Bitter Orange
Published on 2. May 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-0-241-98346-1 (ISBN)
Description
FROM THE COSTA AWARD-WINNING, WOMEN'S PRIZE-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF UNSETTLED GROUND
Frances Jellico is dying. A man who calls himself the vicar visits, hoping to extract a deathbed confession. He wants to know what really happened that fateful summer of 1969, when Frances - tasked with surveying a dilapidated country house - first set eyes on the glamorous bohemian couple, Cara and Peter. She recalls the relationship they forged through sweltering days, lavish dinners and elaborate lies, and the Judas hole through which she would spy on the couple.
Were the signs there right from the beginning?
Or was it impossible to avoid the crime that split their lives open like rotten fruit?
'Compulsive ... A latter-day Daphne du Maurier' THE TIMES
'Clever, compelling ... A rewarding slow burn' PAULA HAWKINS
'Bewitching, otherworldly ... full of dark foreboding. Claire Fuller is a dazzling storyteller' SCOTSMAN
'Sinister and suspenseful, this gothic novel simmers with guilt, lust and envy' MAIL ON SUNDAY
'A darkly smouldering, superior psychological thriller' DAILY MAIL
Frances Jellico is dying. A man who calls himself the vicar visits, hoping to extract a deathbed confession. He wants to know what really happened that fateful summer of 1969, when Frances - tasked with surveying a dilapidated country house - first set eyes on the glamorous bohemian couple, Cara and Peter. She recalls the relationship they forged through sweltering days, lavish dinners and elaborate lies, and the Judas hole through which she would spy on the couple.
Were the signs there right from the beginning?
Or was it impossible to avoid the crime that split their lives open like rotten fruit?
'Compulsive ... A latter-day Daphne du Maurier' THE TIMES
'Clever, compelling ... A rewarding slow burn' PAULA HAWKINS
'Bewitching, otherworldly ... full of dark foreboding. Claire Fuller is a dazzling storyteller' SCOTSMAN
'Sinister and suspenseful, this gothic novel simmers with guilt, lust and envy' MAIL ON SUNDAY
'A darkly smouldering, superior psychological thriller' DAILY MAIL
Reviews / Votes
Nothing is quite what it seems in this engrossing, moreish novel about a naive woman and the hedonistic couple who beguile her * Sunday Times Culture * Rich and compelling. Fuller is an accomplished writer * Observer * Reminds me of JL Carr's A Month in the Country, Daphne Du Maurier's Jamaica Inn, and Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Incredibly atmospheric, vivid, and intriguing. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't reading a forgotten classic. * Emma Healey * A stealthy shocker about thwarted desire. A sinister, slow-burn tale that saves its most heart-wrenching revelation for last * Metro * A twisty, thorny, darkly atmospheric page turner about loneliness and belonging * Gabriel Tallent, author of My Absolute Darling * As haunting as tuberose and delicate as a scalpel * Laline Paull * Heady, claustrophobic . . . makes for perfect heatwave reading. Echoes Penelope Lively's Booker-winning Moon Tiger, Anita Brookner's Look At Me, and Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger * Independent * A rich and hypnotic read * Tatler * This darkly smouldering, desperately sad, superior psychological thriller contains shades of Zoe Heller's Notes On A Scandal * Daily Mail * It is rare for me to put down a novel and then immediately consider rereading it to see what cleverness I might have missed. This time, though, I am tempted. * Lucy Atkins, Sunday Times *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 132 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
205 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-241-98346-1 (9780241983461)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Claire Fuller was born in Oxfordshire, England, in 1967. She gained a degree in sculpture from Winchester School of Art, but went on to have a long career in marketing and didn't start writing until she was forty. She has written five previous novels including: Unsettled Ground, which in 2021 won the Costa Novel Award and was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, Our Endless Numbered Days, which won the Desmond Elliott Prize, Swimming Lessons, which was shortlisted for the RSL Encore Award. She has an MA in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Winchester and lives in Hampshire with her husband.