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The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Beside the Sea
A single mother takes her two sons on a trip to the seaside. They stay in a hotel, drink hot chocolate, and go to the funfair. She wants to protect them from an uncaring and uncomprehending world. She knows that it will be the last trip for her boys. Beside the Sea is a haunting and thought-provoking story about how a mother's love for her children can be more dangerous than the dark world she is seeking to keep at bay. It's a hypnotizing look at an unhinged mind and the cold society that produced it. With language as captivating as the story that unfolds, Véronique Olmi creates an intimate portrait of madness and despair that won't soon be forgotten.
Book Details
- Publisher: Tin House Books
- Publish Date: Sep 25th, 2012
- Pages: 110
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 7.60in - 5.00in - 0.40in - 0.26lb
- EAN: 9781935639428
- Categories: • Literary
About the Author
Olmi, Veronique: - Véronique Olmi was born in 1962 in Nice and now lives in Paris. She is a highly acclaimed French dramatist and her twelve plays have won numerous awards. Bord de Mer, published in 2001 and translated into all major European languages, was her first novel.
Hunter, Adriana: - Adriana Hunter spent won the 2011 Scott-Moncrieff Prize for her translation of Véronique Olmi's Bord de Mer (Beside the Sea), and has been short-listed twice for both the French-American Foundation and Florence Gould Foundation Translation Prize and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. She lives in Norfolk, England.
Praise for this book
"This is a mesmerizing portrait ... it should be read." --Nicholas Lezard, "The Guardian"
"With the skill of a thriller writer, the mother-narrator propels you forward and as, the awful climax approaches, compels you to profoundly question your own life and relationships." --Rosie Goldsmith, BBC
"This short novel has the trajectory of a classic tragedy with its taut time-span and sense of inevitability ... The closing pages are heart-stopping and heartbreaking, yet one finishes this sad tale not depressed but uplifted by its ability to enlarge the reader's sympathies." --Chris Schuler, "The Independent"
"Prose ... filled with sad poetic sense and blunt, bleak realities, compellingly conveyed in Hunter's colloquial English." --"TLS"
"With the skill of a thriller writer, the mother-narrator propels you forward and as, the awful climax approaches, compels you to profoundly question your own life and relationships." --Rosie Goldsmith, BBC
"This short novel has the trajectory of a classic tragedy with its taut time-span and sense of inevitability ... The closing pages are heart-stopping and heartbreaking, yet one finishes this sad tale not depressed but uplifted by its ability to enlarge the reader's sympathies." --Chris Schuler, "The Independent"
"Prose ... filled with sad poetic sense and blunt, bleak realities, compellingly conveyed in Hunter's colloquial English." --"TLS"
"This is a mesmerising portrait ... it should be read." --Nicholas Lezard, "The Guardian"
"With the skill of a thriller writer, the mother-narrator propels you forward and as, the awful climax approaches, compels you to profoundly question your own life and relationships."
--Rosie Goldsmith, BBC
"This short novel has the trajectory of a classic tragedy with its taut time-span and sense of inevitability ... The closing pages are heart-stopping and heartbreaking, yet one finishes this sad tale not depressed but uplifted by its ability to enlarge the reader's sympathies."
--Chris Schuler, "The Independent"
"prose ... filled with sad poetic sense and blunt, bleak realities, compellingly conveyed in Hunter's colloquial English. "
-- "TLS"
"This is a mesmerizing portrait . . . it should be read." --Nicholas Lezard, "The Guardian"
"With the skill of a thriller writer, the mother-narrator propels you forward and as, the awful climax approaches, compels you to profoundly question your own life and relationships." --Rosie Goldsmith, BBC
"This short novel has the trajectory of a classic tragedy with its taut time-span and sense of inevitability . . . The closing pages are heart-stopping and heartbreaking, yet one finishes this sad tale not depressed but uplifted by its ability to enlarge the reader's sympathies." --Chris Schuler, "The Independent"
"Prose . . . filled with sad poetic sense and blunt, bleak realities, compellingly conveyed in Hunter's colloquial English." --"TLS"
"With the skill of a thriller writer, the mother-narrator propels you forward and as, the awful climax approaches, compels you to profoundly question your own life and relationships." --Rosie Goldsmith, BBC
"This short novel has the trajectory of a classic tragedy with its taut time-span and sense of inevitability . . . The closing pages are heart-stopping and heartbreaking, yet one finishes this sad tale not depressed but uplifted by its ability to enlarge the reader's sympathies." --Chris Schuler, "The Independent"
"Prose . . . filled with sad poetic sense and blunt, bleak realities, compellingly conveyed in Hunter's colloquial English." --"TLS"
"A harrowing evocation of mental illness, and of one woman's terrifying inability to bear the burdens of motherhood. A sustained exercise in dread for the reader, but a surprisingly sympathetic portrait nonetheless." Lionel Shriver, "We Need to Talk about Kevin"
"This is a mesmerising portrait ... it should be read."Nicholas Lezard, "The Guardian"
"With the skill of a thriller writer, the mother-narrator propels you forward and as, the awful climax approaches, compels you to profoundly question your own life and relationships." Rosie Goldsmith, BBC
"This short novel has the trajectory of a classic tragedy with its taut time-span and sense of inevitability ... The closing pages are heart-stopping and heartbreaking, yet one finishes this sad tale not depressed but uplifted by its ability to enlarge the reader's sympathies."Chris Schuler, "The Independent"
"Prose ... filled with sad poetic sense and blunt, bleak realities, compellingly conveyed in Hunter's colloquial English." "TLS"
""Beside the Sea" is a delicious treat. Written in a palette that is dark and damp, this little book exposes a world that is as delicate as it is dangerous. I devoured it in a single sitting.""The Masters Review Blog"
""Beside the Sea" is a haunting and thought-provoking story about how a mother's love for her children can be more dangerous than the dark world she is seeking to keep at bay. It's a hypnotizing look at an unhinged mind and the cold society that produced it. With language as captivating as the story that unfolds, Veronique Olmi creates an intimate portrait of madness and despair that won't soon be forgotten."
Ravenna Third Place Book Club"
"This is a mesmerising portrait ... it should be read."Nicholas Lezard, "The Guardian"
"With the skill of a thriller writer, the mother-narrator propels you forward and as, the awful climax approaches, compels you to profoundly question your own life and relationships." Rosie Goldsmith, BBC
"This short novel has the trajectory of a classic tragedy with its taut time-span and sense of inevitability ... The closing pages are heart-stopping and heartbreaking, yet one finishes this sad tale not depressed but uplifted by its ability to enlarge the reader's sympathies."Chris Schuler, "The Independent"
"Prose ... filled with sad poetic sense and blunt, bleak realities, compellingly conveyed in Hunter's colloquial English." "TLS"
""Beside the Sea" is a delicious treat. Written in a palette that is dark and damp, this little book exposes a world that is as delicate as it is dangerous. I devoured it in a single sitting.""The Masters Review Blog"
""Beside the Sea" is a haunting and thought-provoking story about how a mother's love for her children can be more dangerous than the dark world she is seeking to keep at bay. It's a hypnotizing look at an unhinged mind and the cold society that produced it. With language as captivating as the story that unfolds, Veronique Olmi creates an intimate portrait of madness and despair that won't soon be forgotten."
Ravenna Third Place Book Club"