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| Title : |
The Girl On The Landing |
| ISBN : |
9780753823408 |
| Author : |
Paul Torday |
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| Size : |
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| Price : |
0.0 |
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| Content briefing |
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| The Girl on the Landing, the latest novel from Paul Torday, the author of the brilliant and bestselling Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, tells the story of Michael and Elizabeth, an upper class British couple living in London. The thirty-something Elizabeth is working at a glossy magazine and Michael divides his time between Grouchers, his Mayfair gentleman’s club where he is a part-time secretary, and Beinn Caorrun, his estate in Perthshire, Scotland, which he inherited very young upon the death of his parents. Their marriage is steady, if somewhat dull and Elizabeth admits (to herself at least) having married Michael “not only for his money”, and while she appreciates his complete dependability, kindness and civility, she is at times frustrated by his “steadfast, boring” demeanor. Then one weekend, while at a friend’s country house in Ireland, Michael descends a staircase and notices a small picture of a white marble statue of an angel, with a dark-haired young girl clad in a green dress in the background. When he mentions the painting to his hosts, they tell him that there is no girl in the picture, and Michael begins to realise that his reality may not coincide with those around him. His behaviour starts to change radically, and he emerges as a witty, dynamic extrovert with a passionate interest in ancient peoples of Britain, among other things. Elizabeth also notices the changes, and is somewhat disconcerted, especially after finding an unopened packet a drug called Serendipozan whose possible side effects include “Parkinson’s and death”. But her apprehension abates when her usually dull husband is transformed into a charming and passionate man, who whisks her off to Rome to “an endless daze of wine, and food, and happiness”, sharply contrasting to their honeymoon, “a few damp days” in Ireland. Elizabeth realises that she had never really known Michael, and begins to see in him a man she could really fall in love with. Bu Michael is increasingly disturbed by the events at Benn Caorrun, his ancestral home in Scotland, a legacy of the past that threatens to destroy their newfound happiness and everything and everyone that Michael has ever loved. Tantalising and suspenseful, masterfully written and absorbing, The Girl on the Landing is an original and deeply satisfying novel. |
| Introduction of author |
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| Paul Torday was born in 1946 and English Literature at Pembroke College, Oxford. He spent the next 30 years working in engineering and in industry until he decided to scale back his business responsibilities to fulfill his long-harboured ambition ?C to write. His first novel, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, published in 2006, was an immediate bestseller and won the … prize, closely followed by the equally bestselling The Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce. He is married with two sons by a previous marriage and has two stepsons and lives close to the River North Tyne. |
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