Persephone book Number 42

'A suburban matron, harassed by wartime domestic problems - her husband is overseas - finds herself implicated in the murder of her young daughter's extremely unattractive beau' (The New Yorker). An outstanding example of the psychological thriller genre, 'worthy of the great Patricia Highsmith herself,' as Lady Antonia Fraser said in the Spectator. The Blank Wall (1947) was filmed as The Reckless Moment in 1949 and as The Deep End in 2001, starring Tilda Swinton. In 1950 Raymond Chandler asked his English publisher, 'Does anybody in England publish Elisabeth Sanxay Holding? For my money she's the top suspense writer of them all. She doesn't pour it on and make you feel irritated. Her characters are wonderful; and she has a sort of inner calm which I find very attractive.'

This tense and fast-paced novel is about maternal love and about the heroine's relationship with those around her, especially her children and her maid. The Daily Telegraph said that 'the mix of the everyday and the extraordinary is deft... A most welcome return to print' and the Observer called it 'a classic of suspense fiction.'

A late 1940s furnishing fabric was our choice of endpaper for The Blank Wall; it was manufactured and sold in the USA.

tbr

Quite a short book but very good.
It was written in 1947 but the generation gap existed then.

Picked up at the Nottingham BookCrossing meet-up today.

She hung up the telephone and stood beside it, irresolute, flustered. There are such a lot of things . . . she thought. People are idiots to talk about getting married and being your own mistress, so much more free than women with jobs.
If Bee comes back and finds the dishes in the sink . . . Even unsuspicious Father would think that was queer . . . What reason can I give for running out of the house?

Blank Wall is an enjoyable thriller written in 1947 and set during World War II. Lucia Holley is a middle-class housewife living in a lakeside house in New York State with her elderly father and teenage son and daughter while her husband is in the forces. When her daughter takes up with a disreputable older man, Lucia is desperate to get her away from him, but things go horribly wrong and she is forced to confront blackmailers and lie to the police in an attempt to protect her family and save her daughter from ruin. But this isn't easy for a 1940s housewife whose family expect to know where she is at all times, even with her housekeeper to help her.

At today's meet-up.

Picked up at the Nottingham BookCrossing meet. Look forward to reading.

Enjoyed this thriller set during world war two.

To be left on the BookCrossing shelves at Sherwood Community Centre.