The Twisted Heart

by Rebecca Gowers

Kit, a work-obsessed literature student, decides on a whim to go to a dance class. And for a while it looks like Joe, the shadowy figure she meets there, may tempt her to put her books aside and live a little. But as Joes world becomes increasingly threatening and Kits research leads her to stumble on an extraordinary historical mystery, she is faced with a choice. Will she hide herself away in her studies or will she make the leap of faith that could change her existence forever The Twisted Heart is both a hugely enjoyable novel about the challenges of love and a startling exploration of previously unrecognised links between the young Charles Dickens and the deranged murder of a prostitute known as The Countess. Brilliantly weaving these threads together, it confirms Gowers as one of the most exciting voices in Britain today.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction

284 pages, Hardcover

First published April 16, 2009

Reviews

[Misha · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.5 Stars*

Had it not been nominated for the Orange Prize, I would probably have never heard of this book. The Twisted Heart is an immensely enjoyable novel- a short, quick read. However, the story turned out to be completely different from what I had expected.

From the synopsis, I had assumed that this will be a dark, suspenseful tale, where the main protagonist attempts to solve a terrible crime from the time of Dickens. I thought this will be one of those books, where our curious, young protagonist becomes entangled in an inexplicable mystery from the past. Well, it turned out to be very different. Not in a bad way though. The Twisted Heart does involve a mystery about a prostitute's murder in Victorian England, where Dickens was somehow involved. But this is not the main focus of the story.

Kit is a bright, young student in Oxford, researching the aforementioned crime. Co-incidentally, this murder is very similar to Nancy's murder in Oliver Twist. The common link between the two is Charles Dickens. Is it just a coincidence? How was Dickens involved? And was he really "inspired" by the prostitute's murder?

Kit is a studious girl, her entire life revolves around academics and research. Life takes a new turn when she meets Joe, a professor of Math, at a dance class. The Twisted Heart is focused more on their relationship development. Once I got over my disappointment of this not being a tale of suspense, it was easier to enjoy the book.

Kit is a relatable, lovable heroine. I love the descriptions of the dance classes - so funny and sweet. Joe is unlike all the stereotypes of a Math professor - you can't help but warm up to him. Kit and Joe's relationship is not a smooth one. Watching their relationship progress, through fights and other hurdles, was somehow so endearing.

The Twisted Heart is a nice, relaxing read, but not something I would have expected to see on the Orange Prize list. I do wish the mystery element was stronger. Still, even though The Twisted Heart turned out to be different from what I'd thought, it's a nice summer-y read.

Overall:
An interesting mix of historical murder mystery and contemporary romance.

Recommended?
Yes

[Elaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a mystery, not very twisted, mostly a love story about two shy awkward academic types, told with a lot of literary pretentiousness, and a heap of not very mysterious (but gory) references to Dickensian London. The characters are surprisingly engaging, but it's not really about very much, and the stylistic quirks, and the deep emotional significance attached to seemingly subtle remarks or events seems more undergraduate than anything else. Why is Kit so angry and ill fed and tired all the time? You never quite learn why, or to care, although you may remember yourself as a student..angry, ill fed, tired...Dull.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was probably one of the first books that called me when I saw the Orange Prize longlist. A modern heroine explores a Victorian murder mystery with a Dickensian connection. It sound like it could be great.

And I did like The Twisted Heart – just not in the way I expected.

You see it wasn’t the kind of story I expected. I was expecting a mystery to be set up, investigated and ultimately resolved, but it didn’t quite work like that.

The main focus was on a short and significant period in one young woman’s life. Kit. I liked her, I recognised her, and I could easily imagine chatting with her.

Kit was a post-graduate student in Oxford, researching the murder of a Victorian prostitute. A murder remarkably similar to the death of Nancy in Oliver Twist. Why?

She’s bookish and happy to live a quiet life, but she does wonder if maybe she ought to be more sociable. And so she goes to a dance class. Where she meets Joe, a maths professor.

A relationship emerges on rather unsteady feet. Kit is distracted by her research and Joe is distracted by his troubled elder brother. Or is it something more?

And that’s about it. There’s not too much plot, but the pleasures of this book are in the execution.

Rebecca Gowers writes beautifully.

Her characters are real, with just the right amount of quirkiness, and they have some wonderful thought and exchanges.

Their various relationships are caught perfectly too: the domestic intimacy of Kit and her flatmate Michaela; the unbreakable bond between Joe and his brother; the awkward, evolving relationship between Kit and Joe.

The story dances lightly along. Did it need a literary mystery? Maybe not.

But all of the talk of Dickens and Victorian murder was engaging and clearly well researched. Joe picked up his copy of Oliver Twist; Orson, Kit’s graduate student was eager to get involved; I’d reread it myself, if I could only find the time!

