The House at the Edge of the World

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Description

Part mystery, part psychological drama, this is a darkly comic, unorthodox and thrilling debut When I was eighteen, my father fell off a cliff. It was a stupid way to die. The Venton family are used to living with ghosts. The death of Morwenna's father near Thornton House, the beloved family home in Devon, prompts both Morwenna and her twin brother Corwin to flee in opposite directions. But connections to the house - and family - are not so easy to break. When, seventeen years after their father's death, Corwin returns, he will force Morwenna to confront a terrifying truth from the past, one that will destroy everything they thought they knew about their childhood home. The House at the Edge of the World reveals how families tear themselves apart, and how they try to bind themselves together again.

Reviews

Darkly comic debut about a curious death in Cornwall intrigues to the very end -- Sunday Times Best Summer Reads
Intricate and involving, this is a writer to watch -- Daily Mail
A story that carries you along - clever plotting and a startling outcome. An impressive first novel -- Penelope Lively
Wonderfully crisp and funny, and so full of vivid, surprising images that the reader almost doesn't notice the moment that deep secrets begin to be revealed. I enjoyed this book so much -- Emma Healey, author of 'Elizabeth is Missing'
The sheer intelligence and wit of the writing is often funny, but as the story deepens the emotions darken . . . This is a terrific debut - and like that unhappy image of father, turning in his spangled arc, it stays in the mind -- Sunday Times
The House at the Edge of the World is, like its narrator, funny, sharp and also terribly sad -- Emerald Street
An obviously gifted writer. . . its strength lies in the understanding of human behaviour that underlies the unexpected twists and turns, each one of which moves from romanticism to credibility in a bracing way, so that the book's charm resembles that of a building such as Brighton Pavilion: engagingly fantastic in appearance, but structurally sound -- Diana Athill, Guardian
Darkly funny... sharp-as-knives observations brilliantly capture the black undertow of this family story * Sunday Express *
A slippery tale of perception and manipulation... The text echoes of a thriller, though it is a character study in how much people can alter themselves to meet the wills of others; for marriage, family or the bond of twinship * Scotsman *

Author Bio

Julia Rochester grew up on the Exe Estuary in Devon. She studied in London, Berlin and Cambridge and has worked for the BBC Portuguese Service and for Amnesty International as researcher on Brazil. She lives in London with her husband and daughter.