A Classics Challenge: Classic Characters

The February prompt from November's Autumn looks at the characters in the classics that we're reading.  I actually hadn't started one for 4 January so this is my first post for the challenge.  

This month, the focus is on CHARACTERS. 

I've been reading The Count of Monte Cristo for...well, for most of February so far, actually.  If you've read this one, you'll know that there are a lot of characters to choose from, although the obvious choice is the title character.  I thought I'd dodge the obvious and instead go for Caderousse.  

Level 1:  What are your first impressions of them? Find a portrait or photograph that closely embodies how you imagine them.

Caderousse is one of those characters that, as soon as you meet them, you just know shouldn't hang around with anyone that might lead him astray.  Jealous of Edmond Dantes' success, Caderousse is drowning his sorrows with the even more jealous Danglars.  

First impressions?  Weak and frustrating. There are at least a few opportunities for Caderousse to help Edmond and either chooses to remain ignorant or is manipulated by Danglars into letting all of them pass by.  Obviously, there would be no story if it weren't for Caderousse's cowardice so that's one reason why I've chosen him.  

A picture:  There are a huge number of TV and film adaptations of this book, I had a quick look to see whether any of the actors that had played Caderousse matched up to how I imagined him.  As it happens, this is Caderousse as played in a French adaptation that matches up nicely to my image of him.

Level 2:  How has the character changed? Has your opinion of them altered? Are there aspects of their character you aspire to? or hope never to be?

**This part will be based on my thoughts as I approach the middle of the book - watch out for spoilers, please!! **

After escaping the Château D'If, Edmond's a touch aggrieved about spending his youth locked up with only an elderly monk for company and scraps to eat.  Revenge is the name of the game for Monsieur Dantes.  Caderousse is impoverished, unhappily married and riddled with guilt.  When Dantes first happens across him, I was all "Ha - that's what happens when you abandon your friends when they need you most!".  

As time goes by, thought, I actually find myself feeling sorry for him!  The choices that he made were consistently horrendous but he knows that.  Compared with other characters that did stand by Dantes (and are ruined as a result), I find myself wondering whether it's better to at least try and defend those that need defending, even though it might not do any good, or whether it's better to just be there for them when you can do something effective.  Obviously, everybody would like to think that they would make the best choices because ultimately you never know whether your efforts will work or not.  

I suppose the difference between Caderousse and other characters that try to help after the plot to destroy Dantes has played out is that Caderousse could have stopped events ever unfurling.  So he is more culpable than most but, I suppose, has suffered more too.  Karma, maybe?

Oh, and perhaps it's already clear but NO, I do not want aspire to be gutless and betray my friends.  Shocking, I know. 

I'm only about half way through this so I have plenty more characters to meet or reacquaint myself with.  Characters is one of the things that Dumas does best so if that's what you're into, you'll love The Count of Monte Cristo.  

Weekend Cooking Review: 'Economy Gastronomy' by Allegra McEvedy and Paul Merrett

Aside from books and reading, my other great love is food and cooking.  I love putting ingredients together and sitting down with my boyfriend, friends or family and eating something lovely.  It stands to reason, therefore, that I also love reading about cooking.  I have a ridiculous amount of cookbooks.  They are the only books that don't drive my boyfriend insane with the amount of space that they take up because my obsession with cooking balances nicely with our mutual appreciation of eating nice food.  

SO I figured that it was about time my cookbooks saw the light of day on my blog.  Fortunately for me, Beth Fish Reads hosts a weekend meme that fits in perfectly: Weekend Cooking.

It obviously took me ages to decide which of my many beloveds to feature first but then I saw this one and knew that it had to be it.  

Economy Gastronomy by Allegra McEvedy and Paul Merrett

I have used this book more than any other not because it has the most glamorous or exotic recipes but because it's one of those cookbooks that highlights the benefits of simple, home-cooked food and features a whole host of ideas that show you that you don't have to spend hours in the kitchen every night to enjoy healthy food without any preservatives or hidden nasties.  There are some pages about how much food the average house wastes and how much money families spend if they consistently use ready-meals.  The subtitle 'Eat Better and Spend Less' is spot on.  

