficulties not only carved themselves onto the lives of the women who experience them, but also the children that they bring into the world.
I look forward to summer every year (I hate the cold). But I especially look forward to it this year, when I have no study, and I can really sink my teeth into the complexities and intricacies of this amazingly complex tale.
This review by Skye Jenner has featured in the Swinburne Journal 'Backstory', Issue 5.
Although this isn’t my typical pace of story, I loved the techniques and the writing used by the writer. Dealing with my own family dramas and study commitments ironically helped to highlight the strength of some of the themes and storylines throughout this novel. Having a number of storylines flowing throughout and jumping across timelines means that this can be a little more of a convoluted novel than the types I normally read when I have mountains of study. But it also helped to highlight the complex relationships, intricacies, and lingering effects of the past.
I loved the strong ties of mothership and womanhood throughout this tale. The intergenerational tale was a little difficult to follow, especially at first, but it highlighted the complexities that such relationships have. Not only between one generation and the next, but the ones that will follow too. The power of these women not only helps to sculpt the children, but also helps to scar them. The flightiness of one woman creates a more secluded personality in the next. And so on and so forth so the actions of the past can be felt to reverberate throughout the generations.
I loved the themes of strength, honour and loyalty between the three women. The idea that there is a bond that can’t be broken, even when there is a multitude of bitterness is an interesting reminder of the fact that we can’t choose family. The fact that it runs through the women of a generation, emphasized not only the ties of family, but also the bonds of womanhood. Strong women are often ridiculed, and there are so many ways in which being a strong woman, in any generation, can be difficult. These difficulties not only carved themselves onto the lives of the women who experience them, but also the children that they bring into the world.
I look forward to summer every year (I hate the cold). But I especially look forward to it this year, when I have no study, and I can really sink my teeth into the complexities and intricacies of this amazingly complex tale.
This review by Skye Jenner has featured in the Swinburne Journal 'Backstory', Issue 5.
December 31, 2023
A sister who has become a nun presses her hand to her pregnant sister’s heart and says “The heart is our burial ground, it transforms what we give it. …Death back into life …The heart will devour the loss, the pain of the feast will wash you clean”.
Elena and Leonie choose seemingly more conventional lives to escape into and it is little wonder after the fall out from the lives and loves of their great-grandmother and mother.
The strikingly beautiful Mary Peabody marries a man who is a drunkard and during their union they have a daughter, Diana, who is equally as stunning as her mother.
Mary changes her name to Caresse, which suits her sensual spirit and she marries the infamous American socialite Harry Crosby, who’s a poet, after he relentlessly pursues her.
Together they create a publishing house and indulge in hedonistic pleasures that only the super rich can manifest.
They’re surrounded by writers and an artistic set. Taking a lover is di rigueur. Diana as she grows up, is aware of the power of her body. Harry has groomed her and she’s in love with her step father. Harry was affected by his time as a soldier and had an obsession with death on his own terms and the attraction of the sun.
He ultimately makes a suicide pact and is found with a woman dead by his side. Death on his terms. His death leaves scars on both Caresse and Diana’s hearts and psyches.
To learn that these characters actually existed makes this book all the more incredible. It’s no wonder the scandal sheets and gossip columnists lapped up their antics.
Diana becomes a mother and the legacy of her mother’s parenting style is revisited with her own two daughters. She surrounds herself with artists, seeks love openly and is inevitably exploited by men.
You may not admire much about women and men living such self indulgent lives but this book will ask you to question what matters to you and how you live yours.
Elena and Leonie choose seemingly more conventional lives to escape into and it is little wonder after the fall out from the lives and loves of their great-grandmother and mother.
The strikingly beautiful Mary Peabody marries a man who is a drunkard and during their union they have a daughter, Diana, who is equally as stunning as her mother.
Mary changes her name to Caresse, which suits her sensual spirit and she marries the infamous American socialite Harry Crosby, who’s a poet, after he relentlessly pursues her.
Together they create a publishing house and indulge in hedonistic pleasures that only the super rich can manifest.
They’re surrounded by writers and an artistic set. Taking a lover is di rigueur. Diana as she grows up, is aware of the power of her body. Harry has groomed her and she’s in love with her step father. Harry was affected by his time as a soldier and had an obsession with death on his own terms and the attraction of the sun.
He ultimately makes a suicide pact and is found with a woman dead by his side. Death on his terms. His death leaves scars on both Caresse and Diana’s hearts and psyches.
To learn that these characters actually existed makes this book all the more incredible. It’s no wonder the scandal sheets and gossip columnists lapped up their antics.
