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The Small Hours

The Small Hours

by SusieBoyt (Author)

  • Used

    Hardcover 2012

    $4.22
Synopsis

Harriet Mansfield, brave, wry and handsome, is determined to triumph no matter what. With a decade of therapy under her belt and a new large inheritance, it seems there is nothing she cannot achieve.

So she decides to open the school of her dreams. To her precious little girls, rich in everything but care, she vows to provide the happiest childhoods in the world. For everyone knows that early years passed in delightful ways can set you up for life.

But can this ambitious new departure spill some retrospective sweetness onto Harriet's own harsh beginnings, or better still cancel them out altogether? Will the family she's estranged from ever grant her the recognition she craves?

Written with deep psychological insight and coal-black humour The Small Hours is a stunning meditation on love, self-love and forgiveness, and their shadowy opposites.

$4.22

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
 Pages: 224
 Edition: First Edition
 Publisher: Virago Press
Published: 01 Nov 2012
ISBN 10: 1844088251
ISBN 13: 9781844088256
Book Overview: A wonderful and startling novel about the havoc and pain, healing and love that comes with growing up in a family. Like A.L. Kennedy and Ali Smith, Susie Boyt is an exquisite writer, thoughtful and truly original.

Media Reviews
Darkly funny . . . You can't help wishing that everyone was a bit more like Harriet -- Emma Herdman * Marie Claire *
The Small Hours excites with refined delights . . . Boyt's economical prose remains elegantly polished, her descriptions of the subtleties of psychotherapy spine-tingling . . . A meaty yet accessible novel possessing great psychological rigour -- Lucy Beresford * Sunday Telegraph *
An unsettling yet absorbing story -- Ben Felsenberg * Metro *
Boyt weaves an engaging combination of psychological insight and piercing black humour to produce a thoroughly engaging, thought-provoking story -- Mel Clarke * The Lady *
An exquisitely written tale of a damaged woman attempting to mend her past with a grand gesture * Psychologies magazine *
The Small Hours is an absolute gem of a novel: exquisite, diamond-bright and lacerating to the hardest of hearts -- Amanda Craig * Literary Review *
Boyt delicately interweaves the revelation of Harriet's past with the unravelling of her present and skilfully leavens the inevitable tragic conclusion with the exuberance and chatter of the girls, who bring as much joy to the reader as their teacher -- Michael Arditti * Daily Mail *
Boyt has a gift for creating loveable protagonists . . . Boyt has studied Henry James and his stylistic influence is visible, both in the vibrant intensity of Harriet's character and the rich dramatisation of her consciousness -- Freya McClelland * Independent *
Harriet's pain is clear through the fine mesh of taut and witty prose -- A N Wilson * Reader's Digest *
A divinely dark book . . . The Small Hours reminds us of the best and the worst of how we treat each other -- Jackie McGlone * Sunday Herald *
Boyt is a compassionate chronicler of the human heart . . . The point of this novel is not whether your dreams succeed or fail, but whether you're still willing to risk having dreams at all. In Harriet Mansfield, Boyt has drawn a character whose moral and emotional courage is both convincing and heartbreaking -- Rebecca Abrams * Financial Times *
Author Bio
Susie Boyt is the author of four acclaimed novels and a memoir, My Judy Garland Life, which was serialised on Radio 4 and will be staged at the Nottingham Playhouse in spring 2013. Since 2002 she has written a weekly column about art and life for the Financial Times. She lives in London with her family.