The main reason I love this book so much is because it totally fits into our lifestyle.  The idea is that you cook when you have the time to either do more prep or leave something to simmer while you potter around and enjoy the delicious smells and then you use whatever 'base' meal you've cooked over the course of the next few days in a range of different but equally yummy ways.  I will quite happily hum my way around my kitchen for a large part of Sunday afternoon chopping and sautéing if it means that I get to eat meals during the week that taste as though I've spent hours slaving away despite only taking a few minutes to put together.  

Our hands-down favourite is this dangerously moreish offering.  The smell of the herbs with the bacon and beef slowly cooking is divine and the end result is totally worth the wait.  Perfect for a Sunday evening before heading back out to work:  

Daube of Beef

Ingredients: 3 tbsp olive oil; 10 shallots (peeled but left whole); 3 bay leaves; 350g dry-cured bacon lardons; a handful of fresh thyme sprigs; 5 garlic cloves; 750ml red wine; 2.5kg chuck steak; 1 litre of beef stock; 2 x 415g cans beef consommé 

Method:  

1.  Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3.

2.  Heat the oil in a large roasting tray over a medium heat. Add the shallots, bay leaves, bacon lardons, thyme and garlic, and fry gently for 10-15 minutes, or until the shallots have softened and are translucent and the bacon lardons are beginning to brown and stick to the bottom of the pan.

3.  Add the wine and scrape the sediment from the bottom of the roasting tray using a wooden spoon. Bring the wine to a simmer and continue to simmer for 8-10 minutes, or until the volume of liquid has reduced.

4.  Season the cubed meat, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

5.  Lay the seasoned meat on top of the shallots, lardons and wine mixture without mixing it. Pour over the stock and consommé so that the meat is all well covered.

6.  Bring the mixture to a simmer, then cover the tray with foil and transfer to the oven. Cook for 2½-3½ hours. Test the meat for tenderness after 1½ hours by squeezing a piece between your thumb and forefinger. If it gives, remove the foil covering and continue to cook the beef daube, uncovered, for the remaining cooking time, until the sauce has thickened and the beef is tender.

7.  When the beef is really tender and the sauce has thickened, remove the beef daube from the oven and set aside to rest for 10 minutes.

I usually serve with a green vegetable (cabbage works nicely) and mashed potatoes.

Then comes the best bit:  after you've eaten this, you save what's left (by freezing it, if you prefer and your meat wasn't frozen before you cooked this) and have Pappardelle with Slow-cooked Beef and Mushrooms (which is amazing with a tomato and basil salsa) and Cornish pasties.  You get the idea, hopefully.  You might spend more on the 'big cook' than you would normally spend but it more than balances out in time and reward.

The only thing I would say is that this probably isn't a great book if you have a house full of vegetarians.  There are a few of the 'base' dishes that are vegetarian (there's a pumpkin one and a tomato one, for example) but most are meat-centric.  Other than that, there's plenty of pictures and the recipes themselves are described in a really straight-forward way.  I whole-heartedly recommend this for a new way of approaching your cooking week, whether you're a beginner or more-advanced.  

Other note-worthy recipes that I've tried and loved:  Norwegian Fish Pie; Colonel Merrett's Bucket of Chicken [a kind of home-made KFC-type thing]; Slow-roasted Shoulder of Lamb

Review: 'Pure' by Julianna Baggott

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis

We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . . 

Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run. 

Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . . 

Review

The book blogosphere seems to be lighting up with apocalyptic explosions and revelling in the aftermath at the moment.  After reading the amazing Divergent by Veronica Roth, I started keeping one eye on the many emerging dystopian tales, in case something equally amazing that I could devour and then rave about.

Along came Pure; dystopian fiction the adult way.  I've seen whisperings that this book is intended to straddle the YA/Adult divide.  For me, this was well and truly in the grown-up camp.  The world is bleak and the story is tragic and barbaric, not to mention gory.  

