Before I Go to Sleep
S.J. Watson, 2011
HarperCollins
368 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062060556
Summary
As I sleep, my mind will erase everything I did today. I will wake up tomorrow as I did this morning. Thinking I’m still a child. Thinking I have a whole lifetime of choice ahead of me. . . .
Memories define us. So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep? Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love—all forgotten overnight. And the one person you trust may be telling you only half the story.
Welcome to Christine's life.
S. J. Watson makes his powerful debut with this compelling, fast-paced psychological thriller, reminiscent of Shutter Island and Memento, in which an amnesiac who, following a mysterious accident, cannot remember her past or form new memories, desperately tries to uncover the truth about who she is—and who she can trust. (From the publisher.)
See the 2014 film adaptation with Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth.
Author Bio
• Birth—1971
• Where—Stourbridge, England, UK
• Education—Uiversity of Birmingham
• Currently—lives in London, England
Steve "S. J." Watson is an English writer who debuted in 2011 with the thriller novel Before I Go to Sleep. Rights to publish the book have been sold in 37 different countries around the world and it has gone on to be an international bestseller.
Watson was born in Stourbridge, in the West Midlands. He studied Physics at the University of Birmingham and then moved to London, where he worked in various hospitals and specialized in the diagnostic and treatment of hearing-impaired children. In the evening and weekends he wrote fiction.
In 2009 Watson was accepted for the first course Writing a Novel at the Faber Academy. The result was his debut, Before I Go to Sleep. He was introduced to literary agent Clare Conville on the last night of the course and she agreed to represent him. The book was published in 2011. In the same year it was announced that the book would be adapted for the big screen by Ridley Scott.
Media interest in Before I Go to Sleep was considerable and Watson himself was the subject of a profile in London's Sunday Times before its UK publication and The Wall Street Journal before its US publication. Watson has been profiled and interviewed by numerous other media outlets, print and broadcast. (From Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
The summer’s single most suspenseful plot belongs to Before I Go to Sleep, by another debut author, S. J. Watson. Its heroine, the middle-aged Christine, is the spookiest amnesiac in a season that’s full of them.... Mr. Watson has written this as pure page-turner — though stories as high-concept as this tend to begin more excitingly than they end.
Janet Maslin - New York Times
Imagine drifting off every night knowing that your memories will be wiped away by morning. That’s the fate of Christine Lucas, whose bewildering internal world is rendered with chilling intimacy in this debut literary thriller.... You’ll stay up late reading until you know. (Four stars.)
People
(Starred review.) Memories—real, false, and a bit of both—are at the heart of British author Watson's haunting, twisted debut. Christine Lucas awakens each morning in London with no idea who she is or why she's in bed with a strange man, until he tells her that his name is Ben and they've been married for 22 years. Slowly, Christine learns that she has amnesia and is unable to remember her past or retain new memories: every night when she falls asleep, the slate is wiped clean. Dr. Nash, her therapist, has encouraged her to write in a journal that she keeps secret from Ben. Christine realizes how truly tangled—and dangerous—her life is after she sees the words "don't trust Ben" written in her journal, whose contents reveal that the only person she can trust is herself. Watson handles what could have turned into a cheap narrative gimmick brilliantly, building to a chillingly unexpected climax.
Publishers Weekly
Christine Lucas suffers from a rare form of amnesia as the result of a vaguely defined accident. Each night as she sleeps, her near-term memory is wiped clean, and she awakens knowing little about who she is, where she is, or with whom she lives. Every day her husband, Ben, shares with her the same carefully rehearsed story of their long marriage and gently encourages her struggle to remember. She keeps a journal at the recommendation of her doctor and reads it each morning. As the journal grows, Christine begins to suspect that Ben is not telling her the complete truth about her accident, their son Adam, her successful career as a novelist, or the fire that destroyed the collection of family photos that might help her remember. It is only when she reconnects with an old friend that she learns the truth and escapes her increasingly frightening and violent captivity. Verdict: This debut novel takes an intriguingly fresh look at the amnesia-focused psychological thriller. Though the climax seems a bit hurried, this is nonetheless a captivating and highly suspenseful read, populated with believable characters who lead the reader through a taut, well-constructed plot. —Susan Clifford Braun, Bainbridge Island, WA
Library Journal
(Starred review.) This mesmerizing, skillfully written debut novel works on multiple levels. It is both an affecting portrait of the profound impact of a debilitating illness and a pulse-pounding thriller whose outcome no one could predict.
Booklist
(Starred review.) Watson’s debut novel unwinds as a story that is both complicated and compellingly hypnotic. . . . Watson’s pitch–perfect writing propels the story to a frenzied climax that will haunt readers long after they’ve closed the cover on this remarkable book.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Christine doesn’t feel a strong sense of love for her husband, but wonders if that is normal after so many years of marriage. Do you think it’s inevitable that a marriage changes in this way?
2. Christine says that feels like an animal. Living from moment to moment, day to day, trying to make sense of the world. Do you think this is what it must be like to be in her situation? Do you think animals really have no sense of their past? Is the abililty to remember years gone by all that separates human beings from animals?
3. Christine doesn’t feel she achieved all of her childhood ambitions. She feels disappointment in the life that she has made for herself. Is this common for a woman as she approaches fifty years of age? Do you think she is right to be disappointed, or were her childhood ambitions unrealistic?
