The Past: 'Poetic, tender and full of wry humour. A delight.' - Sunday Mirror - Softcover

Hadley, Tessa

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099597462 ISBN 13: 9780099597469

Publisher: Vintage, 2016

Synopsis

Rivalry, unruly desire and ugly secrets poison a family holiday in this gripping novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Late in the Day.

'Few writers give me such consistent pleasure' Zadie Smith

Four siblings meet up in their grandparents’ old house for three long, hot summer weeks. But under the idyllic surface lie shattering tensions.

Roland has come with his new wife, and his sisters don’t like her. Fran has brought her children, who soon uncover an ugly secret in a ruined cottage in the woods. Alice has invited Kasim, an outsider, who makes plans to seduce Roland’s teenage daughter. And Harriet, the eldest, finds her quiet self-possession ripped apart when passion erupts unexpectedly.

Over the course of the holiday, a familiar way of life falls apart forever.

'Exquisite' The Times

'Wonderful' Guardian

'Magnificent' Sunday Times

About this title

Product Description:

'Few writers give me such consistent pleasure' Zadie SmithFour siblings meet up in their grandparents' old house for three long, hot summer weeks. But under the idyllic surface lie shattering tensions. Roland has come with his new wife, and his sisters don't like her., Fran has brought her children, who soon uncover an ugly secret in a ruined cottage in the woods. Alice has invited Kasim, an outsider, who makes plans to seduce Roland's teenage daughter. And Harriet, the eldest, finds her quiet self-possession ripped apart when passion erupts unexpectedly., Over the course of the holiday, a familiar way of life falls apart forever. 'Exquisite' The Times 'Wonderful' Guardian 'Magnificent' Sunday Times

Review:

"One of the best novels of 2016." (Ron Charles Washington Post)

"I find Tessa Hadley’s work genuinely helpful, especially when it comes to the big subjects: love and marriage, the political versus the personal, children, friendship. And then there are the sentences themselves, so precise and beautiful, often sly, sometimes devastating, always expertly paced. Few writers give me such consistent pleasure." (Zadie Smith)

"She has such great psychological insights into human beings, which is rare. She is one of the best fiction writers writing today" (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)

"A new Tessa Hadley is a pleasure to be savoured... The Past is a hugely enjoyable and keenly intelligent novel, brimming with the vitality of unruly desire." (Sameer Rahim, four stars Daily Telegraph)

"Hadley is an exquisite writer, with a fine eye for detail and a way of crafting sentences that make you stop and inhale" (The Times)

"Tessa Hadley recruits admirers with each book. She writes with authority, and with delicacy: she explores nuance, but speaks plainly; she is one of those writers a reader trusts." (Hilary Mantel)

"Tessa Hadley has become one of this country’s great contemporary novelists. She is equipped with an armoury of techniques and skills that may yet secure her a position as the greatest of them." (Anthony Quinn Guardian)

"My favourite contemporary novelist... Nobody explores the mystery of relationships better than Hadley." (Deborah Moggach)

"A masterful novel" (Spectator)

"Tessa Hadley is funny, precise, sensuous, and one of the best writers of family life that you are ever likely to encounter – simultaneously sympathetic and penetrating" (Daily Mail Books of the Year)

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0099597462
• ISBN 13: 9780099597469
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368