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Book Summary and Reviews of White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

White is for Witching

by Helen Oyeyemi

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Published:
  • Jun 2009, 240 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

As a child, Miranda Silver developed pica, a rare eating disorder that causes its victims to consume nonedible substances. The death of her mother when Miranda is sixteen exacerbates her condition; nothing, however, satisfies a strange hunger passed down through the women in her family. And then there's the family house in Dover, England, converted to a bed-and-breakfast by Miranda's father. Dover has long been known for its hostility toward outsiders. But the Silver House manifests a more conscious malice toward strangers, dispatching those visitors it despises. Enraged by the constant stream of foreign staff and guests, the house finally unleashes its most destructive power.

With distinct originality and grace, and an extraordinary gift for making the fantastic believable, Helen Oyeyemi spins the politics of family and nation into a riveting and unforgettable mystery.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Unconventional, intoxicating and deeply disquieting." - Publishers Weekly

"In all, a challenging read laced with thought-provoking story lines that end, like Miranda's fate, mysteriously." - Booklist

"Oyeyemi is a writer who moves easily between the literary, the demotic and the supernatural…. She is sharply amusing on the strangeness of the ordinary world…. Already her technical skill as a novelist is remarkable, her range of reference formidable and her use of language virtuosic." - The Daily Telegraph (UK)

This information about White is for Witching 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.

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Author Information

Helen Oyeyemi Author Biography

Photo: © Manchul Kim

Helen Oyeyemi is the author of the story collection What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, which won the PEN Open Book Award, along with seven novels, including Peaces, Gingerbread, and Boy, Snow, Bird, which was a finalist for the 2014 Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Link to Helen Oyeyemi's Website

Name Pronunciation
Helen Oyeyemi: ooo-yee-yemi

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