No real resolution though – just a theory to fit the facts.

Soon after that the book finished: some strands were tied up nicely, while others just drifted off. Such is life.

And the Twisted Heart is a slice of life, rather than the tightly plotted novel that the cover seemed to promise. And, for me, it succeeded on those terms.

It wasn’t the great book I’d hoped for, but I enjoyed reading it nonetheless.

[Misha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had it not been nominated for the Orange Prize, I would probably have never heard of this book. The Twisted Heart is an immensely enjoyable novel- a short, quick read. However, the story turned out to be completely different from what I had expected.

From the synopsis, I had assumed that this will be a dark, suspenseful tale, where the main protagonist attempts to solve a terrible crime from the time of Dickens. I thought this will be one of those books, where our curious, young protagonist becomes entangled in an inexplicable mystery from the past. Well, it turned out to be very different. Not in a bad way though. The Twisted Heart does involve a mystery about a prostitute's murder in Victorian England, where Dickens was somehow involved. But this is not the main focus of the story.

Kit is a bright, young student in Oxford, researching the aforementioned crime. Co-incidentally, this murder is very similar to Nancy's murder in Oliver Twist. The common link between the two is Charles Dickens. Is it just a coincidence? How was Dickens involved? And was he really "inspired" by the prostitute's murder?

Kit is a studious girl, her entire life revolves around academics and research. Life takes a new turn when she meets Joe, a professor of Math, at a dance class. The Twisted Heart is focused more on their relationship development. Once I got over my disappointment of this not being a tale of suspense, it was easier to enjoy the book.

Kit is a relatable, lovable heroine. I love the descriptions of the dance classes - so funny and sweet. Joe is unlike all the stereotypes of a Math professor - you can't help but warm up to him. Kit and Joe's relationship is not a smooth one. Watching their relationship progress, through fights and other hurdles, was somehow so endearing.

The Twisted Heart is a nice, relaxing read, but not something I would have expected to see on the Orange Prize list. I do wish the mystery element was stronger. Still, even though The Twisted Heart turned out to be different from what I'd thought, it's a nice summer-y read.

Overall:
An interesting mix of historical murder mystery and contemporary romance.

Recommended?
Yes

[Angela Kitchen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Almost gave up on this a few times

[Dylan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Watch my Book Review On Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtqBC...

[Sarah Rigg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd call this more of a 3.5-star book that I'm rounding up to 4. First off, I really liked the voice of Kit, the main character. She's studying Victorian literature and runs across an unsolved murder mystery from the times of Dickens that intrigues her around the same time she meets Joe at a dance club and gets pulled into his somewhat dysfunctional family life. I like how enthusiastic she gets about her studies and how quirky and funny Kit is.

On the downside, it's supposed to be cute how Kit and Joe keep sort of misunderstanding each other and circling carefully around each other, but in the end it felt about as dysfunctional as Joe's family life. If Kit was my friend, I'd be telling her to take it slow with Joe until he sorts himself out.

If you're going in expecting either a traditional romance or a traditional mystery, you're going to be disappointed. Overall, though, I liked this and would recommend it, especially to someone who knows and likes Dickens' work.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was hard to get into this book, but by the time I had read a few very long chapters, I was curious enough to see how the love story developed. The protagonist was creepily fascinated by violence, and I think I missed a lot of the nuance in the dialogue.

[Pauline Chamberlain · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange book regarding a modern day person investigating details found about Charles Dickens and the murder of a prostitute

[Deborah G. · Rating 2 out of 5]

really have to keep up. this author slides back and forth between 'today' and 'Charles Dickens' murder of a prostitute. sometimes right in the middle of a paragraph. Main charactor appears very insecure. Cannot trust her own feelings. Interesting.

[Sue]

Iv

[Inge (Inge1990) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really tried to like it, but I didn't and looking at the reviews, I am not the only one.

[Debbie Lacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very different writing style. Enjoyed the book.

[Scout Langley · Rating 1 out of 5]

The summary of the book made it sound like it would be a dark mystery, the female lead will try to solve mysteries all the way back from the time of Dickens. It was interesting how books used to be inspired by real murder, but the book centered more on two vanilla characters finding love than about solving the murder of prostitutes who never received justice back in their day.

Character didn't make sense to me. The author keeps saying that the main character isn't a social person than next chapter, she has a one night stand. I am also still confused why she went to lunch with one night stand to see his brother. Like why??? Just feels like everything that the author says about the character is in conflict with what the character does.

Didn't feel connected with ML or FL so wasn't interested in their story. Didn't feel any chemistry so their relationship just felt weird to me.

DNFed. 100 pages in the author is just starting to introduce mystery than went on weird sideplot. Nah I'm good

[Kirsty Darbyshire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up at random in the library, I hadn't heard of it before. The tagline on the cover about it being a "genuinely puzzling historical murder mystery" pulled me in. Though it's not actually an historical murder mystery. In the afterword the author admits to having been inspired by Josephine Tey's book The Daughter of Time in which Inspector Grant investigates Richard III from his hospital bed. This isn't quite the same but I can see where the idea comes in.

Oxford doctoral student Kit is drawn into investigating, in the course of her literature research, a real life murder that mirrors the death of Nancy in Oliver Twist. Mostly than just seems like a little part of the plot of the book though and it takes a while to turn up in the book. There's a more interesting not-quite-romance story here about Kit who goes dancing and meets Joe and about families.

Not having known quite what to expect I enjoyed the book, despite the fact that I don't agree that it's a "genuinely puzzling historical murder mystery".

[Samara Nicoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a little bit to get into this book, but it was worth it in the end. The more I read, the more I began to really enjoy it. The dialogue is very realistic (probably what threw me in the beginning as it can be quite fragmented at times), and the characters become more compelling/intruguing/endearing as the story unfolds. Lots of threads being woven together, and it really creates a niced tapestery by the end. If you're not afraid of a little detective work, a little literary history, a dance class or two, and a couple of characters trying to figure it all out, then you should give this book a go.

[Peter Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, and Oxford is captured quite well. The protagonist, Kit, is not much of a detective despite her obsession with 19th century English crime. It was perfectly obvious from the beginning that the serialization of Oliver Twist pushed the time-frame past the murder of Eliza. Joe, the maths don, figured that out when he had far more pressing things on his mind. One wonders if Kit is really a serious D-Phil candidate.

The research, however, is impressive, and Ms Gowers knows how to construct dialogue. At times, I felt as if I were in the pubs myself.

[Georgina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's difficult to categorise this book, with its mix of historical murder mystery and modern romance. A lot of it I enjoyed, particularly the correlation between the real life murder of Eliza and Nancy's murder in Oliver Twist. Kit and Joe's very odd romance was interesting too, but I found the character of Humpty didn't add a lot to the story for me, and would've enjoyed the book more without him.

[Emma]

A bit disappointing. read it in a day, but on the plus side i did get to the end so there must be something in it. Its nothing like Scarlet Thomas if you were wondering. It did have a small sense of realness to it which was refreshingly different - you catch characters having conversations of which not a lot is explained to you - a bit like overhearing a conversation in a cafe where you have to fill in the details yourself.

[Juno · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not exactly what I expected but I whizzed through it anyway.. It's a vignette really, a small period of time, a slight description of a relationship; I didn't feel we learned a lot about the characters, and it left me fairly unsatisfied.. Oddly I had not paid attention to who the author was and, although for the life of me I can't say why,I expected it to be written by a man..I felt the 'voice ' was male somehow.. Which is why I'm not a literary critic..!

[Rax · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book to be very slow and hard to get into. While overall an okay read, I still had to push myself to keep reading at places.
The writing is sort what original, but is a tad confusing at times.

While "Literary murder mystery" was interesting;honesty probably the only reason I kept reading. The characters were rather dull and flat. I would have really cared if one of them got hit by a bus and died. I suppose that made the whole romance rather boring as well.

[Belinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

..."that desire was - was one of the most ferocious things a person could feel; and that, if you thought to wed desire to love, then you had to love the person and desire them for all of what they were, their whole human self." This book was very hard for me to get into. I almost decided to give up on it....but I'm glad I continued on and read it through. Very complex read. But I have to say I liked it.

[Cmbrooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating story about a young academic woman finding the reality behind one of Dickens' most famous scenes, interspersed with a complex love affair whose happy ending the reader simply wills to happen by the end of the novel. A masterpiece of plotting and characterisation, one of few novels genuinely modern in its atmosphere.

[Rachel Nowakowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Its was so acutely observed. The concept of the story was brilliant - I had no idea which way it was going to go. This is one of my wildcard books. I'm going to recommend it to friends because I think it'll surprise them! The only thing I couldn't understand is why critics had called it comic????

[Krystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this but honestly it was a very confusing read. The narrative is very disjointed and I'm not sure I followed everything that happened but the main characters are such messes, they're fairly entertaining even when I couldn't follow their train of thoughts even if I tried

[David Green · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat interesting, but hard to read. Some portions are very hard to follow. I gave up after about 50 pages since half the reviews seem to confirm my worst fears about which way the book was going. More proof not to trust the blurbs on the jacket. Very misleading.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found the sub-plot of Charles Dickens and Oliver Twist extremely interesting.

[Misha · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Rated 3.5*

[Sarah]

Its very rare that I don't finish a book but this one I got half way through and just couldn't be bothered to go any further

[Sara]

2010