4. How important is memory to our sense of identity? What are the events in your life that have been important to in shaping who you are? Can you imagine what it might be like if you couldn’t remember them? How would you be different as a person?
5. Christine can’t remember Adam, or Claire. She can’t remember her wedding day or writing For the Morning Birds. Have these people and things changed her personality anyway, though, even though she can’t remember them? Is not remembering something effectively the same as it not having happened?
6. What are Dr Nash’s feelings towards Christine? Do you think he is behaving in a professional manner? He says he is writing up her case – are his motives for helping her entirely selfless? Is he being completely honest with her?
7. Do you think that Christine’s affair is out of character for her? Why do you think it happened? Why do you think she risks her marriage? Does she treat her husband well? And Mike? Was she being fair to him?
8. Christine believes Ben doesn’t tell her about Adam so that she doesn’t get upset. Would he be right to do this? Or does she have a right to know about him no matter how painful that knowledge might be? Are there other examples of people keeping things from Christine ‘for her own benefit’? Do you think this is ever the right thing to do?
9. Towards the end of the book Nash calls round at Christine’s house, but she can’t remember asking him to, even though he says she did so earlier that morning. Do you think she did so, but then forgot? Or is Nash lying to cover up the fact he had come uninvited?
10. Do you think Christine feels like a sexual person? Do you think she would be nervous about sex, and about her own body? Do you think every sexual experience would feel like the first for her? Does her husband have a right to expect her to have sex with him, even if she feels she has never met him before?
11. Did you like the ending? Did it represent closure for you? What about Christine? Do you think she will remember what happened to her when she wakes up?
(Questions used with permission by the author and found on his website, sjwatson-books.com)
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The Meaning of Night: A Confession
Michael Cox, 2006
W.W. Norton & Co.
704 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780393330342
Summary
After killing the red-haired man, I took myself off to Quinn’s for an oyster supper.
So begins an extraordinary story of betrayal and treachery, of delusion and deceit narrated by Edward Glyver. Glyver may be a bibliophile, but he is no bookworm. Employed “in a private capacity” by one of Victorian London’s top lawyers, he knows his Macrobius from his First Folio, but he has the street-smarts and ruthlessness of a Philip Marlowe. And just as it is with many a contemporary detective, one can’t always be sure whether Glyver is acting on the side of right or wrong.
As the novel begins, Glyver silently stabs a stranger from behind, killing him apparently at random. But though he has committed a callous and brutal crime, Glyver soon reveals himself to be a sympathetic and seductively charming narrator. In fact, Edward Glyver keeps the reader spellbound for 600 riveting pages full of betrayal, twists, lies, and obsession.
Glyver has an unforgettable story to tell. Raised in straitened circumstances by his novelist mother, he attended Eton thanks to the munificence of a mysterious benefactor. After his mother’s death, Glyver is not sure what path to take in life. Should he explore the new art of photography, take a job at the British Museum, continue his travels in Europe with his friend Le Grice? But then, going through his mother’s papers, he discovers something that seems unbelievable: the woman who raised him was not his mother at all. He is actually the son of Lord Tansor, one of the richest and most powerful men in England.
Naturally, Glyver sets out to prove his case. But he lacks evidence, and while trying to find it under the alias “Edward Glapthorn,” he discovers that one person stands between him and his birthright: his old schoolmate and rival Phoebus Rainsford Daunt, a popular poet (and secret criminal) whom Lord Tansor has taken a decidedly paternal interest in after the death of his only son.
Glyver’s mission to regain his patrimony takes him from the heights of society to its lowest depths, from brothels and opium dens to Cambridge colleges and the idylls of Evenwood, the Tansor family’s ancestral home. Glyver is tough and resourceful, but Daunt always seems to be a step ahead, at least until Glyver meets the beguilingly beautiful Emily Carteret, daughter of Lord Tansor’s secretary.
But nothing is as it seems in this accomplished, suspenseful novel. Glyver’s employer Tredgold warns him to trust no one: Is his enigmatic neighbour Fordyce Jukes spying on him? Is the brutal murderer Josiah Pluckthorn on his trail? And is Glyver himself, driven half-mad by the desire for revenge, telling us the whole truth in his candid, but very artful, “confession”?
A global phenomenon, The Meaning of Night is an addictive, darkly funny, and completely captivating novel. Meticulously researched and utterly gripping, it draws its readers relentlessly forward until its compelling narrator’s final revelations. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1948
• Where—Northamptshire, England, UK
• Education—Cambridge University
• Currently—lives in Northamptonshire, England
Michael Cox was born in Northamptonshire in 1948. After graduating from Cambridge in 1971, he went into the music business as a songwriter and recording artist, releasing two albums and a number of singles for EMI under the name Matthew Ellis and a further album, as Obie Clayton, for the DJM label. In 1977, he took a job in publishing, with the Thorsons Publishing Group (now part of HarperCollins). In 1989, he joined Oxford University Press, where he became Senior Commissioning Editor, Reference Books.
His first book, a widely praised biography of the scholar and ghost-story writer M.R. James, was published by Oxfore University Press (OUP) in 1983. This was followed by a number of Oxford anthologies of short fiction, including The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories (1986) and The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories (1991), both co-edited with R.A. Gilbert, The Oxford Book of Victorian Detective Stories (1992), and The Oxford Book of Spy Stories (1997). In 1991 he compiled A Dictionary of Writers and their Works for OUP and in 2002 The Oxford Chronology of English Literature, a major scholarly resource containing bibliographical information on 30,000 titles from 4,000 authors, 1474–2000.
