Reasons She Goes to the Woods: LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2014 - Hardcover

Davies, Deborah Kay

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1780743769 ISBN 13: 9781780743769

Publisher: Oneworld Publications, 2014

Synopsis

Shortlisted for the Encore Award Longlisted for the Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction Pearl can be very, very good. More often she is very, very bad. But she's just a child, a mystery to all who know her. A little girl who has her own secret reasons for escaping to the nearby woods. What might those reasons be? And how can she feel so at home in the dark, sinister, sensual woods, a wonder of secrets and mystery? Told in vignettes across Pearl's childhood years, Reasons She Goes To The Woods is a nervy but lyrical novel about a normal girl growing up, doing the normal things little girls do.

About this title

Product Description

Pearl can be very, very good. More often she is very, very bad. But she s just a child, a mystery to all who know her. A little girl who has her own secret reasons for escaping to the nearby woods. What might those reasons be? And how can she feel so at home in the dark, sinister, sensual woods, a wonder of secrets and mystery? Told in vignettes across Pearl s childhood years, Reasons She Goes To The Woods is a nervy but lyrical novel about a normal girl growing up, doing the normal things little girls do.

Review

‘Exquisite...to be marvelled at.’

(Guardian)

‘Outstanding... Davies is a poet, and this is a poet’s novel in the very best sense – every word is pin-sharp and perfectly in its place.’

(The Times)

‘Pearl is a marvellously contradictory creation, showing the cruelty in children as well as their neediness, their capacity for love and friendship... Davies’ novel reads almost like a prose poem.’

(Independent on Sunday)

‘A sexy, contrary book...also a story concerned with morality. The most sustained and challenging aspect of the narrative is its insistence about what a little girl is like.’ 

(Times Literary Supplement)

‘Brutal, funny... One of those rare novels that is genuinely about sex, in all its irrationality and potential for self-destruction.’  

(Lionel Shriver, author of We Need to Talk About Kevin)

‘Best for highbrow sun lounging...told with a gothic, sensual style that Angela Carter would be proud of.’

(Grazia)

‘Raw, lyrical, sad, this haunting story packs a deceivingly strong punch.’

(Publishers Weekly)

‘Dark, beautifully descriptive and rather haunting.’

(Grazia Daily)

‘A spiky echo of Angela Carter, with whom Ms Davies at her best stands fair comparison... The language is fresh, the imagery striking...and Pearl herself is a rampant, compelling, fully-realised, wild-eyed, teary creation.’

(The Scotsman)

‘A poetic and strange novel, full of flair.’ 

(Emerald Street)

About this edition

• Publisher: Oneworld Publications
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1780743769
• ISBN 13: 9781780743769
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256