Most of the survivors of the Detonations have horrific burn scars or have been 'fused' with items or creatures that they were holding or near at the time.  Pressia was holding her doll at the time of the Detonation and now lives with her doll's head for a hand while Bradwell (who was running through a field) has birds embedded in his back.  Seriously dark stuff but morbidly clever. There are a whole army of novels that focus on the cleaner side of world-changing disasters, whether its years down the line after the dust has settled and society re-established or by looking inside the Dome at how that society should be rebuilt.  The idea that society might still exist, albeit damaged almost beyond recognition, is original and chilling.  Maybe that's why I resented the chapters where I was forced to follow Lyra (a Pure) in the Dome.  The sterilised world interrupted the atmosphere that had gradually been built and, despite being a remarkable contrast, slowed the pace even further.  

The images that were so unique at the beginning soon became laboured. Every time a new character or set of characters are introduced, they are accompanied by a graphic account of their various mutations.  Objectively, I could see that the survivors are defined by their scars and 'wear them' as badges of honour, marks of their will to endure. Subjectively, I started to see it as gratuitous.  The descriptions are increasingly terrible and have a whiff of shock tactics lingering about them.  One particular group of women are fused to the babies that they were trying to protect during the Detonations.  So, yes, it's clever but it's also emotionally draining and hard to read.  A job well done for Ms Baggott, I suppose. 

The characters are strange.  Pressia is determined, strong, intelligent and fiercely loyal.  I should have adored her.  Similarly Partridge, running from the Dome and in search of family, is disarmingly innocent and charming and I wanted to like him.  The problem is that the characters are lost in the midst of the horror and dirt of the world they inhabit and it's hard to bond with them and, ultimately, care about their fates.  The constantly switching narrative is probably also partly to blame for the general feeling of detachment.  Each chapter is told from a different character's perspective, including Pressia, Partridge and Lyra to name but a few.  It's good to see the world from a number of views but it's hard to build a relationship with a narrator that you might not hear from for another 100 pages.  

Despite not enjoying reading Pure that much, I can appreciate that it was beautifully written.  Baggott's ability to design and describe a broken world is immense and her descriptions are stunning.  Devastatingly so.  If you do read this and are feeling resilient, there are some great passages.

After a dramatic start, this book became a serious slog. It's crazy that a book so arguably action-packed could seem so slow and be such terribly hard work.  And yet, after 100 pages or so, every time I picked it up it was just to get it read, rather than to enjoy reading it.  I kept hoping that I would pass a point where I would be swept into the story and get carried through to the end.  Sadly, I never found that point.  For that reason, and despite all of its virtues, I would only really recommend this to someone with the time to amble their way through a horrifying vision of a world almost without humanity.  If you're looking for a fast-paced read, this one certainly isn't for you.

Overall:  This seems to be a book that you either love or hate and I've read as many positive reviews as I have negative.  For me, it was a brilliant idea executed in a style that didn't seem to fit its subject matter.  Elegantly told but somewhat excruciating to read (for more than one reason) and part of a series I can't see myself reading any more of.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Date finished:  16 January 2012
Format:  eBook
Source:  NetGalley
Genre:  Dystopian fiction
Published: by Grand Central Publishing in February 2012

Review: 'The Spurned Viscountess' by Shelley Munro

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (taken from GoodReads.com)

Cursed with the sight and rumors of witchcraft, Rosalind's only chance at an ordinary life is marriage to Lucien, Viscount Hastings. She doesn't expect love, only security and children of her own. Determined to go through with the wedding, she allows nothing she encounters at the gloomy Castle St. Clare to dissuade her.

Recently returned from the Continent, Lucien has no time for the English mouse his family has arranged for him to marry--not when he's plotting to avenge the murder of his beloved Francesca. He has no intention of bedding Rosalind, not even to sire an heir.

Though spurned by her bridegroom, Rosalind turns to him for protection when she is plagued by a series of mysterious accidents and haunted by terrifying visions. Forced to keep Rosalind close--and tempted into passionate kisses--Lucien soon finds himself in grave danger of falling in love with his own wife...

The Review

I can't remember now why I picked this book up because it was way back in December.  I can only imagine that it's the same as the reason I ever head in the historical romance direction.  I was pretty tired toward the end of the year and reading short sort-of-historical romances is my equivalent of watching a trashy chick flick.  I know that they're cheesy and that they're never going to win any literary prizes but I like them.  Don't judge me.

