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A Novel
Internationally bestselling author Julie Myerson's beautifully written, yet deeply chilling, novel of psychological suspense explores the tragedies—past and present—haunting a picturesque country cottage
Mary Coles and her husband, Graham, have just moved to a cottage on the edge of a small village. The house hasn't been lived in for years, but they are drawn to its original features and surprisingly large garden, which stretches down into a beautiful apple orchard. It's idyllic, remote, picturesque: exactly what they need to put the horror of the past behind them.
One hundred and fifty years earlier, a huge oak tree was felled in front of the cottage during a raging storm. Beneath it lies a young man with a shock of red hair, presumed dead—surely no one could survive such an accident. But the red-haired man is alive, and after a brief convalescence is taken in by the family living in the cottage and put to work in the fields. The children all love him, but the eldest daughter, Eliza, has her reservations. There's something about the red-haired man that sits ill with her. A presence. An evil.
Back in the present, weeks after moving to the cottage and still drowning beneath the weight of insurmountable grief, Mary Coles starts to sense there's something in the house. Children's whispers, footsteps from above, half-caught glimpses of figures in the garden. A young man with a shock of red hair wandering through the orchard.
Has Mary's grief turned to madness? Or have the events that took place so long ago finally come back to haunt her…?
"Starred Review. On the first page, it's clear that something indescribably horrific has happened…. This novel is impossible to put down; it will be read compulsively to learn the what of what has happened, if not the why. A stunner." - Booklist
"She deftly holds back secrets, doling them out carefully, as if the reader, too, can only face so much horror at a time. By turns terrifying and heartbreaking; an enthralling spine-chiller." - Kirkus Reviews
"The story is heart wrenching, unremittingly grisly… A thriller and… a page-turner… The Stopped Heart exposes the flesh of the lives cut in half, the pain and loves of the past, and why they are no less real than the present." - Independent (UK)
"Myerson evokes mystery and madness, with glimpses into devastating events, the full extent of which are slowly and skillfully uncovered."Beautifully written and cleverly told… An extraordinarily potent experience and not for the faint-hearted." - The Guardian (UK)
"This novel is beautifully written and cleverly told. And it's almost completely terrifying… Edge-of-your-seat suspense… It's the sort of book you cannot put down." - Vogue (UK)
This information about The Stopped Heart was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo by Rex Features
Julie Myerson is an English author and critic. She writes both fiction and non-fiction books. She is also known for having written a long-running column in The Guardian entitled "Living with Teenagers" based on her own family experiences. She has also appeared regularly as a panellist on the arts programme Newsnight Review.
Her first novel, Sleepwalking (1994), was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys prize. Something Might Happen was shortlisted for the 2005 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and 2005 WH Smith Literary Award. Her other works include The Touch (1996), Laura Blundy (2000), The Story of You (2006), Out of Breath (2007) and The Quickening (2013). She has also authored a few non-fiction works including Home: The Story of Everyone Who Ever Lived In Our House, which...
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