Another sheep, mangled and bled out, her innards not yet crusting and the vapours rising from her like a steamed pudding ...
For a first sentence, that doesn't pull any punches. This is far and away the most gripping novel that I have read this year (and the best-written, the two don't always go together).
Jake is a young woman with a dark past, now living alone with her flock of sheep on a bleak, un-named island off the west coast of Britain. How did she acquire the terrible scars on her back?
Evie Wyld is an amazingly skilful writer. How rarely one comes across a novel as beautifully structured as this. As she takes you back into Jake's past in Australia, she exercises a masterly control and each time you think, so that's what happened ... you're wrong. Whole-heartedly recommended.
2 comments:
Oh for goodness sake...when I typed the author's name in the library catalogue it asked if I meant 'evil eye'.
You've given this one some high praise, Mary, so I'll keep my eye out for it. You did make me cringe a bit with the opening lines though....
It's not cosy, Darlene, that's for sure! But I thought it was very clever the way she draws you back in time - and whenever you think you've arrived there's further to go.
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