So why,you might ask, am I about to moan about the writing? Ok, so you weren't going to ask because you didn't know I was going to.  But I am so that's my way of warning you that this is a sort of strange review.  I pick up a book because I want to have a certain trash factor and then I bemoan the dressing up of said trash....wait, let me explain!

I have absolutely no problems with stereotypes.  Heck, I was actually hoping for a ridiculously brooding gentleman, a woman to simper her way into his stony heart, a suitably conniving stepmother and an appropriately gloomy and mysterious mansion.  The writing interrupted my mind-numbed enjoyment by being noticeably repetitive.  I lost count of the amount of times that Rosalind "lifted her chin" in a display of stubbornness and/or determination.  Likewise Lucien's scowling.  At first, the attempts to round out the characters with some mannerisms were nice touches.  After a while, every time either of those particular examples came up, I did a kind of eye-roll to myself and grumbled a bit.  I'm fun like that.

Writing aside, the narrative is muddled and a little odd, switching between Rosalind and Lucien's POVs indiscriminately.  At first, it was a good balance between Rosalind's good intentions and Lucien's brooding.  They're both reasonable characters with decent back stories.  Even that became repetitive, though, as the chapters started to seem similar.  In general, it's interesting to see the same event from two perspectives.  Not so much when there's a pervasive sense of deja vu.

Rather than enhancing the story, the magical twist of Rosalind having "the sight" came across as a slightly lazy technique.  Rosalind can read the minds of anyone she physically touches.  Persecuted for years because of her uncanny abilities, Rosalind professes to always wear gloves so as to avoid unwanted contact and alerting to her new unsuspecting family to her quirk (a great idea that I'm pretty sure would work a lot better if she actually ever remembered to wear them).  Every now and then, Rosalind gets a handy peek into her unsuspecting spouse's mind, which obviously makes it much easier for the author to have Rosalind understand his social and emotional ineptitude.  Because obviously talking to your husband to get to know him is a much longer process and could be a bit like hard work.  

It's not all bad and I might be being unfair.  There are pirates, smugglers, secret passages and there is plenty going on.  It's a reasonably fast-paced novel and the last quarter is rather exciting because the characters are finally far apart enough that the alternating POV technique doesn't seem awkward and actually serves to heighten the drama.  Even in my interest, I also managed to be disappointed, because the writing was much better and it was a hint at what the book could have been.  What I'm saying, badly, is that it's not terrible...just not great.


Oh, and there is an adult scene or two so if you're of a sensitive disposition when it comes to raunch, you have been warned.  

Overall:  I sound as though I hated it.  I didn't hate it, it was just flawed.  If you want something quick and not overly taxing and are feeling tolerant of not-so-perfect writing, you'll have a lovely time with The Spurned Viscountess.  If you read it fast enough that you don't have time to focus too closely on its shortcomings, you'll probably really like it!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Date finished:  19 December 2011
Format:  eBook
Source:  NetGalley
Genre:  Mystery; Historical fiction; Romance
Published: by Carina Press in September 2010

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #5

How is it already the last Monday of January? The first month of 2012 has been a mixed one here in the LitAddictedBrit household. The team I work in is down a couple of staff members at the moment so this January has seen 3 of us doing the work of 5. Brilliant for my career, shocking for my social, reading and blogging lives. 

Work dreariness aside, this is time to share what we have, are and are about to read with Sheila @ BookJourney!

Reading wise, it's also been mixed and, seeing as I've not been able to do an 'It's Monday' post yet this year, I'm going the blur the lines a little bit and catch you all up on what I've been reading so far this year.  

What have I read during the past (few) week(s)?

The first month has been a bit of a slow one reading wise, for which I've already made my excuses!  I've only managed three books so far...

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Pure by Julianna Baggott

Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

I flew into the new year with Percy Jackson and absolutely loved it.  When I was really young, I had a beautifully illustrated book of Greek myths that I adored.  Percy Jackson reminded me why I was so in love with mythology and I'll definitely be reading more of the series soon.  

