The Beacon (novel)
 First edition | |
| Author | Susan Hill |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Getty Images |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Chatto and Windus |
Publication date | 02 Oct 2008 |
| Media type | Print & ebook |
| Pages | 160 |
| ISBN | 0-7011-8340-3 |
The Beacon, is a novel by English author Susan Hill, first published in 2008 by Chatto and Windus and in paperback the following year by Vintage Books.[1]
Plot introduction
The four Prime children grow up in a bleak North Country farmhouse called 'The Beacon'; Colin and Berenice marry locally, May, the central character of the novel went to university in London but returns within a year. Only quiet, watchful Frank escapes to become a journalist on Fleet Street. But then he publishes a successful novel about his childhood which throws the family into turmoil...
Reception
- Joanna Briscoe in The Guardian described it as a "novel of great structural and stylistic control" and as being "an almost perfect little literary novel outside any genre. A cross-generational family story barely longer than a novella, it possesses the light tug of menace and almost invisible haze of tension that characterise Hill's ghost stories, yet there is nothing supernatural about this tale of a farming family grounded in the seasons. The slippery nature of memory is what casts an atmosphere of unease over the novel".[2]
- Laura Thompson in The Telegraph writes "this short book is richly satisfying. Hill's craftsmanship is masterly. We are always aware of the farming backdrop: the book begins with a superb evocation of rural hardship, whose inexorable rhythms read like pared-down Thomas Hardy." and goes on to describe it as "a little masterpiece".[3]
- The Times said it was "a moving, evocative and rewarding novel".[4]
Radio Dramatisation
The novel was dramatised for BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour Drama, broadcast in five 15-minute episodes from March 22–26, 2010.[5]
Publication history
- 2008, UK, Chatto & Windus, ISBN 0-7011-8340-3, Pub date 02 Oct 2008, Hardback
- 2009, UK, Vintage Books, ISBN 0-09-952695-6, Pub date 01 Oct 2009, Paperback
References
- ↑ http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/susan-hill/beacon.htm Retrieved 2010-04-11.
- ↑ Real and imagined terrors: Invented family traumas add menace to Susan Hill's near-perfect novel Joanna Briscoe, The Guardian, Saturday 18 October 2008
- ↑ Laura Thompson reviews a magnificent novella about the riddles wrapped up in two enigmas, The Telegraph, 23 Oct 2008.
- ↑ The Beacon: Amazon.co.uk: Susan Hill: Books Retrieved 2012-06-04.
- ↑ Dramatisation of the novel by Susan Hill examining the effect of the publication of a 'misery memoir' on the family who are its subject Retrieved 2010-04-11.
- ↑ www.fantasticfiction.co.uk Retrieved 2012-11-19.
External links
- Author webpage
- Truth, lies and misery lit review by Katy Guest in The Independent
- Terrors of the imagination review by Paul Binding in The Spectator
- A twisted tale of malice aforethought, review by Nicholas Lezard in The Guardian
- Vintage books webpage
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