Diana becomes a mother and the legacy of her mother’s parenting style is revisited with her own two daughters. She surrounds herself with artists, seeks love openly and is inevitably exploited by men.
You may not admire much about women and men living such self indulgent lives but this book will ask you to question what matters to you and how you live yours.
October 14, 2019
I hate to say it, but I had no idea who Harry Crosby was, or any of the other players in this book. I had to Google him, which gave me a bit of much-needed insight into this book and why it was written in the first place.
I must say straight off that I hated both Diana & Caresse - although both are undeniably intelligent, creative and charismatic, both were so full of themselves and their looks it honestly became a little nauseating. Elena and Leonie are the only women who save this book, and helped bring in a few passages where I didn't cringe at the characters' utter self-absorption.
All this said, this is a beautifully written book, and all the characters (male and female) are oddly mesmerising, even while I found myself disliking them on just about every page they appeared on.
I must say straight off that I hated both Diana & Caresse - although both are undeniably intelligent, creative and charismatic, both were so full of themselves and their looks it honestly became a little nauseating. Elena and Leonie are the only women who save this book, and helped bring in a few passages where I didn't cringe at the characters' utter self-absorption.
All this said, this is a beautifully written book, and all the characters (male and female) are oddly mesmerising, even while I found myself disliking them on just about every page they appeared on.
September 10, 2025
‘Being meek is neither chic nor helpful.’
I wanted to like this book, but I just didn’t. For all its ambition, it struck me as self-important, occasionally grotesque, and filled with characters who, save perhaps Elena, were largely indistinguishable from each other. The dialogue feels overblown - everyone talks in grand, quotable lines that don’t sound natural or self-aware, and some scenes, such as those that gratuitously describe animal cruelty, left me feeling sick. The author’s talent is undeniable, but this foray into literary fiction was - for me - a miss. Unfortunate, considering the story was actually rather interesting!
I wanted to like this book, but I just didn’t. For all its ambition, it struck me as self-important, occasionally grotesque, and filled with characters who, save perhaps Elena, were largely indistinguishable from each other. The dialogue feels overblown - everyone talks in grand, quotable lines that don’t sound natural or self-aware, and some scenes, such as those that gratuitously describe animal cruelty, left me feeling sick. The author’s talent is undeniable, but this foray into literary fiction was - for me - a miss. Unfortunate, considering the story was actually rather interesting!
December 22, 2019
Assignment break! Okay, I will admit that @tamaracolchester delivered an interesting 'biographical' story of Caresse Crosby, who I think is her great-grandmother. Caresse was a character of the 20th century that could have lent herself to marvellous stories and exuberance. But I didn't get it in "The Heart is a Burial Ground". I'm not sure what I got actually. Possibly lost a few hours I could have used to google Caresse Crosby's life instead
November 30, 2020
A sometimes sharp, sometimes muddled, often dark story of three generations of women and the devastating aftereffects of the relationship of Harry and Caresse Crosby, a wealthy, bohemian couple living recklessly in Paris in the 1920's. I would highly recommend briefly reading up on Crosby before starting this--the author slides around a lot of key details and leaves it to the author to fill in the gaps.
November 23, 2018
A great title and there was some interesting parts but as a whole nothing soared in my imagination, and it never really grabbed me. An average read for sure, but this is a debut and there is a lot of promise there.
December 1, 2022
I picked this book up in a sale totally unaware of what it was about but once I jumped in absorbed by a significant true life of which I was unaware.
Caresse Crosby apparently invented the bra in the 1920s but sold the patent for nothing, she created a literary magazine which promoted the careers of some of the giants of 20th century literature, and was a woman incredible sexual appetite. However at the heart of this tale is her second husband Harry and what happened to him and how that impacted on caresse, her daughter Diana, and her subsequent female line.
The author is Caresse's great granddaughter and she reimagines her relatives life with great love and skill. A fascinating story which had me searching for more about the true life behind the book.
Caresse Crosby apparently invented the bra in the 1920s but sold the patent for nothing, she created a literary magazine which promoted the careers of some of the giants of 20th century literature, and was a woman incredible sexual appetite. However at the heart of this tale is her second husband Harry and what happened to him and how that impacted on caresse, her daughter Diana, and her subsequent female line.
The author is Caresse's great granddaughter and she reimagines her relatives life with great love and skill. A fascinating story which had me searching for more about the true life behind the book.
did-not-finish
February 15, 2019 DNF'D @ 18%
I honestly don't think this is a bad book I just have no interest in continuing.
