The Extra Large Medium - Softcover

Slavin, Helen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802170323 ISBN 13: 9780802170323

Publisher: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press, 2007

Synopsis

<div>In this delightful debut novel, Helen Slavin takes the ghost story into a new dimension. Ever since she was a child, Annie Colville has been talking to the dead. She knows they&#8217;re dead because for some reason they&#8217;re always dressed in chocolate brown. But Annie&#8217;s grown up now, and things are getting serious. Especially after she falls for and marries Evan Bees. It&#8217;s hard enough to lose someone you love; but what if you know they could come back to you? And they just . . . don&#8217;t? During her long wait for her missing husband to come back to her, in chocolate brown or not, Annie searches through her mother&#8217;s vast collection of lovers for the other missing man in her life&#160;&#151; her father&#160;&#151; and struggles with the questions her gift asks of her. Quirky, irreverent, moving and a little bit spooky, <i>The Extra Large Medium</i> will charm you completely&#160;&#151; even as it&#8217;s raising the hairs on the back of your neck.</div><div></div>

About this title

Review

"A funny, offbeat debut that won't let you go." -- Fanny Blake

"A very, very good novel. Not a wasted word. Helen Slavin is a highly original talent." -- Beryl Bainbridge

"A very original, off-beat novel full of bizarre twists and turns and colorful characters that just won't let you go." -- Sue Stevenson

"The narrative voice is . . . no-nonsense, warm, and witty. . . . Both ÝAnnie¨ and the book are unassuming and disarming." -- Zoe Paxton

"Helen Slavin's wicked sense of humor and vivid imagination lift this debut above most examples of the currently popular 'life after death' genre."

"Is this the most quirky, bizarre, black-humored left-field ghost-story social commentary you will see this year? Certainly it will hit the bookshelves with a bang." -- Graham Clark

"There is strange comfort in this book, full of visitors from beyond the grave. . . . Helen Slavin can strip characters without a shred of nastiness. This debut is the oddball antidote to the psychic adverts that lurk in the inside of every glossy gossip magazine." -- Michael McGirr

About the Author

Helen Slavin is the author of The Extra Large Medium. She was born in Lancashire in 1966 and, after the University of Warwick, she had a variety of jobs as a temporary secretary before moving to Wiltshire. There, she got married and had a son and a daughter. She has written for radio and television, including scripts for The House of Eliott and the BBC Sunday night family drama, Down to Earth.

Edition details

• Publisher: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802170323
• ISBN 13: 9780802170323
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240