Pure was certainly gritty and Baggott clearly had some fantastic ideas.  The actual reading of it though was hard week and it took me a couple of weeks to get through.  I found myself relieved when I'd finished it so I guess that's not a great sign.  

Darkfever is the first in the five part Fever series.  I saw a lot of reviews of the final instalment when it came out last year and was curious.  It turned out to be a quick, snappy read but had some aspects I wasn't wholly convinced by.  I probably will hunt down the later books through my local library but probably won't be storming my nearest bookshop for them.

What am I reading now?

About a week ago, I decided that enough was enough and it was long past time I started The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.  This year I'm determined to read more classics and I was in danger of passing a month without reading even one.  I'm just shy of 200 pages in to this one now and LOVE it.  I know that a lot of people have said it but it's very easy to read for a story originally published in 1844 and I can't wait to read more, even if it is making me pine for Italy!

What am I planning on reading this week?

At 1,276 pages, I'm fairly sure that The Count of Monte Cristo will be keeping me occupied for at least the next week.  Plenty more adventure to come :)

I hope you've all had great reading starts to the year and a good week!

Review: 'Silent in the Grave' by Deanna Raybourn

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Synopsis

"To say I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband's dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor..."

For Lady Julia Grey, her husband's sudden death at a dinner party is extremely inconvenient. However, things take a turn for the worse when inscrutable private investigator Nicholas Brisbane reveals that the death was not due to natural causes. Drawn away from her comfortable, conventional life, Julia is exposed to threatening notes, secret societies and gypsy curses, not to mention Nicholas' charismatic unpredictability.

Review

I've been meaning to start this series for a long time. When the fifth in the series, The Dark Enquiry, came out in June last year, praise for Lady Julia Grey was flying around everywhere.  I did a poor job of resisting temptation and bought the first in the series not long after.  Then my mum came to visit and absconded with it so it was a few months before I actually got down to reading it.

When I finally did, I was really looking forward to it. Happily, I did enjoy it, even though it wasn't quite as much as I thought I would. I was in the mood for some good historical fiction and, for the most part, that's what I got. I would have preferred it if that's all I had got. There were one or two supernatural twists that I guess are to set up the rest of the series but that I'm by no means sure fit with this instalment. I'm perfectly happy to hold up my hands and admit that I might be being picky but this book would have worked as well (if not better) without the mysticism.

I suppose it is a testament to how much paranormal/steampunk books I've been reading of late that I kept expecting vampire/automaton to jump out from behind a chaise longue every time the tension ratcheted up. That obviously isn't a criticism of the book but it is a reminder that I could do with indulging in some "pure" historical fiction for a little while!

Sorry, back to the review: Lady Julia Grey was a character I expected to love. For reasons I can't quite place, my feelings were more lukewarm. Along with many other readers, I admired her for her lack of reticence and for delivering more than would usually be expected of women of her era. That said, there were times when she was so gung-ho that she was just thoughtless and I found myself a bit annoyed on occasion. There's having your own opinions and then there's a complete and utter refusal to listen to others' advice or expressions of concern for the welfare of those they care about; treading the fine line between independence and obstinacy is Lady Julia Grey.

Nicholas Brisbane is our Lady's enigmatic private investigator of choice. He's charming in that brusque and mysterious kind of way that is apparently attractive these days. Brisbane and Lady Julia's interaction is sparky and witty. I was a big fan of how their relationship developed and am so glad that Ms Raybourn dodged the obvious and kept it natural. Worried about InstaLove? Don't be. This is one book in which the characters make and sustain proper relationships, without the need to swoon all over the place at the very sight of an appropriate male.

There's also an assortment of eccentric family members and curious household staff to fill up the character quota and I'm hoping to see more of them as the series goes on.

In terms of plot, earlier moan about supernatural aside, there's a lot going for this one. There's the right balance between rousting about the streets of London and mulling over clues and facts so that I was never bored (a curse that blighted me earlier this year with one particular book) and always eager to read more. On more than one occasion, I thought I knew where everything was heading and settled down to watch it unfurl. I was wrong every time. That is to say, whatever else it may or may not be, this book certainly isn't predictable. There's plenty going on, which means plenty of red herrings. There's a rapid unveiling of a whole host of secrets (some more risqué than others) in the final third of the book which lifts the pace and delivers a pretty satisfying conclusion.

