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Instructions for a Heatwave : The Bestselling Novel from the Prize-Winning Author of the MARRIAGE PORTRAIT and HAMNET
by O'Farrell, Maggie
- Used
- Condition
- Used - Good
- ISBN 10
- 0755358791
- ISBN 13
- 9780755358793
- Seller
-
Dunfermline, Fife, United Kingdom
20 Copies Available from This Seller
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Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Headline Publishing Group. Used - Good. Ships from the UK. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages.
Synopsis
Maggie O’Farrell is the author of After You’d Gone, winner of a Betty Trask Award; My Lover’s Lover; The Distance Between Us, winner of a Somerset Maugham Award; The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox; The Hand That First Held Mine, winner of a Costa Novel Award; and Instructions for a Heatwave , shortlisted for the Costa Award.
Reviews
On Dec 3 2013, CloggieDownunder said:
Instructions For A Heatwave is the sixth novel by British author, Maggie O’Farrell. On a July Thursday at the height of Britain’s 1976 heatwave, Robert Riordan goes out as usual for the morning paper but doesn’t return. When no trace of him can be found, his wife, Gretta calls her daughter in Gloucester, Monica, who is having a drama of her own. Eventually, Gretta’s son, Michael Francis manages to contact his younger sister, Aoife in New York, and the siblings come together at their family home to decide what is to be done. It is a gathering filled with tensions, as Aoife and Monica have been estranged for years. Not only that, but undercurrents flow as each character is dealing with shameful secrets of their own. While this could make for heavy going, the dialogue between the characters, the family dynamics and some moments of delicious irony provide a comic relief that lifts the story. As O’Farrell skilfully builds her story, the various mysteries, some from more than thirty years ago, unfold over four days. Abortion, dyslexia, divorce, betrayal, adultery, draft dodging, a dead cat, an Irish convent and a deep abiding love all feature. O’Farrell’s characters are interesting and complex; they are larger than life and so very real. Her prose is a joy to experience: the feel of the heatwave is expertly conveyed and the descriptions are wonderfully evocative. “And then, it seemed to Monica, the baby opened her mouth and started to scream and that she did not stop screaming for a long time. ……She screamed if laid flat, even for a moment…….her legs would work up and down, as if she was a toy with a winding mechanism, her face would crumple in on itself and the room would fill with jagged sounds that could have cut you, if you’d stood too close.” and “She cannot read. She cannot do that thing that other people find so artlessly easy: to see arrangements of inked shapes on a page and alchemise them into meaning.” are just two examples. A brilliant read.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Better World Books Ltd (GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- GRP72580644
- Title
- Instructions for a Heatwave : The Bestselling Novel from the Prize-Winning Author of the MARRIAGE PORTRAIT and HAMNET
- Author
- O'Farrell, Maggie
- Book Condition
- Used - Good
- Quantity Available
- 20
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 0755358791
- ISBN 13
- 9780755358793
- Publisher
- Headline Publishing Group
- Place of Publication
- Uk
- This edition first published
- 2013
Terms of Sale
Better World Books Ltd
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping cost for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged. Please keep in mind that because we deal mostly in used books, any extra components, such as CDs or access codes, are usually not included. CDs: If the book does include a CD, it will be noted in the book's description ("With CD!"). Otherwise, there is no CD included, even if the term is used in the book's title. Access Codes: Unless the book is described as "New," please assume that the book does *not* have an access code.
About the Seller
Better World Books Ltd
Biblio member since 2009
Dunfermline, Fife
About Better World Books Ltd
Better World Books generates funding for literacy charities through the sales of second-hand books. Our current partner charities in the UK are READ International, the National Literacy Trust, Room to Read. (Registered Charities no. 1128534, no. 1116260 and no. 1125803 and the National Adult Literacy Agency. Much of our stock is ex-library due to our close relationships with UK libraries. We offer a service that helps them keep their unwanted books out of landfill. All ex-library books will be marked as such in their individual listings. 99% of orders are dispatched within 24 hours and we offer a 100% money back guarantee if you are not completely satisfied.