Arnold Ruben has created a memory machine, a utopia housed in a picture palace, where the happiest memories replay forever, a haven in which he and his precious daughter can shelter from the war-clouds gathering over 1937 Britain. But on the day of her 17th birthday Amaryllis leaves Warlock Hall and the world she has known and wakes to find herself in a desolate and disturbing place. Something has gone terribly wrong with her father’s plan.
Against the tense backdrop of the Second World War, Sally Gardner explores families and what binds them, fathers and daughters, past histories, passions and cruelty, love and devastation in a novel rich in character and beautifully crafted.
Against the tense backdrop of the Second World War, Sally Gardner explores families and what binds them, fathers and daughters, past histories, passions and cruelty, love and devastation in a novel rich in character and beautifully crafted.
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Reviews
Gardner is a true artist and original ... The writing is thrillingly vivid, dramatic and makes for a serious treat which keeps readers on the edge of their seats all the way to the end
A rich and compelling book ... a tour de force
Extraordinary -- one of those rare novels published for young readers where we are admitted to a secondary world charged with its writer's exceptional intelligence of both mind and emotion
A paranormal teen romance with a rare philosophical depth
At times the writing is almost too good -- so visual, so visceral that you can feel the green fog of captured memories seeping out form the pages
One of those haunting books that will be remembered by the reader for a lifetime
Astonishing
This is one of those rare gems that can easily become a classic.
An extraordinary novel of unusual grace and power
What a mysterious and haunting book ... terrifying and fascinating in equal measure
Strikingly original
Exciting and fulfilling
Typically brilliant ... an unusual and constantly challenging story
Remarkable ... lyrical ... unpredictable