So not all of it was perfect but I enjoyed it and I guess that's the main thing.

Overall:  A solid start to a series that I know I'll read more of.  I would recommend it to fans of historical fiction but would hesitate before handing it over to more die-hard mystery fans. Worth your time if you happen across a copy, certainly!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Date finished:  14 December 2011
Format:  Paperback
Source:  Bought
Genre:  Mystery; Historical fiction
Published: by Mira Books in December 2007

Review: 'The Woman in Black' by Susan Hill

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis

Proud and solitary, Eel Marsh House surveys the windswept reaches of the salt marshes beyond Nine Lives Causeway. Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is summoned to attend the funeral Mrs Alice Drablow, the house's sole inhabitant, unaware of the tragic secrets which lie hidden behind the shuttered windows. It is not until he glimpses a wasted young woman, dressed all in black, at the funeral, that a creeping sense of unease begins to take hold, a feeling deepened by the reluctance of the locals to talk of the woman in black - and her terrible purpose.

Review

Ah, young solicitors sent to great huge mansions by your apparently benevolent bosses, when will you learn?  Thankfully for the literary world, never. 

Arthur Kipps is an ambitious but worryingly naive solicitor, plodding his way through dull cases and hoping to catch the eye of his superior and be offered something more fulfilling so that he and his fiancé can buy a little house and live happily ever after.  Unfortunately, Kipps' blind hope leads him to gallivant off to the moors to wrap up Mrs Drablow's estate despite an abundance of warnings that he's running into more than he knows.  As starts to novels go, it's a classic.  But hey, it works.  There's something disarming about being 'introduced' to a fresh-faced, eager man when you just know that it's all about to change.

As a proper gothic ghost story should be, though, this is less about the characters and more about the setting and what they experience.  Kipps, however, is as good a narrator as you could ask for. The unravelling of his objective, legally-trained mind is well-paced and realistic. I think one of my favourite things about the book was how well Hill blended those touches of realism with the paranormal.  Who hasn't had the occasional moment in the night where something sets you on edge and, even though you know it will more likely than not be something perfectly normal in the morning, at the time, everything seems sinister? Just me?  Ok...Regardless, the way Kipp tried to hold on to his version of reality in the daylight hours was a nice touch and he was just how I like my narrators.  No running around flapping and panicking but equally no getting all gung-ho and toting exorcism equipment about the place. Just good old-fashioned rational thought and a scared man's attempts to take charge over the situation.    

The beauty of The Woman in Black lies in its simplicity.  There are no superfluous details or incidental conversations detracting from the incisively unnerving descriptions.  Believe me, they're enough.  This is a book that is as much about what you don't see as what you do; the inexplicable noises behind the locked door, a glimpse of a face at the window in an empty house, distant screams in the fog.  The atmosphere is really well balanced and I often felt as though I could see the mist descending over Eel Marsh House as much as I could feel the corresponding increase in tension. 

While I really liked Kipps, I couldn't say the same for many of the other characters.  I suppose that's unfair seeing as they aren't really characters as much as plot devices but I find all the foreshadowing a touch too much - we already have a tormented future version of the main character and a fidgety boss who's clearly hiding something.  I'm not sure that everybody Kipps then met needed to warn him about the bad things that were coming his way if he carried on.  It's a small gripe, I know.  I'm clutching at straws to try and be balanced! Forgive me...

It's impossible to write a review of this without mentioning how downright brilliant the ending is but, at the same time, I don't want to say anything that would spoil that ending for you. Suffice to say that I would have recommended this book as an exquisitely chilling ghost story without it. With it?  Devastatingly good and a story that will follow you around long after you've put it down and shaken off the last of the shivers.

Overall:  Last year I read The Small Hand and was was neither charmed, intrigued nor unsettled. The Woman in Black is everything The Small Hand wasn't and then some; a perfect example of everything that makes ghost stories great. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Date finished:  26 November 2011
Format:  Paperback
Source:  Bought
Genre:  Ghost story; Horror
Published: My edition - by Vintage in November 2007; Originally - 1983