I honestly don't think this is a bad book I just have no interest in continuing.
November 30, 2019
Literate and worldly, with dark undertones
February 13, 2021
A very disjointed story, that makes no sense whatever. A wasted week trying to read.
August 25, 2023
DNF, this was horrible to me. Couldn’t get into it and didn’t like the writing.
September 16, 2023
There is literary writing and then there is pretentious writing. This was most definitely the latter.
August 2, 2018
This book isn’t the kind that I normally read. That’s not to say that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy it. But it is certainly a different way to spend a few days. And it was definitely an education. One that I will probably repeat at some point in the future. I get the feeling that this novel is one that will reveal hidden gems with each and every re-reading. And when I’m in a more reflective mood, there are going to be some amazing gems that reveal themselves.
Although this isn’t my typical pace of story, I loved the techniques and the writing used within. Struggling to become captivated because I was too busy running around pursuing studies and dealing with family dramas ironically helped to highlight the strength of some of the themes and storylines throughout this novel. Having a number of storylines flowing throughout and jumping across timelines means that this can be a little more of a convoluted novel than the types I normally read when I have mountains of study. But it also helped to highlight the complex relationships, intricacies, and lingering effects of the past.
I loved the strong ties of mothership and womanhood throughout this tale. The intergenerational tale was a little difficult to follow, especially at first, but it highlighted the complexities that such relationships have. Not only between one generation and the next, but the ones that will follow too. The power of these women not only helps to sculpt the children, but also helps to scar them. The flightiness of one woman creates a more secluded personality in the next. And so on and so forth so that the actions of the past can be felt to reverberate throughout the generations.
I loved the themes of strength, honour and loyalty between the three women. The idea that there is a bond that can’t be broken, even when there is a multitude of bitterness is an interesting reminder of the fact that we can’t choose family. The fact that it runs through the women of a generation, emphasized not only the ties of family, but also the bonds of womanhood. Strong women are often ridiculed, and there are so many ways in which being a strong woman, in any generation, can be difficult. These difficulties not only carved themselves onto the lives of the women who experience them, but also the children that they bring into the world.
I look forward to summer every year (I hate the cold). But I especially look forward to it this year, when I have no study, and I can really sink my teeth into the complexities and intricacies of this amazingly complex tale.
Although this isn’t my typical pace of story, I loved the techniques and the writing used within. Struggling to become captivated because I was too busy running around pursuing studies and dealing with family dramas ironically helped to highlight the strength of some of the themes and storylines throughout this novel. Having a number of storylines flowing throughout and jumping across timelines means that this can be a little more of a convoluted novel than the types I normally read when I have mountains of study. But it also helped to highlight the complex relationships, intricacies, and lingering effects of the past.
I loved the strong ties of mothership and womanhood throughout this tale. The intergenerational tale was a little difficult to follow, especially at first, but it highlighted the complexities that such relationships have. Not only between one generation and the next, but the ones that will follow too. The power of these women not only helps to sculpt the children, but also helps to scar them. The flightiness of one woman creates a more secluded personality in the next. And so on and so forth so that the actions of the past can be felt to reverberate throughout the generations.
I loved the themes of strength, honour and loyalty between the three women. The idea that there is a bond that can’t be broken, even when there is a multitude of bitterness is an interesting reminder of the fact that we can’t choose family. The fact that it runs through the women of a generation, emphasized not only the ties of family, but also the bonds of womanhood. Strong women are often ridiculed, and there are so many ways in which being a strong woman, in any generation, can be difficult. These difficulties not only carved themselves onto the lives of the women who experience them, but also the children that they bring into the world.
I look forward to summer every year (I hate the cold). But I especially look forward to it this year, when I have no study, and I can really sink my teeth into the complexities and intricacies of this amazingly complex tale.
March 11, 2018
A book about mothers and daughters, their relationships and the impact this has on their future. In the wake of WW1, Caresse leaves Boston USA, with her daughter Diana, to live in 1920s Paris, throwing herself into the bohemian and somewhat frantic Jazz age, flapper lifestyle. With the loose morals of the era and the desperate pursuit of the next thrill, Caresse’s behaviour and that of the friends who surround her, has a huge impact on her young daughter. Diana’s choices in life and a constant stream of men go on to be reflected in the lives of her daughters. Set in 1930s Paris, 1970s Ibiza and 1990s Alderney, the book flits from one era to the next and back again, as the women’s lives and events unfold. A fascinating story of love, jealousy, desire and the emotional strain this can place on the maternal relationship.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews