The Great Ideas - Hardcover

Cleminshaw, Suzanne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1857029089 ISBN 13: 9781857029086

Publisher: Fourth Estate, 1999

Synopsis

Shortlisted for the 1999 Whitbread First Novel Award. An absorbing mystery story, a How-to book, a tour of the encyclopaedia, an etiquette guide and a history of philosophy – one of the most original and entertaining novels to have come out of America in many years.

The Monroes’ house has been abandoned for as long as Haddie can remember. Before she was born, her sister’s dead body was found on the flagstone path and no one is sure how she fell. Like the House of Atreus, this tragic event will have repercussions which effect all the characters in this strange story and, as Haddie attempts to figure out the clues to the mystery of her sister’s death, The Great Ideas takes the form of an epistemological search. Haddie trawls the encyclopaedia looking for clues, reads Plato, Aristotle, Boethius. Woven into her quest is an abundance of serendipitous details that come at the reader one after the other: about fortune telling, floating paper boats, what it feels like to forget; how to yawn with your mouth closed, flirt, levitate and charm a snake.

Slowly, as it arcs towards its tragic climax, its mixture of curiosity and knowledge will delight anyone with an enquiring mind. A truly original and ground-breaking novel.

About this title

Review

First novels about childhood don't come more erudite or thrilling than this. Haddie Ashton, aged 13, is embroiled in a summer holiday full of mystery, tragedy and learning the "A" section of the encyclopaedia (thus we get potted discourses on Agorazonta, Alcibiades and Animism delivered in a refreshingly wondering, childlike tone). But, together with her wilfully eccentric best friend, Louis Lewis, she gets up to more nefarious deeds- -cat-burgling, for instance, and exploring an empty, neighbouring house. Thirteen years ago, from the top storey of this sinister mansion (once occupied by a Hollywood mogul) her older sister fell to her death. Haddie is convinced that there was more to this fatal leap than accident, and part of her rites of passage is to uncover the truth. Along the way, though, Cleminshaw injects some social comedy as Haddie is sent to Charm School to acquire the poise of a self-assured woman. Where Cleminshaw excels is in detailing the endearing gaucheries of an adolescent as she emerges, albeit reluctantly, into adulthood. And, although she sets the action in small-town Ohio, the story has a timeless quality that reproduces that infinite stretch of a summer holiday that we only experience as children. --Lilian Pizzichini

Review

'Eccentric, erudite and thoroughly engaging.' -- Sunday Times

'If you a very lucky, you occasionally come across a first novel destined to become a classic. Hallelujah! This is one of those...you want to read great chunks aloud and start again as soon as you finish.' -- Harpers & Queen

'The work of a genuine talent' -- Daily Telegraph

'This book is alight with wonder.' -- Time Out

About this edition

• Publisher: Fourth Estate
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1857029089
• ISBN 13: 9781857029086
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320