Set This House in Order - Softcover

Ruff, Matt

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007164238 ISBN 13: 9780007164233

Publisher: Flamingo, 2003

Synopsis

Set This House in Order

About this title

Review:

‘A stunning, thrilling, deeply moving work of fiction.’ PETER STRAUB, co-author of Black House'

‘Exceptional... Reading those first pages, you feel real excitement: the thump in head and heart of a captivating idea; the creepiness of a fairytale; the wonderment of coming across something which feels both original and authoritatively imagined.' Daily Telegraph

‘Ultimately a good old-fashioned crime novel, Set This House in Order is as readable as the most golden of golden age mysteries.’ New Statesman

'Irresistible... Ruff excels at the changes in bearing, speech, even appearance when someone new blows in. This may sound fantastic, but he makes them utterly convincing. Throughout, Ruff deftly evokes the comedy and pain of maintaining such an elaborate inner life.' New York Times

'A stunning feat of literary craftsmanship, gripping for all of its 479 pages... Set This House in Order is pure literary fiction at its best, immersing us in the rich, strange and sometimes terrifying landscape of the psyche.' San Francisco Chronicle

'Stunning... In no time we've fallen into Andrew's way of seeing life through many eyes. The conclusion packs a wallop, but this is ultimately a romantic story, and so even the truth is delivered tenderly. Remarkably, Set This House in Order brings extraordinary warmth to the chilliest of childhoods.' Oprah Magazine

'Riveting in its external plot as well as its interior secrets (will Andrew discover hidden horrors about his stepfather?), Set This House in Order is not so much a whodunit as a whoisit... Drawing most of his dramatis personae from the motley personalities of two thoroughly fetching characters, Ruff has created a shockingly likable suspense story... Extraordinary.' Boston Globe

Synopsis:

How do you escape from a house full of ghosts, when the house is inside your head? An acclaimed young novelist delivers an original and revelatory story about a man who suffers from multiple personality disorder. While Andrew Gage deals with the world around him, over a hundred other souls share an imaginary house inside his head, struggling to maintain an orderly coexistence: Aaron, the father-figure, who makes the rules; Adam, the mischievous teenager, who breaks them; Jake, the frightened little boy; Aunt Sam, the artist; and Gideon, the dark soul, who wants to get rid of Andrew and the others and run things on his own. In short, Andrew Gage serves as the everyday public face of a young man with a broken mind, haunted by the ghosts of his past. Andrew's new coworker, Penny Driver, is also a multiple personality -- a fact that Penny is only partially aware of. When several of Penny's personalities ask Andrew for help, he reluctantly agrees, setting in motion a chain of events that threatens to destroy the stability of his house.

Now Andrew and Penny must work together to uncover a terrible secret that Andrew has been keeping from himself: the reason why his young mind shattered into pieces in the first place...

About this edition

• Publisher: Flamingo
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0007164238
• ISBN 13: 9780007164233
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 496