Florence and Giles - Hardcover

Harding, John

3.62

5,421 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007315031 ISBN 13: 9780007315031

Publisher: Harpercollins Pub Ltd, 2010

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A gripping, sinister Gothic tale inspired by and in the tradition of Henry James's The Turn of the Screw In 1891, in a remote and crumbling New England mansion, 12-year-old orphan Florence and her younger brother are neglected by her guardian uncle. Banned from reading, Florence devours books in secret and talks to herself—and narrates her story—in a unique language of her own invention. By night, she sleepwalks the corridors and is troubled by a recurrent dream in which a mysterious woman appears to threaten her younger brother Giles. After the sudden violent death of the children's first governess, a second teacher, Miss Taylor, arrives, and immediately strange phenomena begin to occur. Florence becomes convinced that the new governess is a malevolent spirit who means to do Giles harm. Against this powerful enemy, Florence must use all her intelligence and ingenuity to protect her little brother and preserve her private world. This gothic page-turner in the tradition of The Woman in Black and The Fall of the House of Usher is told in a startlingly different and wonderfully captivating narrative voice.

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About the Author:

John Harding is a book reviewer for the Daily Mail and the author of While the Sun Shines.

Review:

"An elegant literary exercise worked out with the strictness of a fugue; imagine Henry James's The Turn of the Screw rewritten by Edgar Allan Poe. Plotted to the last detail . . . Nothing prepares you for the chillingly ruthless but—in retrospect—inevitable finale." —Times

"You don't need to know The Turn of the Screw to enjoy it. Real atmosphere is increasingly rare in novels and here it is in spades . . . Your Twilight-reading teen will love it too. A darkly glamorous tour de force." —Daily Mail

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