A Crying Shame

A Crying Shame

by RenateDorrestein (Author)

Synopsis

For ten-year-old Christine, home is a hostile, troubling place. Her mother reserves her affection for her younger, live-in-lover, and for Waldo, Christine's teenage brother. Christine viciously takes out her angry feelings on her Barbies and on a weaker girl in her class. Then on a family holiday in Scotland, a tragic accident occurs for which Christine blames herself, and panic-stricken, she runs away with her four-year-old brother, and hides in the back of a stranger's car. Agnes Stam is an elderly Dutch spinster, making her annual summer pilgrimage to her family's holiday cottage on Mull. When she discover the little stowaways in her car, she fails to report the missing children and allows them to stay. And so a little girl with a big, guilty secret becomes a lonely old woman's salvation - and also her nemesis.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 304
Publisher: Black Swan
Published: 04 Aug 2003

ISBN 10: 0552999903
ISBN 13: 9780552999908
Book Overview: Renate Dorrestein has been nominated for the Libris Prize and won an Annie Romein Prize in 1993, and in 1997 she was voted runner-up for the Publieksprijs for the most popular Dutch writer. Her other books include A Heart of Stone and Without Mercy .

Media Reviews
'A chilling and disturbing novel in which family represents the heart of darkness.', The Times .'Stark and gently funny, this is a tragic and lovely novel.', Guardian .'Gripping and unexpected, dramatic yet understated ... well-crafted, moving and compelling tale.', Oxford Times .'Reading the Dutch novelist Renate Dorrestein is an infallible reminder of how rare it is to find a gripping story about the old and the very young ... an effectively touching translation of a tale of three disregarded nobodies.', Independent Magazine .'Her novels read like film scripts...psychological thrillers in which what's most to be feared is closest to home...painfully cutting, and surprisingly funny...a truly courageous writer.', Independent . Something terrible has happened ... But there are also some very funny moments ... the pace and energy of which is compelling, owing to Hester Velmans's fine translation. , The Lady
Author Bio
Renate Dorrestein Renate Dorrestein is one of Holland's best-loved novelists. Born in Amsterdam in 1954, she became a journalist before writing her first novel, Outsiders, which was published in 1983. Her books have regularly appeared at the top of the Dutch bestsellers lists ever since. She has been nominated for the Libris Prize and won an Annie Romein Prize in 1993 for her 'original and irresistible' body of work. In 1997 she was voted runner-up for the Publieksprijs for the most popular Dutch writer. A Heart of Stone was her first novel to be translated into English, Without Mercy is the second.