LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
One of our Books of the Year 2016.
Green, her little sister Blue and October - known as Toby - are children growing up in Foxlowe, a huge old home on the moors. They run free, and play endlessly, and don't go to school, but they are also part of a cult, "the Family", obsessed with keeping out "the Bad". They're forced to endure the pain of "Spike Walks" if they don't behave in the way in which they are supposed to, and they grasp, dangerously in the end, for any scrap of affection thrown their way. Eleanor Wasserberg tells her story from the perspective of Green, from her outrage at the arrival of her new sister Blue, to their bonding, and then Green's eventual betrayal. It's unsettling and persuasive, impressively well-executed and, at the last, utterly disturbing. I'm still flinching away from thinking about the final scene.
If you liked Foxlowe by Eleanor Wasserberg try The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides or We Were Liars by E Lockhart.
June 2016 Debut of the Month.
Alison Flood
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About
Foxlowe Synopsis
A chilling, compulsive debut about group mentality, superstition and betrayal - and a utopian commune gone badly wrong We were the Family, and Foxlowe was our home. There was me - my name is Green - and my little sister, Blue. There was October, who we called Toby, and Ellensia, Dylan, Liberty, Pet and Egg. There was Richard, of course, who was one of the Founders. And there was Freya. We were the Family, but we weren't just an ordinary family. We were a new, better kind of family. We didn't need to go to school, because we had a new, better kind of education. We shared everything. We were close to the ancient way of living and the ancient landscape. We knew the moors, and the standing stones. We celebrated the solstice in the correct way, with honey and fruit and garlands of fresh flowers. We knew the Bad and we knew how to keep it away. And we had Foxlowe, our home. Where we were free. There really was no reason for anyone to want to leave.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780008164089 |
| Publication date: |
2nd June 2016 |
| Author: |
Eleanor Wasserberg |
| Publisher: |
Fourth Estate Ltd an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers |
| Format: |
Hardback |
| Pagination: |
320 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Family Drama
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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Press Reviews
Eleanor Wasserberg Press Reviews
'Mesmerising, gripping and beautifully written. It completely sweeps you up from beginning to end. I loved it'
Kate Hamer, author of The Girl in the Red Coat
'Wasserberg has a strong and distinctive voice and this is an excellent debut'
Clare Mackintosh, author of I Let You Go
'An extraordinary, astonishing story of a girl's longing for motherly love. Beautifully harrowing, and powerfully haunting, it is the most heartbreaking tale I have read this year'
Liz Nugent, author of Unravelling Oliver
Author
About Eleanor Wasserberg
Eleanor Wasserberg is a graduate of the Creative Writing Programme at the University of East Anglia. Originally from Staffordshire, she now lives in Norwich.
More About Eleanor Wasserberg
