LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
Shortlisted for the Best Horror Novel at the British Fantasy Awards 2016.
Maxim Jakubowski's April 2015 Book of the Month.
British author Pinborough has a strong record in the horror and SF field, and is also an upcoming scriptwriter but this novel represents a stunning breakthrough, following her recent compelling and clever trio of gently twisted fairy tale retellings, Poison, Charm and Beauty. In a forlorn ophanage cum hospital on an island somewhere in the far North of the UK, a group of children with an unknown potential illness are kept isolated from the rest of the world to await their cruel fate. At first, the story has echoes of Lord of the Flies, Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, Enid Blyton and even Narnia, until a disruptive element enters their lives and some mysteries are slowly unveiled together with a heartbreaking set of revelations and interpersonal relationships that humanise the sometimes inevitably feral nature of the children. It's a short book and you turn the pages begging for the story to continue ever further and not reach its poetic but terrible conclusion so fast. It will leave you in tears.
A story of first love in unusual circumstances. Much of the tale is teen angst and hormones, the interplay of which boy is boss and for how long, with friendships won and lost. Yet there is an ever-present shadow looming: all the kids in this story are dying. That is why they have been isolated at the ‘Death House’ like a modern leper colony. This gives a layer of tragedy to everything and the wait to see who will go next is desperately poignant. It won’t cheer you up but it will draw you in and even deliver a twist or two. Good stuff.
Maxim Jakubowski
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Fiction
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About
The Death House Synopsis
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of 13 Minutes and the writer behind Netflix's Behind Her Eyes comes a heart-breaking, heart-stopping tale of love, life and death which will take your breath away.
Toby is a boy who has forgotten how to live.
Clara is a girl who was born to die.
Toby's life was perfectly normal . . .
Taken from his family, Toby now lives in the Death House. Isolated from the outside world the inhabitants of are watched for any signs of a mysterious illness . . .
Clara was a girl who had everything. Adored by her friends and her family, her life was destined for greatness. Now, Clara is the newest resident of the Death House and she's determined not to allow her life to end there.
This is Toby and Clara's story.
Readers love The Death House:
'A marvel of a read, beautifully emotional, so terribly addictive that I read it in one afternoon and just as a warning, will stomp all over your heart and make it bleed' Goodreads reviewer, ? ? ? ? ?
'A beautifully told story. [Pinborough] has captured the lives, fears, small pockets of happiness and the complexity of the lives and losses of those involved. The hopes, loves and fears of the characters are superbly evoked before a heart-rending yet inevitable conclusion' Goodreads reviewer, ? ? ? ? ?
'One of those rare books for which there are just not enough stars. Beautiful. And now I must go and wring out my heart' Goodreads reviewer, ? ? ? ? ?
'I love books like this, the sort of fiction that promotes introspection . . . This beautiful story ends on a pitch-perfect bittersweet note. I'll happily admit, I felt emotionally drained when I got to the last page' Goodreads reviewer, ? ? ? ? ?
'The Death House is an impressive story about life and death, living in uncertainty, having a terrible inescapable destiny, friendship and love' Goodreads reviewer, ? ? ? ? ?
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781473222847 |
| Publication date: |
29th May 2017 |
| Author: |
Sarah Pinborough |
| Publisher: |
Gollancz an imprint of Orion |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
273 pages |
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Fiction
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Press Reviews
Sarah Pinborough Press Reviews
'shocking and gripping, albeit ultimately hopeful and utterly moving, and it's Sarah Pinborough's finest novel to date' Sci-Fi Now
'A bleak but compulsive tale...The Death House could be her finest novel yet' The Big Issue
'The Death House is a stunning novel, and a harsh reminder that our lives are simply fragile, fleeting, heart-breaking and most likely destined to end long before we want' Starburst
'Impressive and moving' SFX
'Sarah Pinborough has managed to write one of the saddest love stories I have read in a while, reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet by being tragic and yet also triumphant' Fantasy Book Review
Author
About Sarah Pinborough
Sarah Pinborough is a successful, critically acclaimed novelist and screenw riter. She has written a YA trilogy, The Now here Chronicles, under the pen name Sarah Silverwood; she has written for the BBC series NEW TRICKS; her The Dog-Faced Gods trilogy has been optioned for a television series and she has a horror film, CRACKED, currently in development. She has also turned her pen to short stories and novellas, winning the BRITISH FANTASY AW ARD for Best Short Story in 2009 and the BRITISH FANTASY AWARD for Best Novella in 2010 (for The Language of the Dying). She lives in London, and is a full time writer.
Author photo © Lou Abercrombie
More About Sarah Pinborough
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