by Clare Clark
The captivating story of two sisters born into privilege, who are forced to make their way in a world turned upside down by war, and the man who, against all expectation, transforms them both.
It is 1910. Jessica and Phyllis Melville have grown up at Ellinghurst, their family estate. A headstrong beauty, Jessica longs for London — the glitter and glamor of debutante life — while bookish Phyllis dreams in vain of attending the university. Neither girl questions that it is Theo, their adored brother, whom their mother loves best. Theo eclipses everyone around him, including diffident Oskar Grunewald — a prodigy in the rapidly evolving fields of math and physics — who with his mother is a frequent visitor to Ellinghurst. Fascinated by the house but alternately tormented and ignored by the Melville children, Oskar seeks refuge in Ellinghurst's enormous library.
Over the next decade, as the Great War devastates and reshapes their world, the sisters come of age in a country unrecognizable from the idylls of their youth. As they struggle to forge new paths in a world that no longer plays by the old rules, Oskar's life becomes entwined with theirs once again, in ways that will change all of their futures forever.
"Starred Review. As in Downton Abbey , Ellinghurst Castle suffers a reversal of fortunes after the war, and like Vera Brittain in Testament of Youth and so many other young women of her generation, Jessica and Phyllis see their postwar choices narrowed and their bright futures dimmed. Clark's wonderful new novel deserves as much love and attention as those two beloved works." - Library Journal
"Deftly evoking the faded glory of the British gentry while weaving an intricate love story with an unlikely twist, acclaimed English writer Clark (Beautiful Lies, 2012) presents a historically rich, psychologically rewarding tale of heritage and romance." - Booklist
"Vivid, layered, and provocative period drama about the trade-offs of backing tradition versus letting go." - Kirkus
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Chris Clark
Clare read History at Trinity College, Cambridge, where she was a Senior Scholar. She graduated with a Double First.
She then spent eleven years in advertising, first at Saatchi & Saatchi and then, as a board director, at Bartle Bogle Hegarty, working both in London and New York.
Her first novel, The Great Stink, was published by Viking in 2005 after a five-way auction: critically acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic, The Great Stink was long-listed for the Orange Prize, won the Pendleton May First Novel award in the UK and the Quality Paperback Book Club New Voices award in the USA. It was a Washington Post Best Book of the Year.
Since then The Great Stink has been translated into five languages. A film of the novel is currently in development.
She has ...
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