In April 2004, he began to lose his sight as a result of cancer. In preparation for surgery he was prescribed a steroidal drug, one of the effects of which was to initiate a temporary burst of mental and physical energy. This, combined with the stark realization that his blindness might return if the treatment wasn't successful, spurred Michael finally to begin writing in earnest the novel that he had been contemplating for over thirty years, and which up to then had only existed as a random collection of notes, drafts, and discarded first chapters. Following surgery, work continued on what is now his debut novel, The Meaning of Night. In 2008, The Glass of Time was published.
Michael Cox still lives in his native Northamptonshire with his wife Dizzy. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
With his audacious first novel, set primarily in 1850s England, Michael Cox has delivered almost everything Victorian readers might have expected (mystery, wit, romance, an evil double) and some (explanatory footnotes) they might not. Throughout he winks slyly at the era's literary conventions while twisting storylines back on one another. The result is a narrative as beguiling as it is intelligent, full of great country houses, epic loves, fierce anger and vicious habits of every sort.... The Meaning of Night succeeds handsomely.
New York Times Book Review
Cox knows his stuff—and some of his characters and plot elements faintly recall the books he's learned from, such as Sheridan Le Fanu's Uncle Silas. The Meaning of Night even comes replete with footnotes, Latin chapter titles and quotations, as well as a sprinkling of contemporary argot and slang. The editor's pseudo-scholarly preface cautiously describes the manuscript as "one of the lost curiosities of nineteenth-century literature." It is that and more. However you judge Edward Glyver himself, he certainly tells an engrossing and complicated tale of deception, heartlessness and wild justice, one that touches on nearly every aspect of Victorian society. At 700 pages, it should while away more than a few chilly autumn evenings.
Maureen Corrigan - Washington Post
For its atmospheric writing and sidelong view of moral ambiguity in a period not as partial as our own to shades of gray, The Meaning of Night is well worth reading.
Newsday
(Starred review.) Resonant with echoes of Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens, Cox's richly imagined thriller features an unreliable narrator, Edward Glyver, who opens his chilling "confession" with a cold-blooded account of an anonymous murder that he commits one night on the streets of 1854 London. That killing is mere training for his planned assassination of Phoebus Daunt, an acquaintance Glyver blames for virtually every downturn in his life. Glyver feels Daunt's insidious influence in everything from his humiliating expulsion from school to his dismal career as a law firm factotum. The narrative ultimately centers on the monomaniacal Glyver's discovery of a usurped inheritance that should have been his birthright, the byzantine particulars of which are drawing him into a final, fatal confrontation with Daunt. Cox's tale abounds with startling surprises that are made credible by its scrupulously researched background and details of everyday Victorian life. Its exemplary blend of intrigue, history and romance mark a stand-out literary debut. Cox is also the author of M.R. James, a biography of the classic ghost-story writer.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) This stunning first novel by Cox (editor, The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories) opens with a murder on a misty night in 1854 London. The perpetrator, Edward Glyver, is an erudite bibliophile and resourceful detective who assumes different names and personas with disquieting ease. He stabs a total stranger as a precursor to murdering his cunning adversary, Phoebus Daunt, a literary genius who expects to be adopted as heir by the wealthy Lord Tansor. When Glyver discovers that Daunt has destroyed the only evidence that Glyver, in fact, is Tansor's real son, he becomes obsessed with seeking revenge and claiming his rightful inheritance. From the whorehouses, pubs, and opium dens of Victorian London to the ancient beauty of Tansor's ancestral estate, Cox creates a strong sense of place, a complex narrative full of unexpectedly wicked twists, and a well-drawn cast of supporting characters. His language is mesmerizing, and his themes of betrayal, revenge, social stratification, sexual repression, and moral hypocrisy echo those of the great 19th-century novelists. Written in the tradition of Michel Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith, Cox's masterpiece is highly recommended for all fiction collections. —Joseph M. Eagan, Enoch Pratt Free Lib., Baltimore
Library Journal
(Starred review.) A bibliophilic, cozy, murderous confection out of foggy old England. Mystery writers who have taken up residence in the Victorian era have concentrated mostly on the later years, when Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper haunted the streets of London. Cox, biographer of M.R. James and anthologist of other Victorian scary storytellers, plants his pleasantly meandering story early in Victoria and Albert's rule, a time when the old class system was fraying at the edges while hungry country folk and proletarians began to push for a bigger piece of the butterpie. Our dark hero, Edward Glyver, aka Edward Glapthorn, has many a grievance to lodge: He is, or at least believes himself to be, or at least professes to be-he's a most complex fellow, and we can never be sure-a bastard in the classic sense, sired by a booming war hero whom only Aubrey Smith could play. He has also been sorely wronged by the deeply class-conscious, deeply disagreeable Phoebus Daunt, who survives boarding school and all its buggeries and betrayals only to spill out Swinburnesque verse. Annoyed, jealous, downright irritated, E.G. does the natural thing: A bookish sort with a criminal streak a league wide, he slaughters an apparently innocent fellow in the wrong place at the wrong time. "You must understand," he intones, "that I am not a murderer by nature, only by temporary design." Ah, but someone has seen, and now neatly nibbed notes are arriving under his door and that of his intended, warning her that she had better steer clear and that he had better watch his back. Who is writing these notes? Who would want to harm our blameless E.G.? Whom should E.G. massacre next to protect his assets? Cox has a fine time putting allthese questions into play in this long, learned and remarkably entertaining treat, which begs comparison with the work of Patricia Highsmith.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. "After killing the red-haired man, I took myself off to Quinn's for an oyster supper."
