Magpie Lane
a riveting, twisty and deeply compelling read
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4.0 • 318 Ratings
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
'An utter joy . . . wonderfully skilled' Sarah Perry
'Riveting, twisty, page-turning stuff' Guardian
'Beguiling, brilliantly creepy, and an utterly compelling read' Claire Fuller
When the eight-year-old daughter of an Oxford College Master vanishes in the middle of the night, police turn to the Scottish nanny, Dee, for answers.
As Dee looks back over her time in the Master's Lodging - an eerie and ancient house - a picture of a high achieving but dysfunctional family emerges: Nick, the fiercely intelligent and powerful father; his beautiful Danish wife Mariah, pregnant with their child; and the lost little girl, Felicity, almost mute, seeing ghosts, grieving her dead mother.
But is Dee telling the whole story? Is her growing friendship with the eccentric house historian, Linklater, any cause for concern? And most of all, why is Felicity silent?
Roaming Oxford's secret passages and hidden graveyards, Magpie Lane explores the true meaning of family - and what it is to be denied one.
A Book of the Year pick for BBC Radio 4 Open Book, the Guardian, the Telegraph and Good Housekeeping
'Tender, creepy and gripping' Sunday Times
'The page turner you've been looking for. Sly, witty and gripping . . . I devoured it' Naomi Alderman
'Spellbinding and spooky . . . a dazzling high wire act, superbly absorbing' Sunday Mirror
'Enthralling . . . creepy and compelling' The Times
'Deliciously dark' Alexandra Shulman
'A gorgeously satisfying triumph' Lucy Mangan
'A rare thing . . . simply stunning' Daily Express
'I was gripped . . . highly original' Alex Clark
'Creepy, suspenseful' Independent
'One of the most intriguing narrators since Notes on a Scandal' Sara Collins
'Grown-up and cleverly written . . . a dizzying sense of uncertainty' Literary Review
'Keeps you guessing . . . a real sense of menace' Good Housekeeping
'Wholly beguiling' Mick Herron
'Dazzlingly good' Diane Setterfield
'Beautiful writing' Polly Samson
'Clever, tense and twisty' Amanda Craig
'Highly intelligent' Sarah Vaughan
'Simply brilliant!' JP Delaney
'Darkly atmospheric' Jane Fallon
'Clever and creepy' Erin Kelly
'Highly recommended' Louise Candlish
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
By chance, Scottish nanny Dee, the unreliable narrator of this brilliantly orchestrated thriller from British author Atkins (The Night Visitor), meets Nick Law, the newly appointed master of an Oxford University college, who's in desperate need of her services. Nick, a former BBC director who was hired, some say, because of his useful celebrity contacts, is facing opposition from the academic old guard. His beautiful, young, ebullient Scandinavian wife, Mariah, a restorer of historic wallpaper, isn't helping matters. Meanwhile, Nick's eight-year-old daughter from his first marriage, Felicity, has been selectively mute since the death of her mother four years earlier. When meeting Dee for the first time, Mariah burbles, "Honestly, Nick's right, it feels like kind of a miracle he met you. You're like Mary Poppins, dropping onto our roof!" But is Dee a benign presence or a sinister one? The answer to that question continually shifts with each new and illuminating revelation about the Law household and Dee's history. When Felicity vanishes one night, all that speculation comes under the jaundiced eye of the police. Fluid prose, peppered with original metaphors, carries the reader along. This is an intelligent, witty, spooky, un-put-downable novel.
Customer Reviews
original
the whole bit about the kittens was unnecessary and frankly lazy
but whole book was well developed and gave me nightmares I had to resort to reading it in the day instead
A+
A+ book.
Magpie Lane
Beautifully compelling. I read this in two days. It’s easy to read and very well written. The narrative weaves between characters and timelines but it told from the point of view of Dee. I was unsure if I liked any of the characters to start with- they’re all flawed but very real. I really enjoyed this story and highly recommend.