All Things Cease to Appear
now a major Netflix new release Things Heard and Seen
-
-
3.7 • 10 Ratings
-
-
- £2.99
Publisher Description
'Ghosts, murder, a terrifying psychotic who seems normal, and beautiful writing. Loved it' Stephen King
'Can make you gasp in astonishment or break your heart with a single line' Wall St Journal
'Superb. Think a more literary, and feminist, Gone Girl' Vogue
BASIS FOR THE NETFLIX FILM THINGS HEARD & SEEN
This begins the morning Catherine Clare died.
The day her daughter spent in the house with her.
The evening her husband came home to find her.
This becomes the tale of their marriage,
and the ones around them.
A tale of bonds between families,
between lives living and lost
and of the lonely ones that share no bonds at all.
Who should be pitied.
Who must be feared.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Brundage's (bestselling author of The Doctor's Wife) searing, intricate novel epitomizes the best of the literary thriller, marrying gripping drama with impeccably crafted prose, characterizations, and imagery. In 1978, Ella and Calvin Hale respond to their farm's failing fortunes by committing suicide. As their sons, Eddy, Cole, and Wade, are taken in by nearby relatives, their farmhouse in upstate Chosen, N.Y., is bought by outsiders. College professor George Clare, his beautiful wife, Catherine, and their toddler, Franny, buy the house and seem picture-perfect, but appearances deceive. George, an expert in Hudson River painter George Inness (an actual figure, whose artistic theories and Swedenborg-influenced philosophy run through the novel) is a dark soul with a young mistress and a violent history; insecure Catherine takes his abuse until the women's movement helps empower her to leave him. Then George appears at a neighbor's door, announcing that he has found Catherine murdered in their bedroom. Though locals blame him, the crime remains unsolved. Seen as cursed and haunted by its dark history, their house sits abandoned until 2004, when Franny, now a surgical resident, re-encounters painful memories and her former babysitter Cole Hale on a trip to empty it. Moving fluidly between viewpoints and time periods, Brundage's complex narrative requires and rewards close attention. Succeeding as murder mystery, ghost tale, family drama, and love story, her novel is both tragic and transcendent.