The first line unexpectedly introduces Edward Glyver as a murderer. In some ways he is an unlikely hero. How quickly does the reader begin to support him? Is it sympathy, admiration or something else that first causes the reader to support this character?
2. What is the significance of the book's title?
For Death is the meaning of night.
The eternal shadow
Into which all lives must fall
All hopes expire
—P. Rainsford Daunt, "From the Persian"
3. What does the role of the editor, J.J. Antrobus, add to the book?
4. "I think much of her—I mean my mother—and how alike we were."
How are Glyver and his mother Laura Duport similar? Do you think her actions were justifiable?
5. In an interview, Michael Cox said that "Evenwood, the revishingly beautiful country house, is a symbol of ultimately forlorn hopes."
Which hope in particular do you think Evenwood symbolizes? It is merely materialistic? What is it about Evenwood that Glyver is prepared to kill for?
6. The chapter in which Le Grice gives Glyver a book of Daunt's poetry dedicated to E.G. is entitled "Amicus Verus"—a true friend. Is Le Grice Glyver's truest friend? Is there a character with whome Glyver has a stronger bond, even if their relationship does not survive the book?
7. "I killed him, but in doing so, I killed the best part of myself."
Which characters receive appropriate punishments and which do not? Were you satisfied with the book's ending?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
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Whistling in the Dark
Lesley Kagen, 2007
Penguin Group USA
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780451221230
Summary
It was the summer on Vliet Street when we all started locking our doors...
Sally O'Malley made a promise to her daddy before he died. She swore she'd look after her sister, Troo. Keep her safe. But like her Granny always said—actions speak louder than words. Now, during the summer of 1959, the girls' mother is hospitalized, their stepfather has abandoned them for a six pack, and their big sister, Nell, is too busy making out with her boyfriend to notice that Sally and Troo are on the Loose. And so is a murderer and molester.
Highly imaginative Sally is pretty sure of two things. Who the killer is. And that she's next on his list. Now she has no choice but to protect herself and Troo as best she can, relying on her own courage and the kindness of her neighbors. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1950
• Where—Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Wisconsin
• Awards—Honor Book Award, Midwest Book Assn.
• Currently—lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Lesley Kagen is a writer, actress, voice-over talent, and restaurateur. She owns Restaurant Hama, one of Milwaukee's top restaurants. Her books include Whistling in the Dark (2007) and Land of a Hundred Wonders (2008). (From the publisher.)
Extras
Her own words:
I was born in Milwaukee and spent my early years in a great working class neighborhood, much like the one where Whistling in the Dark is set.
I attended Marquette University for one year, fell in love, and followed my boyfriend to New York City. I lasted about six months. I was so intimidated, I spent most of my time running from my apartment to the grocery store and back to my apartment, which was located above a 24 Hour Soul Record Store. Hence, I have the dubious ability to recite every lyric to every James Brown tune ever recorded.
After returning to Milwaukee, I enrolled in the University of Wisconsin where I majored in Radio and Television. I fell into a job as a morning drive DJ on one of the country's first alternative radio stations— WZMF. I got to interview lots of very cool rock n' rollers like Frank Zappa, Hendrix and John Lennon.
In 1976, I moved to Los Angeles, where I began a ten year career working for Licorice Pizza record chain where I produced, wrote and voiced thousands of commercials as Lesley from Licorice Pizza. When I set out to expand my career, I ended up doing on-camera commercials, a couple of Movies-Of-The-Week, and a Laverne and Shirley.
I met my husband, Peter aka Sushi Man, in Malibu, which is pretty funny considering he was from Milwaukee as well. While we both loved living in California, after the birth of our kids, Casey and Riley, we felt this overwhelming need to return to the roost, so we moved back home in 1990.
Ten years ago, we opened up Restaurant Hama. (Best sushi...bar none!)
Well, that's about it. Oh, wait. The writing. I adore it. I crave it. But it wasn't until Casey went off to college, and teenage Riley made it clear that any form of communication between us was to be restricted to—"With or without pepperoni"—that I found the opportunity to sit down and let 'er rip. I hope you love reading Whistling in the Dark and Land of a Hundred Wonders as much as I loved writing them. (Courtesy of the author's website.)
Book Reviews
One of the summer's hot reads.
Chicago Tribune
The plot is a humdinger...a certifiable Grade A summer read.
Capital Times
Innocently wise and ultimately captivating.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The loss of innocence can be as dramatic as the loss of a parent or the discovery that what's perceived to be truth can actually be a big fat lie, as shown in Kagen's compassionate debut, a coming-of-age thriller set in Milwaukee during the summer of 1959. Ten-year-old Sally O'Malley fears that a child predator who has already murdered two girls, Junie Piaskowski and Sara Heinemann, will target her or her little sister, Troo, next. Sally's mom is in the hospital, while her big sister, Nell, is distracted by love and her stepdad, Hall, by the bottle, so who can save her if the killer is, as she suspects, her neighbor, David Rasmussen, a popular cop who has a photo of Junie hanging in his house? Though the mystery elements are sketchy, Kagen sharply depicts the vulnerability of children of any era. Sally, "a girl who wouldn't break a promise even if her life depended on it," makes an enchanting protagonist.
Publishers Weekly
No matter what horrible things happen...you have to go on with your life with all the stick-to-itiveness that you can muster up. In just one summer, ten-year-old Sally and her sister Troo endure the arrest of their stepfather for murder, the mysterious illness that keeps their mother hospitalized for months, and the revelation that the man Sally loved as her Daddy, who was killed in a car accident, was not her real father. Sally's biological father is a policeman, whom she suspected of being the molester/murderer of two young girls and of having her on his hit list before learning the truth. When she finally realizes the identity of the killer, Sally almost becomes his victim. Kagen presents an authentic, endearing portrayal of life in a small 1950s, multicultural neighborhood where everyone knows everyone else's business—almost. Bullies are punished and kindness is rewarded. Sally is, at times, incredibly naive and at other times loyal and understanding beyond her ten years. The characters of the children are unique and crafted with care but most adults are standard types who are either sympathetic or tough as the story line requires. Readers wanting to understand Sally and Troo's mother are given a vague personality whose questionable choices have a hurtful effect on her daughters. First-time author Kagen crams almost too much into this busy tale, as if feeling a need to include every plot thread possible. An insightful question-and-answer conversation with her is included as an epilogue. —Pam Carlson
VOYA
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Whistling in the Dark:
1. Sally combines childish innocence with a surprisingly mature discernment of life. You might talk about those opposite qualities—the ways in which they evidence themselves in the book. In fact, just talk about Sally as a character.
2. Do you find the adult characters as interesting—or as well drawn—as Sally and her sister? What about the girls parents and sister, as well as the community of neighbors who surround the girls?
3. West blends humor with suspense in this story. How does he achieve his humor? At what parts did you find yourself laughing?
4. How might the fact we see the story through the eyes of a 10-year-old affect the way we read, or understand, the events in the novel?
5. You might talk about Kagen's portrayal of a 1950's close-knit neighborhood—the kind of community we yearn for as offering a safe haven for growing up. Yet, in Whistling, beneath the surface lurks a darker world. For those who grew up in that era, it seemed a safer world . . . or is that being innocent, naive, like Sally?
6. Were you surprised by the ending? Or had you figured out who the murderer was? Where there clues along the way?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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White Is for Witching
Helen Oyeyemi, 2009
Penguin Random House
304 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781594633072
Summary
Miranda is at home—homesick, home sick ...
As a child, Miranda Silver developed pica, a rare eating disorder that causes its victims to consume nonedible substances. The death of her mother when Miranda is sixteen exacerbates her condition; nothing, however, satisfies a strange hunger passed down through the women in her family.
And then there’s the family house in Dover, England, converted to a bed-and-breakfast by Miranda’s father. Dover has long been known for its hostility toward outsiders. But the Silver House manifests a more conscious malice toward strangers, dispatching those visitors it despises. Enraged by the constant stream of foreign staff and guests, the house finally unleashes its most destructive power.
With distinct originality and grace, and an extraordinary gift for making the fantastic believable, Helen Oyeyemi spins the politics of family and nation into a riveting and unforgettable mystery. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—December 10, 1984
• Where—Nigeria
• Raised—London, England, UK
• Education—Cambridge University
• Awards—Somerset Maughm Award
• Currently—lives in London, England
Helen (oh YAY a mee) Oyeyemi is a British author with five novels to her name. She was born in Nigeria and raised in London, England.
Oyeyemi studied Social and Political Sciences at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, graduating in 2006. While at Cambridge, two of her plays, Juniper's Whitening and Victimese, were performed by fellow students to critical acclaim and subsequently published by Methuen.
Novels
She wrote her first novel, The Icarus Girl, while still at school studying for her A levels at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School.
In 2007 Bloomsbury published her second novel, The Opposite House which is inspired by Cuban mythology.
Her third novel, White is for Witching, described as having "roots in Henry James and Edgar Allan Poe" was published in 2009. It was a 2009 Shirley Jackson Award finalist and won a 2010 Somerset Maugham Award.
Mr Fox, Oyeyemi's fourth novel was published in 2011. Aimee Bender said in a New York Times review: "Charm is a quality that overflows in this novel." Kirkus Reviews, however thought that while readers might consider Mr. Fox "an intellectual tour de force," they might also find it "emotionally chilly."
Oyeyemi's fith novel, Boy, Snow, Bird, published in 2014, is a retelling of Snow White, set in Massachusetts in the 1950s.
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, released in 2016, is a collection of intertwined stories, all involving locks and keys.
Extras
• Oyeyemi is a lifelong Catholic who has done voluntary work for CAFOD in Kenya.
• In 2009 Oyeyemi was recognised as one of the women on Venus Zine’s “25 under 25” list.
(Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 2/18/2014.)
Book Reviews
[Oyeyemi] knows that ghost stories aren't just for kids. And White Is for Witching turns out to be a delightfully unconventional coming-of-age story.... As in Toni Morrison's Beloved or Chris Abani's Song for Night, the supernatural elements of White Is for Witching serve to remind the characters - and Oyeyemi's readers - of horrifying historical circumstances.... Oyeyemi clearly appreciates that some crimes (like slavery or genocide or, in this case, institutional racism) are so heinous that the conventions of realist fiction seem woefully inadequate to describe them. She makes us glad to suspend disbelief.
