Observations by Jane Harris
So there I was with two pens, my two titties, Charles Dickens, two slices of bread and a blank book at the end of my first day in the middle of nowhere. Except as it turned out it wasn't quite the end...Scotland, 1863. In an attempt to escape her not-so-innocent past in Glasgow, Bessy Buckley - the wide-eyed Irish heroine of "The Observations" - takes a job as a maid in a big house outside Edinburgh working for the beautiful Arabella. Bessy is intrigued by her new employer, but puzzled by her increasingly strange requests and her insistence that Bessy keep a journal of her most intimate thoughts. And it seems that Arabella has a few secrets of her own - including her near-obssessive affection for Nora, a former maid who died in mysterious circumstances. Then a childish prank has drastic consquences which throw into jeopardy all that Bessy has come to hold dear. Caught up in a tangle of madness, ghosts, sex and lies, she is determined to remain devoted to Arabella. But who is really responsible for what happened to her predecessor Nora? As her past threatens to catch up with her and complicate matters even further, Bessy begins to realise that she has not quite landed on her feet. "The Observations" is a brilliantly original, funny and endlessly intriguing story of one woman's journey from a difficult past into an even more disturbing present. This powerful story of secrets and suspicions, hidden histories, and mysterious disappearances is at once compelling and heart-warming, showing the redemptive power of love, loyalty and friendship. A hugely assured and darkly comic debut, "The Observations" is certain to establish Jane Harris as a significant new literary talent.
Jane Harris was born in Belfast and brought up in Glasgow. Her short stories have appeared in a wide variety of anthologies and she has also written several award-winng short films. In 2000 she received a Writer's Award from the Arts Council of England. She lives in London with her husband Tom.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780571231089 |
| ISBN 10 | 057123108X |
| Title | Observations |
| Author | Jane Harris |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Faber & Faber |
| Year published | 2006-04-06 |
| Number of pages | 400 |
| Prizes | Short-listed for Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction 2007, Short-listed for British Book Awards: Newcomer of the Year 2007 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |