Her Fearful Symmetry

Niffenegger, Audrey

3.26

94,246 ratings by Goodreads

ISBN 10: 0743599306 ISBN 13: 9780743599306

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2009

When Elspeth Noblin dies of cancer, she leavers her London apartment to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina. These two American girls never met their English aunt, only knew that their mother, too, was a twin, and Elspeth her sister. Julia and Valentina are semi-normal American teenagers—with seemingly little interest in college, finding jobs, or anything outside their cozy home in the suburbs of Chicago, and with an abnormally intense attachment to one another. They are twenty.

The girls move to Elspeth’s flat, which borders Highgate Cemetery in London. They come to know the building’s other residents. There is Martin, a brilliant and charming crossword puzzle setter suffering from crippling Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Marjike, Martin’s devoted but trapped wife, and Robert, Elspeth’s elusive lover, a scholar of the cemetery. As the girls become embroiled in the fraying lives of their aunt’s neighbors, they also discover that much is still alive in Highgate, including—perhaps—their aunt, who can’t seem to leave her old apartment and life behind.

Niffenegger weaves a captivating story in Her Fearful Symmetry about love and identity, about secrets and sisterhood, and about the tenacity of life—even after death.

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Review:

NATIONAL BESTSELLER "An engrossing read by someone who really knows how to keep a story rolling. . . . she makes us really care about her characters, but it's her storytelling chops that make Her Fearful Symmetry a winner."-- "NOW" (Toronto) "[An] awesomely good read."-- "Chatelaine""Quirkily observed and rich on every level: plot, character, mood and theme. . . . She conjures a memorable world, and grants most of her characters happy endings, though perhaps not the ones they would have asked for."-- "The Globe and Mail""Entertaining. . . . The reader is pleasantly carried along by the author's ability to create credible characters and her instinctive narrative gifts. . . . The most powerful parts of Her Fearful Symmetry . . . deal not with paranormal events but with the ordinary pleasures and frustrations of life."-- "The New York Times""Niffenegger deftly creates and maintains suspense. . . . Niffenegger has created a startling cast of characters whose eccentricities make them both more memorable and more believable."-- "The Gazette""A modern Victorian novel revolving around a London cemetery, ghostly hauntings and a well-kept secret. . . . A bewitching modern-gothic tale that is at once unsettling and intriguing."-- "Chicago Sun-Times""Talk about time travel: The novel blends the history of London's famed Highgate Cemetery, the remarkable phenomena of mirror-image twins and the question of life after death into a ghost story that feels as if it could have been written a century ago."-- "National Post""Odd and disturbing but intensely mesmerizing and memorable. . . . Niffenegger spins such a riveting story -- just like she did in The Time Traveler's Wife -- that suspending disbelief is a pleasure. . . . Niffenegger's writing is bewitching. . . . Niffenegger delivers with great skill a chilling and haunting story."-- "The Miami Herald""Vivid prose. . . . Perverse f

Book Description:

At last - another brilliant, original and moving novel from the author of THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE.

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