The Gingerbread Woman - Softcover

Johnston, Jennifer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 074725933X ISBN 13: 9780747259336

Publisher: Headline Review, 2001

Synopsis

'Written in Johnston's usual haunting prose... no word is unnecessary' Maeve Binchy, Sunday Times

About this title

Review:

In The Gingerbread Woman, Jennifer Johnston again demonstrates her ability to create memorable and affecting characters. Clara, who at 35 makes her living doing "odd jobs for newspapers", is recovering from a serious operation and spends her days wandering around the cliff tops at Dublin Bay. Like the The French Lieutenant's Woman, she stares out to sea, trying to rediscover the direction in her life. One rainy afternoon, she encounters Laurence (Lar), a teacher who has run away from his life in Northern Ireland as he tries to come to terms with a family tragedy. The novel describes how these two unconventional people form a fragile friendship.

Alternating the narrative voice, Johnston lets their stories unravel gradually. Both characters are trying to come to terms with loss and the novel examines the contrasting ways they cope: Clara is self-depreciating and humorous but can't shake off the knowledge that haunts her; Lar is bitter and coiled, bottling up his pain in an ever-present anger. Johnston has no difficulty in keeping the reader intrigued as the plot is never a foregone conclusion.

The Gingerbread Woman is a short book but not a light read--it investigates loss, tragedy, loneliness and apparent hopelessness but does not weigh the reader down in doing so. It also considers the complexities of emotions not always recognised or voiced and their impact on everyone involved. This is a book that lingers. --Christina McLoughlin

Review:

She writes with considerable acuity and understanding (Sunday Times)

'The richness of themes here is as delicious at Mrs Barry's baking: the primary importance of self-esteem and the way this depends on developing a general kindliness to oneself as well as others; the vast opportunities for healing thrown up by simple pleasures, not least laughter. THE GINGERBREAD WOMAN is Johnston at her observant, compelling best' Image magazine

'Despite its desolate background it is both entertaining and uplifting... The book has a musical feel and makes a poignant symphony of its themes of love and grief' Clare Boylan, Sunday Express

'A beautifully-paced novel of solitariness... This is a book to steal for your friends and re-read your own copy for pleasure' Glasgow Herald

'With Jennifer Johnston, even the worst suffering is redeemed by wit, good humour and a sense of fun... If you have already discovered Jennifer Johnston, you will enjoy THE GINGERBREAD WOMAN. If you haven't, then this is a good place to start' Daily Mail

'Written in Johnston's usual haunting prose, where no word is unnecessary' Maeve Binchy, Sunday Times

'The grande dame of modern Irish literature, Jennifer Johnston has been writing superior fictions, that both embody the wounds of Irish life and scrutinise themes beyond its orbit, for over a quarter of a century. THE GINGERBREAD WOMAN continues her theme of the search for personal freedom... Exceptionally gifted in structuring her narrative so that the reader is compelled to discover the secrets that scar her protagonists, Johnston is also blessed with an understated wisdom, and a heightened understanding of love and loss' Glasgow List

'A superb stylist, humorous, surprising and virtuously plain' Lynne Truss, Sunday Times

'A beautifully crafted novel' Sunday Telegraph

'THE GINGERBREAD WOMAN is characteristic as well as untypical of Johnston, similar yet different. She knows her territory. Probably the most consistently undercelebrated of Irish writers, her genius lies in her calm, intelligence and her distinctive feel for the way an individual will act in an extreme emotional crisis.... Jennifer Johnston has always demonstrated an exact understanding of the cultural nuances of Irish life as well as the perceptions, even textures, that go into being Irish. Few Irish writers have pursued these questions so intently. Aside from all this, THE GINGERBREAD WOMAN reiterates she remains, as ever, a shrewd, canny storyteller who understands human error' Eileen Battersby, Irish Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Headline Review
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 074725933X
• ISBN 13: 9780747259336
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224