The Goldfinch Synopsis
Shortlisted for the 2014 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction.
Shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards RTE Listeners' Choice Award 2013.
Aged thirteen, Theo Decker, son of a devoted mother and a reckless, largely absent father, survives an accident that otherwise tears his life apart. Alone and rudderless in New York, he is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. He is tormented by an unbearable longing for his mother, and down the years clings to the thing that most reminds him of her: a small, strangely captivating painting that ultimately draws him into the criminal underworld. As he grows up, Theo learns to glide between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love - and his talisman, the painting, places him at the centre of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780349139630 |
| Publication date: |
5th June 2014 |
| Author: |
Donna Tartt |
| Publisher: |
Little, Brown an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
864 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Modern and Contemporary Fiction
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| Recommendations: |
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Donna Tartt Press Reviews
'In the epic range of its concerns with grief, loss, loneliness, fate, and the nature of good and evil, its rich cast of characters, and its broad social canvas, it bears comparison with Proust, Dickens, Dostoevsky and Nabokov. Although the novel is 784 pages long, it is meticulously structured and paced, and reading it is an enthralling experience of total immersion in Tartt's vision and voice. A beautiful and important book' -- Elaine Showalter, Prospect
'Donna Tartt is an amazingly good writer. She's dense, she's allusive. She's a gorgeous storyteller' -- Stephen King
'This book is so beautifully written, you'll want to simultaneously read it at top speed to find out what happens and savour it at snail's pace' Marie Claire
'A furiously exciting story ... brilliantly tooled movements of plot function and resolution, motive and murder, desire and disappointment' -- Philip Hensher, Spectator
'[A] glorious novel that pulls together all her remarkable storytelling talents into a rapturous, symphonic whole and reminds the reader of the immersive, stay-up-all-night pleasures of reading' -- Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
'Right from the start we remember why we enjoy Donna Tartt so much: the humming plot and elegant prose; the living, breathing characters; the perfectly captured settings ... Joy and sorrow exist in the same breath, and by the end The Goldfinch hangs in our stolen heart' -- David Gilbert, Vanity Fair
'A large-canvas, small-brush picaresque that's both heart-rending and irresistibly wicked' Vogue
'Resembling at its best the kind of darkly intelligent suspense novel that made Patricia Highsmith's name' Literary Review
