Ella - Softcover

Geller, Uri

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0747259208 ISBN 13: 9780747259206

Publisher: Headline Book Pub Ltd, 1999

Synopsis

Fourteen-year-old Ella Wallis is a typical unhappy teenager. Bullied at school, misunderstood by her family, she just wants to be left alone. But Ella has one thing most teenagers don't: telekinetic powers. Ella doesn't know how she moves things without touching them, or even that she's doing it, but she is about to discover that this is only the beginning of her extraordinary gifts - gifts that can be used for good or for evil. Uri Geller is world-famous for his psychic powers; in thousands of television appearances, he has astounded audiences with his telekinetic prowess. He is the author of numerous titles, including My Story, The Geller Effect, and Change Your Life in One Day; he has also been the subject of more than a dozen books.

About this title

Review:

AT Headline, Bill Massey has bought the fictional debut of Israeli-born psychic, spoon-bender and clock-stopper Uri Geller. Ella is a paranormal thriller which explores the dilemmas of a 14-year-old girl who discovers she has psychic powers and is thus drawn into a terrifying world of paranormal phenomena which she cannot comprehend. Much of it is clearly based on Geller's own life and Massey describes the novel as "a heartstopping read that should persuade a few Sceptics". In the Geller tradition, Massey is not sure how the project came to land on his desk, but arrive it did, in a Jiffy Bag marked simply URI GELLER NOVEL. "As I was opening it, the phone rang and it was Uri Geller," recalls Massey. "I said 'Uri, what a coincidence!' He said: 'NO, Bill, not coincidence - Synchronicity'." -- Nathan Morley from Wilts October 12, 1998

Exhilarating and Brilliant. Uri Geller was the last person I expected to turn into a first-rate novelist. Yet that is exactly what he has done. Ella has a sharpness of observation and insight into character that reveal the true novelist. It is also humorous, well written, and a tremendously dramatic - so much so that I read it straight through in two long sittings. Of course, we would expect a book by Geller to be about someone with psychic powers; but in Ella he has created a person totally unlike himself - a girl who begins as a psychic and ends as a religious visionary. Yet in spite of its 'spiritual' theme, the book has tremendous raw vitality, and a high spirited physical - and sexual realism. It also has wit: one parody of a female journalist who writes for weekend supplements reaches a level of brilliance. It is the most exhilarating novel I have read in years. -- A reader from Goran Haven, UK March 7, 1999

Superb characterisation and tantalising. Electrified by high-voltage suspense, breathless with risk...it all works perfectly. -- A reader from Reading , 17 March, 1999

From Publishers Weekly:

Well-known psychic Geller turns from nonfiction (Uri Geller's Mindpower Kit) to fiction in his latest book, and though his original motive may have been to advocate his beliefs, the result is a most respectable piece of storytelling. Fourteen-year-old Ella Wallis, the daughter of an unhappy working-class family (with a domineering, adulterous father and an insensitive, alcoholic mother) in Bristol, England, suddenly finds herself developing uncontrollable paranormal powersAbooks fly around her, a forceful whining sound surrounds her whenever she's frightened. As her destructive powers increase, she is ostracized by schoolmates and soon becomes the center of a media circus. The publicity provokes a three-cornered power struggle between psychic researcher Peter Guntarson, public relations mogul Jos? Miguel D?la and Ella's avaricious family. As Ella becomes more adept, capable of levitation, teleportation and worldwide healing, her intense friendship with Guntarson appears to give him the victory. But Ella's capabilities are wearing away at her health and sanity, and she may not survive Guntarson's final challenge. Geller's novel recalls the themes of both The Exorcist and Carrie, but it does so with intelligence, wit and an abundance of well-chosen detail, fleshing out even such unsympathetic characters as Ella's father, Ken. Geller's acerbic portrait of the sensationalist media adds a new twist to this predictable but engaging tale. (June) FYI: Geller next book, Mind Medicine, will be published by Element in October.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Headline Book Pub Ltd
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0747259208
• ISBN 13: 9780747259206
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 438