What happens to a family when one of the brothers publishes his “misery memoir?” Is his litany of childhood torment a complete invention? Or was there really a cupboard under the stairs?
The farmhouse was called The Beacon and they had been born and reared there, May, Colin, Frank and Berenice, but only May had been left for the last 27 years . . .
May had been the clever daughter and she had escaped the shelter of The Beacon, just once, to go to university. But in London she had been pursued by nameless terrors, the victim of fears and anxieties. Now she was the spinster daughter, the one who stayed, who nursed her father after his accident and looked after her mother in her old age.
Frank was the one who got away. He married and moved on. But why does no one ever mention Frank’s name?
Richly atmospheric, evoking mystery, ambiguity and suspense, The Beacon is a novella which continues to resonate beyond the final pages.
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About the Author:
Susan Hill’s novels and short stories have won the Whitbread, Somerset Maugham and John Llewelyn Rhys awards, and been shortlisted for the Booker. She is the author of the ghost stories The Woman in Black; The Mist in the Mirror; and The Man in the Picture, and of the series of crime novels featuring policeman Simon Serrailler.
Review:
"It is a little masterpiece" Daily Telegraph
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherChatto & Windus
- Publication date2009
- ISBN 10 0701183403
- ISBN 13 9780701183400
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages160
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Rating