Petite Mort by Beatrice Hitchman
Mesdames et Messieurs, presenting La Petite Mort, or, A Little Death ... A silent film, destroyed in a fire in 1913 at the Pathé studio, before it was seen even by its director. A lowly seamstress, who makes the costumes she should be wearing, but believes her talent - and the secret she keeps too - will soon get her a dressing room of her own. A beautiful house in Paris, with a curving staircase, a lake, and locked rooms. A famous - and dashing - creator of spectacular cinematic illusions, husband to a beautiful, volatile actress, the most adored icon of the Parisian studios. All fit together, like scenes in a movie. And as you will see, this plot has a twist we beg you not to disclose ...
Sumptuously set, elegantly written, evocative and quietly subversive -- Stella Duffy
Like the silver screen world Hitchman portrays, her writing shimmers, drawing you in with glamour and trickeryA fascinating, beguiling and wily debut -- Katie Ward, author of Girl Reading
Compelling ... Hitchman's confident debut is a story about relationships and the risks we take to get what we want. Universal themes, beautifully explored. -- Eden Carter Wood * Diva *
Sumptuous ... part Moulin Rouge, part Alfred Hitchcock * Grazia *
Gorgeously written ... with a fantastic twist at the very end ... fascinating. -- Rachel Glover * Image *
Fans of silent films and historical fiction will delight in this chocolate box of a novel which mixes love, lust and scandal with the stardust of 1900s Paris. * The Simple Things *
There's a touch of Angela Carter about Beatrice Hitchman's beguiling debut Petite Mort - a sly, erotic thriller concerned with doubleness and duplicity that's both a primer in the early history of French cinema and a reflexive study in female self-fashioning - or should that be "self-editing"? ... Complex and cerebral, Petite Mortis softened by beautifully drawn characters, lightly drizzled period detail and an abiding suspicion that love and cinema might be part of the same illusion. -- John O'Connell * Guardian *
Movie junkies will love this surprising and original novel ... the story winds itself in knots, then unravels deftly, providing a satisfactory judgment day for the sexy yet heartless central characters in a wholly unexpected ending. -- Imogen Lycett Green * Daily Mail *
An impressive and enjoyable debut: nimble, deft and wrapped luxuriously in the velveteen glamour of the movies. -- David Evans * FT *
Like the silver screen world Hitchman portrays, her writing shimmers, drawing you in with glamour and trickeryA fascinating, beguiling and wily debut -- Katie Ward, author of Girl Reading
Compelling ... Hitchman's confident debut is a story about relationships and the risks we take to get what we want. Universal themes, beautifully explored. -- Eden Carter Wood * Diva *
Sumptuous ... part Moulin Rouge, part Alfred Hitchcock * Grazia *
Gorgeously written ... with a fantastic twist at the very end ... fascinating. -- Rachel Glover * Image *
Fans of silent films and historical fiction will delight in this chocolate box of a novel which mixes love, lust and scandal with the stardust of 1900s Paris. * The Simple Things *
There's a touch of Angela Carter about Beatrice Hitchman's beguiling debut Petite Mort - a sly, erotic thriller concerned with doubleness and duplicity that's both a primer in the early history of French cinema and a reflexive study in female self-fashioning - or should that be "self-editing"? ... Complex and cerebral, Petite Mortis softened by beautifully drawn characters, lightly drizzled period detail and an abiding suspicion that love and cinema might be part of the same illusion. -- John O'Connell * Guardian *
Movie junkies will love this surprising and original novel ... the story winds itself in knots, then unravels deftly, providing a satisfactory judgment day for the sexy yet heartless central characters in a wholly unexpected ending. -- Imogen Lycett Green * Daily Mail *
An impressive and enjoyable debut: nimble, deft and wrapped luxuriously in the velveteen glamour of the movies. -- David Evans * FT *
Beatrice Hitchman was born in London in 1980. She read English and French at Edinburgh University and then studied for an MA in Comparative Literature. After a year living in Paris, she moved back to the UK, trained and worked as a documentary film editor. She has written and directed short films which have toured festivals worldwide.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781846689062 |
| ISBN 10 | 1846689066 |
| Title | Petite Mort |
| Author | Beatrice Hitchman |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Profile Books Ltd |
| Year published | 2013-03-07 |
| Number of pages | 288 |
| Prizes | Short-listed for HWA Debut Crown 2014 (UK), Long-listed for Desmond Elliott Prize 2013 (UK), Long-listed for Authors' Club Best First Novel Award 2014 (UK), Long-listed for Polari First Book Prize 2014 (UK) |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |