The House on Vesper Sands
Autor Paraic O'Donnellen Limba Engleză Paperback – 2 mai 2019
O femeie sare spre moarte, dar adevărata teroare stă scrisă pe corpul ei: un mesaj misterios, cusut cu ață direct în propria piele. Această imagine brutală deschide porțile Londrei victoriene din The House on Vesper Sands, un spațiu unde ceața nu doar acoperă străzile, ci înghite destine. Observăm cum Paraic O'Donnell construiește o intrigă tensionată în jurul „Spiriters”, o bandă umbrită de legende urbane, responsabilă pentru dispariția femeilor sărace. În timp ce Gideon Bliss își caută iubirea pierdută, jurnalista Octavia Hillingdon pornește pe urmele unei elite aristocratice care ascunde secrete hidoase. Atmosfera te trimite cu gândul la The Shape of Darkness, de Laura Purcell, deși umorul fin și ironia tăioasă a personajelor lui O'Donnell marchează o voce proprie, mai apropiată de spiritul lui Dickens. Reținem precizia istorică a autorului, care reușește să îmbine supranaturalul cu realismul social crunt. Dacă în The Naming of the Birds autorul explora traumele trecutului prin ochii Inspectorului Cutter, aici extinde universul către o zonă mult mai macabră și atmosferică. Simțim frigul din Kent și disperarea de pe malul mării pe măsură ce piesele puzzle-ului se așază. Este un roman polițist istoric scris în limba engleză care nu se mulțumește cu clișeele genului, ci forțează limitele ficțiunii gotice prin detalii senzoriale viscerale.
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Specificații
ISBN-10: 1474601049
Pagini: 384
Dimensiuni: 128 x 196 x 32 mm
Greutate: 0.27 kg
Editura: Orion Publishing Group
Colecția W&N
Locul publicării:London, United Kingdom
De ce să citești această carte
Recomandăm această carte celor care caută un mister victorian autentic, unde suspansul este dublat de o scriitură elegantă. Cititorul va câștiga o experiență imersivă într-o Londră a contrastelor, între balurile aristocrației și mizeria mahalalelor. Este motivul perfect pentru a descoperi de ce criticii spun că O'Donnell scrie cu un talent care l-ar face gelos chiar și pe Dickens. Primești o poveste despre corupție, devotament și umbre care prind viață.
Despre autor
Paraic O'Donnell este un scriitor irlandez apreciat pentru capacitatea sa de a recrea atmosfere istorice dense, încărcate de mister și nuanțe gotice. Cu un stil comparat adesea cu cel al marilor clasici victorieni, el a atras atenția criticilor încă de la debutul său, The Maker of Swans, lăudat pentru frumusețea stranie a limbajului. În The House on Vesper Sands, el își rafinează tehnica narativă, combinând elementele de roman polițist cu o explorare profundă a condiției umane în secolul al XIX-lea, consolidându-și poziția de maestru al suspansului istoric modern.
Descriere
Richly atmospheric and deliciously eerie, The House on Vesper Sands is a gothic mystery set in Victorian London - best read while the night deepens and lamplight flickers . . .
'Dickens is whirling enviously in his grave' Irish Times
'Clever and funny and exquisitely disturbing' Joanna Cannon
'Spine-tinglingly spooky' Red
In Victorian London, poor women are vanishing, and rumours abound of a shadowy gang known as the Spiriters.
While Gideon Bliss sets out in search of his lost love, a seamstress jumps to her death with a mysterious message stitched into her own skin. Nearby, her aristocratic employer makes an abrupt exit from a gala ball, with society columnist Octavia Hillingdon in pursuit.
And on the sullen Kent shore, as the darkness gathers, secrets lie hidden at the house on Vesper Sands.
Recenzii
The House on Vesper Sands is tremendously good - and tremendously good fun
The most vivid and compelling portrait of late Victorian London since The Crimson Petal and the White
Clever and funny and exquisitely disturbing, an utter joy
Charles Dickens is whirling enviously in his grave ... Brilliantly written, compelling and satisfying in so many ways. It demands to be read by a fire on a cold winter evening (but make sure the doors are locked before you begin). I only wish it had been twice as long.
Witty, immersive, chock full of atmosphere and setting (hello Victorian London), three-dimensional characters, an addictive plot and snappy dialogue, The House On Vesper Sands has everything you want it in a novel. If you're stuck for a book to buy this Christmas, then this could well be it.
Like the love child of Dickens and Conan Doyle, but funnier than both
I'm not completely sure what the word 'rollicking' means, but I can personally guarantee that The House on Vesper Sands is a rollicking good read. For a novel about grief, estrangement, and the literal stealing of vulnerable young women's souls, this book is a lot more fun than it has any right to be. Paraic O'Donnell's sheer love of his characters is exuberant and infectious; the dialogue crackles with verve and wit, and the plotting is as intricately satisfying as a heavy pocket watch. The setting may be Victorian , but in modern parlance this novel is an absolute banger
A hugely entertaining read, spry of pace, funny, beautifully descriptive and satisfyingly sinister. A perfect book to read by winter candlelight
A compelling, darkly funny portrait of late Victorian London, and focuses on crimes with a supernatural flavour
An immersive and darkly entertaining story of love, loss and lies set in a vividly realised Victorian London
A mash-up of Victoria Gothic and fantasy, this is huge fun
Not since Sarah Waters has a modern novelist played with Victorian language and mores with such wit and skill ... This mastery of voice wouldn't be half as satisfying, of course, if the story were not a properly ripping yarn ... Liz Nugent compares The House on Vesper Sands to Dickens and Conan Doyle, but the novel's depiction of young women who are both physically and psychologically tormented by shadowy male forces in the 1890s suggests one of the most iconic books of that decade, Bram Stoker's Dracula. The appealing characters, however, are more complex than Stoker's, and there's a real humanity to the novel that will leave the reader hoping that O'Donnell returns to the gaslit streets of fin de siècle London for more sinister, beautifully told stories.
O'Donnell's talent truly shines ... O'Donnell's style can be likened to Charles Dickens on steroids and The House on Vesper Sands sits comfortably with the likes of Sarah Perry's The Essex Serpent or Francis Spufford's Golden Hill as recent period-set page turners. Like those two, a gorgeous prose elevates this ... An expertly crafted and uproariously entertaining novel, spun by a writer approaching his peak
Engrossing ... The narrative canters from high-society soirees to East End tenements, infused with menace both earthly and supernatural
A rollocking romp through the dark alleys and gaslit streets of Victorian London ... Spine-tinglingly spooky with a touch of Dickens and also properly funny, this is the perfect Halloween read
Mysterious, unsettling and eerily lovely ... Perfect for fans of The Wicked Cometh and The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock. I adored it
The House on Vesper Sands had everything - elegance, humour and shady supernatural foreboding, all wrapped up in a Victorian detective novel
An atmospheric, moving, creepy and very funny story with one of the great fictional detectives
Reading this terrific Victorian-set mystery was the most fun I've had in ages. It unfolds so thrillingly and cleverly. Do not miss
I am giddy with love for The House on Vesper Sands. It is spooky and atmospheric and superbly drawn, absolutely jammed with brilliant characters and so funny
A lush, shape-shifting Victorian mystery, full of ghostliness, humour and chiaroscuro with satisfying detective and romance flavours added to the batter
Some of the funniest lines of dialogue I've read in ages ... I liked Vesper Sands a lot. It's a clever Gothic mystery, evocative and meticulously faithful to its time and setting
A vivid and enjoyable romp
Like George Eliot, Paraic O'Donnell takes the bombastic and the sincere and throws them together for comic contrast; like Dickens, he does it in deliciously dark Victorian style. The House on Vesper Sands is an eerie, raucous novel, packed with pathos and wit. Read it!
O'Donnell writes wittily and well
Moves effortlessly as the story needs between pacy dialogue, gripping drama and an elegiac, other-worldly mournfulness...creates a deeply satisfying world, where tone and language and character combine to provide a rich, credible texture. A comic delight
The House on Vesper Sands is a rare combination of chilling, delicate and funny