The Orchard on Fire
by Shena Mackay | Literature & Fiction | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0749394064 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 0749394064 Global Overview for this book
2 journalers for this copy...
Amazon.co.uk Review:
This intimate, intensely seen novel was short-listed for the 1996 Booker Prize. Shena Mackay's six previous novels have won her critical admiration and a popular audience in England, but her work has not received due recognition in the United States yet. The Orchard on Fire is a concise, domestic novel set in the village of Stonebridge, where the parents of April Harlency have come in 1953 to run the local teashop. April's private reveries and her entanglement with the grim family life of her best friend, Ruby Richards, fill up a vivid and dramatic year in the wonderfully distinctive life of Stonebridge.
Synopsis:
When her parents abandon their seedy Streatham pub for a tearoom in Kent, life for April changes dramatically. She is befriended by the wonderfully dangerous Ruby and by the creepy but immaculately dressed Mr Greenridge, who likes to follow her around the village.
Found elsewhere on the Internet:
The most outstanding book so far in Mackay's career, by common consent, is The Orchard on Fire, which was short-listed for the Booker Prize. This is a dark idyll of childhood, a wonderful blend of pathos and comedy, which largely takes place in the Kent village of 'Stonebridge' during 1953. Its imaginative focus is on the fears and fantasies of a young girl, as recalled by April Harlency herself, now a lonely adult, when taking a day trip to the village. This is no sentimental walk down memory lane for example, the Coronation and other notable public events taking place in that year aren't even mentioned. This is partly due to April's left-wing parents, struggling to run 'The Copper Kettle' teashop and distracted by the imminent arrival of a new baby, and partly because the world of the village, from the girl's viewpoint, become all- important. The narrative is driven by April's naïve curiosity, interspersed with episodes of delight or menace. The latter are mostly associated with the seemingly kindly Mr Greenidge, a child abuser whose gropings provoke April's confusion over her just-stirring sexuality, and a sense of being 'tainted with terrible shame'. Yet such is Mackay's skill with character that as readers we find ourselves caught half-way between sympathy and laughter when April's fantasy that Mr Greenidge has poisoned his late wife causes her to be exhumed.
The Orchard on Fire has a terrific cast, from the bustling working people of the village to the kind of outlandish middle class folk that Mackay often introduces: Bobs and Dittany, lesbian bohemian artists who befriend April, come into this category. Her best friend Ruby plays with matches and is regularly beaten by her parents who run the local pub; April takes in for the first time 'the knowledge that a father could injure his child'. Ruby's disappearance provides the climax to the 1953 action, just as her eventful fate provides a poignant closing note to the novel. It is probably the book of hers that is most likely to become classic. Mackay's art of tragi-comedy has never been more satisfyingly laid out. However, lying behind its totally involving story of how a highly imaginative little girl became a discontented adult are all her other female characters who must learn bittersweet lessons from life.
This intimate, intensely seen novel was short-listed for the 1996 Booker Prize. Shena Mackay's six previous novels have won her critical admiration and a popular audience in England, but her work has not received due recognition in the United States yet. The Orchard on Fire is a concise, domestic novel set in the village of Stonebridge, where the parents of April Harlency have come in 1953 to run the local teashop. April's private reveries and her entanglement with the grim family life of her best friend, Ruby Richards, fill up a vivid and dramatic year in the wonderfully distinctive life of Stonebridge.
Synopsis:
When her parents abandon their seedy Streatham pub for a tearoom in Kent, life for April changes dramatically. She is befriended by the wonderfully dangerous Ruby and by the creepy but immaculately dressed Mr Greenridge, who likes to follow her around the village.
Found elsewhere on the Internet:
The most outstanding book so far in Mackay's career, by common consent, is The Orchard on Fire, which was short-listed for the Booker Prize. This is a dark idyll of childhood, a wonderful blend of pathos and comedy, which largely takes place in the Kent village of 'Stonebridge' during 1953. Its imaginative focus is on the fears and fantasies of a young girl, as recalled by April Harlency herself, now a lonely adult, when taking a day trip to the village. This is no sentimental walk down memory lane for example, the Coronation and other notable public events taking place in that year aren't even mentioned. This is partly due to April's left-wing parents, struggling to run 'The Copper Kettle' teashop and distracted by the imminent arrival of a new baby, and partly because the world of the village, from the girl's viewpoint, become all- important. The narrative is driven by April's naïve curiosity, interspersed with episodes of delight or menace. The latter are mostly associated with the seemingly kindly Mr Greenidge, a child abuser whose gropings provoke April's confusion over her just-stirring sexuality, and a sense of being 'tainted with terrible shame'. Yet such is Mackay's skill with character that as readers we find ourselves caught half-way between sympathy and laughter when April's fantasy that Mr Greenidge has poisoned his late wife causes her to be exhumed.
The Orchard on Fire has a terrific cast, from the bustling working people of the village to the kind of outlandish middle class folk that Mackay often introduces: Bobs and Dittany, lesbian bohemian artists who befriend April, come into this category. Her best friend Ruby plays with matches and is regularly beaten by her parents who run the local pub; April takes in for the first time 'the knowledge that a father could injure his child'. Ruby's disappearance provides the climax to the 1953 action, just as her eventful fate provides a poignant closing note to the novel. It is probably the book of hers that is most likely to become classic. Mackay's art of tragi-comedy has never been more satisfyingly laid out. However, lying behind its totally involving story of how a highly imaginative little girl became a discontented adult are all her other female characters who must learn bittersweet lessons from life.
Again a story about a child who is maltreated and abused, this time by her father. The sad thing is that things like this happen all the time even in so called civilized countries. The book was a fast read and I enjoyed reading it.
This is my #12 "REDUCE MOUNT TBR 2009" Challenge arranged by DovreiLibri.
This is my #12 "REDUCE MOUNT TBR 2009" Challenge arranged by DovreiLibri.
Annelis Winner1 came home with me after the meeting yesterday. Only now time to put it in the computer. Will be a demanding read it seems, at least according to the topic...