New York Times Book Review
Profoundly chilling…a slow-building neo-Gothic that will leave persevering readers breathless.
Boston Globe
Spooky and thought provoking.... The Poe-like elements of White Is for Witching are so spookily vivid, from foreboding descriptions of landscape ('The sun was setting into storm clouds; there was smoky brightness outside, as if the world was being inspected by candlelight') to the eeriness of an enchanted apple (half 'coma white' and a red that 'glowed like false fire'), that they tend steal the show. But Oyeyemi also has a convincing touch when dealing with ordinary reality. She's particularly sharp at portraying the inner life of a troubled adolescent and the alienation of immigrants…. As adept as she is at the Gothic, Oyeyemi also subverts its conventions. Here white is the colour of bewitchment and evil spells, not black. Yet the palpable aura of claustrophobic dread and menace urges the reader to conclude that the author casts the most powerful spell.
Toronto Star
[A] remarkable, shape-shifting tale.... The narrative oscillates between the mundane and the supernatural, and it is this skilful blend of the fantastic and the everyday that makes it resonate so chillingly. While ghosts may skulk inside the house, the horrors lurking outside are equally alarming.... Yet, for all this trickery, Oyeyemi's writing is vividly emotional.... In the end, this isn't a fantasy about ghosts and witches. It is really about memory and belonging, love and loss.
New Statesman (UK)
Superbly atmospheric…. [a] mesmeric exploration of alienation and loss…. This eloquent narrative delivers grandly on the promise of Oyeyemi's startling debut…. Oyeyemi's languid cadences are more burnished, her sinuous ideas more firmly embedded in the fabric of this disturbing and intricate novel. The dark tones of Poe in her haunting have also the elasticity of Haruki Murakami's surreal mental landscapes. White is for Witching has the subtle occlusions of her previous two works with a tenacious undertow, drawing the reader into its deeper currents.
Independent (UK)
Oyeyemi delivers her third passionate and unusual book, a neo-gothic tale revolving around Miranda and Eliot Silver, fraternal twins of Haitian descent raised in a British house haunted by generations of afflicted, displaced family members, including their mother. Miranda suffers from pica, an affliction that causes her to eat nonedible items, which is passed down to her via the specters from her childhood that now punctuate her nightmares. As the novel progresses, the increasingly violent nature of this bizarre, insatiable hunger reveals itself to be the ironclad grip of the dead over the living or of mother over daughter. The book is structured around multiple voices—including that of the house itself—that bleed into one another. Appealing from page one, the story, like the house, becomes extremely foreboding, as the house is "storing its collapse" and "can only be as good as" those who inhabit it. The house's protective, selfish voice carries a child's vision of loss: in the absence of a mother, feelings of anger, betrayal and bodily desire replace the sensation of connection. Unconventional, intoxicating and deeply disquieting.
Publishers Weekly
After Lily Silver is killed on assignment in Haiti, her family is left in her childhood home in Dover, England. While her widower, Luc, throws himself into the running of his bed-and-breakfast, their son, Eliot, stays away from home as much as he can, and their daughter, Miranda, begins to lose herself in her eating disorder. After Miranda returns from a psychiatric clinic, the Silver House begins to haunt her with visions of her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, keeping her close while driving away foreign guests. The house also drives away Miranda's African friend from Cambridge, and Miranda herself disappears into the secret passages of the house. Verdict: Oyeyemi's third novel (after The Opposite House) is eerie and compelling, employing a nonlinear style that features wisps of family history and various unreliable narrators breaking into the text that suit a gothic, ghostly story. Readers who like paranormal tales and family secrets, told in an experimental style, will enjoy this novel. —Amy Ford, St. Mary's Cty. Lib., Lexington Park, MD
Library Journal
Oyeyemi's third mystical novel weaves a tale of four generations of women and the house in Dover, England, they've inhabited—a vengeful, Gothic edifice that has always rejected strangers.... Oyeyemi's style is as enigmatic as her plot.... In all, a challenging read laced with thought-provoking story lines that end, like Miranda's fate, mysteriously. —Deborah Donovan
Booklist
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for White Is for Witching:
1. Why does Miranda feel responsible for her mother's death?
2. Describe the house as a character in Oyeyemi's book. Talk about its history. What is the house's metaphorical significance—the xenophobia and the urge to suffocate and entrap women? What is meant by its comment: "I can only be as good as they are. We are on the inside, and we have to stay together, and we absolutely cannot have anyone else"?
3. What does this book suggest about personal identity, or the self? Eliot and Miranda reflect each other, they see themselves in the other. Is the self real...or is self-identity merely a figment of another person's perception of you?
4. What is the symbolic significance of Miranda's food disorder? Consider the line "but all they did was make Miranda hungrier for what was not there."
5. What does the ideal of perfection mean to Miranda? Why is she so drawn to the "perfect person" and to the drawing of herself, "unmarred by human flaw" she finds in Lily's studio?
6. What does the house and its ghosts want of Miranda?
7. Does Goodlady exist or is she in Miranda's imagination?
8. Why isn't Sade frightened off, as other housekeepers have been? What changes occur as a result of her staying?
9. How would you describe the atmosphere of the book—what words, imagery, and ideas does Oyeyemi use to establish mood?
10. Oyeyemi tells her story through different voices and points of view. Why might she have used this technique? Do the shifting perspectives enhance the book for you or serve to confuse or distract you?
