Caroline Blackwood - Böcker

THE PITCH-BLACK REDISCOVERED CLASSICFrom the Booker-shortlisted author of Great Granny Webster, this twisted modern classic is perfect for fans of Shirley Jackson and Celia Dale. 'One of the greatest, darkest writers who ever lived' Virginia Feito'This chillingly profound story drips with classy darkness. . . a one-way descent into the abyss' Janice Hallett'A dark masterpiece' Camilla Grudova'I absolutely loved this . . . Creepy, atmospheric and dark as a village green at midnight' Alice Slater'A devastating investigation of neurosis, hysteria and cruelty' Observer'I read it with wide eyes and unsavoury glee' Sunday Times'Caroline Blackwood sits firmly alongside the greats like Shirley Jackson and Patricia Highsmith' Araminta Hall'Compulsive, cruel and brilliant' Daily Mail'Gimlet-eyed and masterful' Irish Independent ***She was dead even before I became aware of her existence . . .A child has been abducted from a sleepy Kent village, her face plastered across the media.As the crime unleashes a wave of hysteria, the claustrophobic world of Rowan Anderson and his inscrutable wife begins to disintegrate. Consumed by her macabre fixation, Cressida is determined to save their sickly daughter, Mary Rose, from the same fate - and perhaps even from Rowan himself.With caustic wit and pitch-black brilliance, Caroline Blackwood creates a skin-crawling - and utterly compulsive - story of repressed violence, female rage, and maternal obsession. INTRODUCED BY CAMILLA GRUDOVA

Caroline Blackwood's masterpiece, shortlisted for the 1977 Booker Prize - a gothic family drama in miniatureIn her gloomy mausoleum of a home, the terrifying matriarch Great Granny Webster spends her days sitting bolt upright in a Victorian chair, entirely alone except for her one-eyed maid - and her orphaned great-granddaughter, sent to stay for the sea air. She presides over three generations of ill-fated women, and a twisted family history which spools back through hedonistic 20s London to a crumbling aristocratic pile where two children are kept silently hidden in a distant wing. This macabre, viciously funny, partly autobiographical novel cuts to the bone of a dysfunctional dynasty, and captures Blackwood at her pitch-black best. 'One of the greatest, darkest writers who ever lived' Virginia Feito'Caroline Blackwood sits firmly alongside the greats like Shirley Jackson and Patricia Highsmith' Araminta Hall'Idiosyncratic, dark and extremely funny' Lucy Scholes'Shocking, brilliant, and wickedly funny, Great Granny Webster is Caroline Blackwood's best book. In the monstrous old dowager of Hove, and the ruling class she represents, Blackwood found a subject grandly commensurate with her own extraordinary style of aghast relish' Jonathan Raban'A unique literary experience' Philip Larkin'Great Granny Webster feels more like a memoir than a novel...but it is as gripping as a whodunit' TLS'Full of genuine black humour' London Review of Books

The blackly funny psychological thriller from the author of GREAT GRANNY WEBSTERCorrigan is at once a mordant comedy of manners and a very modern morality play. Since her husband's death, the increasingly frail Mrs. Blunt has had only her trips to his grave to look forward to. Her raucous housekeeper's conversation, and cooking, are best forgotten. Nadine, her daughter, is an infrequent, uneasy visitor. Then one day a charming, wheelchair-bound Irishman shows up at Mrs. Blunt's door in search of charitable contributions. Corrigan is an arch manipulator, Mrs. Blunt is his mark, and before long we realize that they are made for each other. As the two grow ever more entrenched, Nadine fears for her mother's safety (or is it for her own inheritance?). With Corrigan Caroline Blackwood takes a long, hard look at our dearly beloved notions of saints and sinners, victims and villains, patrimony and present pleasure―and winks.'One of the greatest, darkest writers who ever lived' Virginia Feito'Caroline Blackwood sits firmly alongside the greats like Shirley Jackson and Patricia Highsmith' Araminta Hall'Idiosyncratic, dark and extremely funny' Lucy Scholes'Domesticity for Miss Blackwood has never been cozy; she listens for the ticking of the time bomb in the teapot' New York Times Book Review

Discover Caroline Blackwood's darkly brilliant debut - a perfect rediscovered classic for fans of Shirley Jackson and Ottessa Moshfegh'A bracingly nasty book . . . Splendid, dark, often very funny' MEGAN NOLAN, TelegraphA lavish Upper West Side apartment is the site of a familial cold war about to enter a phase of dangerous escalation.J is a lonely woman without the luxury of being alone. Her husband has fled to Paris with his latest flame, leaving J with not only their own four-year-old daughter, Sally Ann, but the sulky, cake-mix addicted, thirteen-year-old Renata, a leftover from his previous marriage. Writing letters in her head to imaginary friends, J delights in dwelling on the hapless Renata, who 'invites a kind of cruelty'. This is an invitation J fully intends to take up - and like so many stepmothers before her, she will find that wickedness, once indulged, is a difficult habit to kick. A mordant black splinter of a book, Caroline Blackwood's first novel is a testament to her razor-sharp mastery - and mockery - of the darkest depths of human feeling.'Contained and ferocious' TLS'Punchy . . . a clever and perfectly formed novel' The Times'One of the greatest, darkest writers who ever lived' VIRGINIA FEITO'Witty, observant, clever' Guardian 'The perfect book for people who find Joan Didion too even-keeled, Renata Adler too fair-minded . . . In its own way, it's a perfect novel . . . It deserves to be a cheeky summer hit' LA REVIEW OF BOOKS'Blackwood was in fact a writer of rare distinction, the author of wit-drenched books about the wages of class, women's inhumanity to women, bitchiness, greed, abjection, family, monsters' NEW YORKER'Caroline Blackwood sits firmly alongside the greats like Shirley Jackson and Patricia Highsmith. Her writing is smart, economical and as dark as night' ARAMINTA HALL