'An extraordinary achievement' A. L. Kennedy
‘An enjoyably uncategorisable and atmospheric book, a richly dark and idiosyncratic fairytale for grownups.’ The Guardian
Edward Carey's witty and entrancing story of a young woman trapped in a ramshackle English playhouse ��� and the mysterious figure who threatens its very survival.
Norwich, 1901. Edith Holler spends her days among the eccentric denizens of the Holler Theatre, warned by her domineering father that the playhouse will literally tumble down if she should ever leave.Fascinated by tales of the city she knows only from afar, young Edith decides to write a play of her own about Mawther Meg, a monstrous figure said to have used the blood of countless children to make the local delicacy, Beetle Spread. But when her father suddenly announces his engagement to a peculiar woman named Margaret Unthank, Edith scrambles to protect her father, the theatre, and her play – the one thing that’s truly hers – from the newcomer’s sinister designs.
Teeming with unforgettable characters and illuminated by Carey’s trademark illustrations, Edith Holler is a surprisingly modern fable of one young woman’s struggle to escape her family’s control and craft her own creative destiny.
Genre: Historical
‘An enjoyably uncategorisable and atmospheric book, a richly dark and idiosyncratic fairytale for grownups.’ The Guardian
Edward Carey's witty and entrancing story of a young woman trapped in a ramshackle English playhouse ��� and the mysterious figure who threatens its very survival.
Norwich, 1901. Edith Holler spends her days among the eccentric denizens of the Holler Theatre, warned by her domineering father that the playhouse will literally tumble down if she should ever leave.Fascinated by tales of the city she knows only from afar, young Edith decides to write a play of her own about Mawther Meg, a monstrous figure said to have used the blood of countless children to make the local delicacy, Beetle Spread. But when her father suddenly announces his engagement to a peculiar woman named Margaret Unthank, Edith scrambles to protect her father, the theatre, and her play – the one thing that’s truly hers – from the newcomer’s sinister designs.
Teeming with unforgettable characters and illuminated by Carey’s trademark illustrations, Edith Holler is a surprisingly modern fable of one young woman’s struggle to escape her family’s control and craft her own creative destiny.
Genre: Historical
Praise for this book
"Edith Holler is that rarest thing, a newly written tale that feels as though it's been discovered behind the stacked stone walls of an abandoned estate. It's eldritch, raucous, blistering, beautiful, and totally indelible." - Maria Dahvana Headley
"Edith Holler is a masterpiece. Carey's prose teems with wonderfully twisted humor and play, breathing life into the spirits that haunt its gothic framework. It is that special novel that makes you wonder why there aren't more like it. The answer, of course, is that there is just one Edward Carey. Edith Holler is singular - a dark delight from beginning to end" - Erika Swyler
"Brilliant and shiver-inducing, Edith Holler is a delightfully macabre achievement, equal parts Charles Dickens and Sweeney Todd. Through Edith's keen eyes we come to know her family theatre and its many denizens - each a masterpiece of oddity - as well as the frightening newcomer who threatens to topple her very world. A bravura performance." - Helene Wecker
"Edith Holler is a masterpiece. Carey's prose teems with wonderfully twisted humor and play, breathing life into the spirits that haunt its gothic framework. It is that special novel that makes you wonder why there aren't more like it. The answer, of course, is that there is just one Edward Carey. Edith Holler is singular - a dark delight from beginning to end" - Erika Swyler
"Brilliant and shiver-inducing, Edith Holler is a delightfully macabre achievement, equal parts Charles Dickens and Sweeney Todd. Through Edith's keen eyes we come to know her family theatre and its many denizens - each a masterpiece of oddity - as well as the frightening newcomer who threatens to topple her very world. A bravura performance." - Helene Wecker
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