11. What is Miranda's fate? Is she imprisoned? Has she disappeared or died?
12. What is Ore's role in the novel? Do you find her story, with its various subplots, too digressive or do they fit into the overall direction of the novel?
13. Oyeyemi is drawn to myth and folklore. What role do those types of narrative play in her novel? How does she work to blend mythical and magical elements, including Nigerian folk tales, into realistic fiction?
14. Did you find the book difficult to get into? If so, why? Was there a point in the story where you found yourself engaged, quickly turning pages to find out what happens?
15. What is the meaning of the book's title?
16. It's been suggested by one reader that re-reading the first few pages—after you've finished the book—can be rewarding. Have you done so? And if so, did it alter your understanding of the work?
17. Are there political undertones in this book? Do you read it as a statement about Britain's rejection of its foreign population? Does that add to or detract from your reading experience?
18. Overall, what was your experience reading this book?
top of page (summary)
My Old True Love
Shelia Kay Adams, 2004
Random House
307 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780345476951
Summary
Sheila Kay Adams brings us a novel inspired by the ballads of the English, Scottish, and Irish. These long, sad stories of heartbreak and betrayal, violence and love, have been sung for generations by the descendents of those who settled the Appalachian mountains in the 1700s. As they raised their children, they taught them first to sing, for the songs told the children everything they needed to know about life.
So it was with the Stanton family living in Marshall, North Carolina, during the 1800s. Even Larkin Stanton, just a baby when his parents die and he's taken in by his cousin Arty, starts humming before he starts talking. As he grows up, he hungrily learns every song he can, and goes head-to-head with his cousin Hackley for the best voice, and, of course, the best attentions of the women. It's not long before the two boys find themselves pursuing the affections of the same lovely girl, Mary, who eventually chooses Hackley for her husband.
But, just as in the most tragic ballads, there is no stowing away of emotions. And when Hackley leaves his wife under his cousin's care in the midst of the Civil War, Larkin finds himself drawn back to the woman who's held his heart for years. What he does about that love defies all his learning of family and loyalty and reminds us that those mournful ballads didn't just come from the imagination, but from the imperfections of the heart. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Madison County, North Carolina, USA
• Currently—lives in Madison County, North Carolina
Sheila Kay Adams is an acclaimed performer of Appalachian ballads passed down for seven generations through her own ancestors. She has been a featured performer in several documentary films, served as Technical Director for the film Songcatcher, contributed to The Last of the Mohicans, and was cohost and coproducer of Public Radio's Over Home. She performs year-round at major festivals throughout the United States, as well as in the U.K. She has three children and lives with her husband, Jim Taylor, in Madison County, North Carolina, where she was born. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Celebrated Appalachian folk singer Sheila Kay Adams distinguishes an otherwise tired Civil War love story with the tragic ballads and backwoods rhythm passed down through generations of her family in her first novel, My Old True Love. Hackley and Larkin are rivalrous cousins raised as brothers in the North Carolina mountains and bred on the songs of their ancestors. Predictably, they both fall for Mary, a singular Appalachian beauty. Hackley soon wins her affections and marries, only to be whisked away by the Confederate draft. Left in Larkin's care, Mary swoons for the other cousin, inviting tragedy into their country lives.
Publishers Weekly
Loosely based on the author's family history, a fine first novel about doomed love and hardscrabble lives in a 19th-century Appalachian mountain community. Narrator Arty Norton begins her tale in 1845 with her widowed aunt's death in childbirth. The extended family takes in orphaned Larkin; nine-year-old Arty becomes his beloved surrogate mother, her scapegrace younger brother Hackley his closest friend. Later, the two young men fall in love with Mary Chandler, who marries Hackley but fails to stop his womanizing. Larkin is still yearning for her when the inhabitants of Sodom, North Carolina, are swept up in the Civil War, scathingly depicted by Arty as a brutal conflict with no meaning for the poor people who are forced to fight and suffer in it anyway. Hackley dies, and Mary marries Larkin, but the wounds of the past cannot be healed so easily. Adams (stories: Come Go Home with Me, 1995) is a well-known performer of the traditional ballads brought by settlers from the British Isles to Appalachia, and her text is permeated with the same tragic vision and keening rhythms. She has an equally faultless ear for the cadences of ordinary folks' speech, particularly as voiced by her narrator. In contrast to her religious Mommie (their contentious yet loving relationship is one of the many richly nuanced portrayals here), Arty is salty, sexy, and sharp-tongued. Marriage at 14 and a subsequent flock of babies don't smooth her edges or dull her intelligence as she observes the intertwined lives of her kin and neighbors. Looking back from the vantage point of 1919 ("I am older than God's dog"), she remembers hunger and hardship, good deeds and bad, jealousy and hatred but most of all love, "the greatest of all...it ain't always been easy, but Lord has it been worth it." Deeply satisfying storytelling propelled by the desires of full-bodied, prickly characters, set against a landscape rendered in all its beauty and harshness.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
In tones as warm and rich as the sun shinging on his Appalachian home, Larkin Stanton sings the country ballads of his heritage. Even before he could talk, Larkin would hum along with his Granny as she warbled. And though orphaned at birth, Larkin was never alone—born as he was into the clannish, protective Scottish community of the North Carolina mountains in the 1840s and placed under the care of his silver-tongued cousin Arty.
As he grows, Larkin feeds on the subtleties of singing. When he goes head-to-head with his cousin Hackley, their ballad contests produce songs that bring a lump to the throat. And as the boys mature, their competition spreads to the wooing of Mary, the prettiest girl around. But shortly after Hackley wins her hand, he must fight in the Civil War. Left behind, Larkin finds himself inexorably drawn to the woman he has always loved. And what he does next will live on in the mournful ballads of his hills forever.
1. In My Old True Love, Sheila Kay Adams uses the dialect of her Appalachian home. Did Arty's dialect and informal way of speaking pull you into the story immediately or did you find it distracting? How would the telling of this story been different if Arty's speech had been more conventional?
2. What does the first paragraph tell you about the narrator? What does it reveal about Arty's personality?
3. How did Arty know her aunt had died? Did you find the exchange between Arty and the midwife believable? What symbolic
meaning does swapping the buckets have?
4. The oral tradition of ballad singing is an important and integral part of My Old True Love. It makes an early appearance during the deathbed scene when Arty says, "Crazy-like, the words to an old love song run through my head." Over twenty-five songs were written in part or in entirety throughout the book. Did the songs seem a natural occurrence and appropriately placed? How do they provide insight into Arty's culture? How did this tradition influence Hackley and Larkin's relationship?
5. Why do you think Granny allowed Arty to take over Larkin's care? What did Arty mean when she said, "From the day he was
born, my arms had carried him, but that very day was when my heart claimed him for my own"?
6. Did you find the custom of "hanging" someone with a name odd? What customs do you practice in your own family that outsiders might think odd?
7. Why do you think so many of the important scenes in My Old True Love take place on the porch? What are some examples?
8. Arty relates many fond memories of childhood. When do you think Arty realizes she has moved beyond these carefree days? Do you think she wishes she had chosen a different path than that of wife and mother? Explain.
9. Why did Larkin live with Zeke and Arty only for a short time? What happened between Larkin and Hackley when Larkin moved back in with Granny? Do you think this would've happened if Larkin had continued to live with Arty? How would this have changed the story?
10. What does Arty do that reveals her superstitious nature? Where else in the book is this revealed? Do you think Arty may be clairvoyant and have what mountain people refer to as "second sight"? Explain.
11. Did the bawdy humor of the women surprise you? The story is peopled with flawed but strong women. Did you most identify with one particular woman? If you could choose to be like one of the women, which would you choose? Why?
12. When Arty says Hackley might have been little but had that way of moving that women just loved, what kind of picture does that statement paint of him in your mind? Do her expressions and sayings help you visualize other characters in the story? Give some examples.
13. What does Granny mean when she tells Larkin, "You got nothing to lay forever out next to, nothing to measure it against"? Death has always been an accepted part of life in the Appalachian culture and is an important aspect of the book. How does this compare with our attitudes today? What are Arty's religious beliefs, and how do they differ from her mother and those of Granny?
14. How does Arty describe Mary, and when does she realize the extent of Larkin's feelings for her? Is there any indication that Mary is encouraging Larkin? Explain.
15. There are so many complex relationships in the book that resolve in one way or another. Do you think there was a relationship between Larkin and Julie and how (or was it) ever resolved?
16. There are so many opportunities for Arty to tell Mary about Hackley's womanizing. Why do you think she chooses not to tell and advises Larkin to do the same? How might the story have been different if Arty had told Mary about Hackley and Maggie at the political gathering on Shelton Laurel? What would've changed had Larkin told her?
17. A large part of the population in western North Carolina was pro-Union during the Civil War. Often it was truly brother against
brother. What were Arty's feelings about the war? Was she ever in support of either side? Explain.
18. When Zeke leaves for the war, Arty is expecting her seventh child. Why do you think she struggled to hide how she really felt from Zeke? What does this say about Arty? How do the war years change Arty?
19. Arty often says there are situations in our lives that change us forever. In your opinion, what single event in the story brings about a profound change in Arty? Explain your choice.
20. How does Arty cope with the deepening relationship between Larkin and Mary? What decision does she finally make? How does this affect the outcome of the story?
21. Arty has such conflicted feelings for her brother, Hackley. She obviously loves him but strongly disapproves of his behavior. Give some examples of this. How does she react to his death?
22. Why do you think Larkin avoids Arty when he returns from the war? When he tells her he's no longer a boy, she responds with, "Don't wind up being a stupid man." Why does she say this? What happens after their conversation?
23. After Mary and Larkin marry, Mary tells Arty that she feels that she has somehow betrayed Hackley. Arty replies, "Life is not for the dead and gone. It is just for the living." After the birth of Roxyann, Arty is troubled by Larkin's behavior at the spring. How are the two connected? Explain.
24. How does Arty try to intervene as Larkin changes? What does she mean when she says that Larkin's sickness was "the greater sick of his soul?" What happens that seems to cure this? What was Larkin searching for?
25. How did Mary change when Larkin left? Why wouldn't she share Larkin's letters with Arty? How does Arty's final letter from
Larkin set the scene for Larkin's homecoming?
26. Were you surprised by Larkin's story about Hackley's death, or did you suspect it all along? Did you believe Larkin when he said he loved Hackley? What were Arty's feelings?
27. Did your opinion of Mary change in the last few pages of the book? Explain.
28. Arty's growth and development were irrevocably connected to nature and the land. How does the summing up of her life support this? Do you think the last sentence is an appropriate ending for the book?
(Questions issued by publisher.)