The Infamous Gilberts
'The most rewarding and beautiful novel I've read in ages’ Barbara Trapido
-
- ¥1,600
発行者による作品情報
‘Vivid, poignant, hilarious and tragic: the most rewarding and beautiful novel I've read in ages’ BARBARA TRAPIDO
'A family saga like no other. Gloriously off-beat, darkly comedic and totally bewitching. A bravura performance' SARAH WINMAN
‘We shall be forgotten.’ he said. ‘We shall be lost. They will scrub us away like a set of dirty fingerprints on a plastic kettle.’
The crumbling Gothic mansion of Thornwalk, long-term home of the Gilbert family, is being handed over to a chain of luxury ‘historic’ hotels. Millions will be spent in its restoration. But for every so-called improvement, what will be lost? What value can there possibly be in a threadbare carpet, a tarnished spoon and a thousand empty jam jars?
Before the hotel people arrive, with their clipboards and their skips and their bottles of bleach, Maximus, loyal guardian of the Gilberts’ legacy, invites us on a final tour of the once-stately home, where each room holds a secret. From the bolt on the blue room door to the tiny dents in the bars at the nursery window … these are the keys that will unlock the lives of the five fatherless Gilbert children.
A frustrated romantic, a stubborn traditionalist, a dreamer, a diva and an explorer: The Infamous Gilberts will be cast adrift on the irresistible tides of the twentieth century, buoyed by love, buffeted by loss, and tangled together in an unputdownable story where the lines between eccentricity and madness, cruelty and love become hilariously, heartbreakingly blurred.
'Completely captivating: I absolutely loved it. A compelling, ingenious, mischievous blend of tragedy, comedy and intrigue' NINA STIBBE
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Tomaski debuts with a fresh story of an eccentric English family and its crumbling manor. It begins in 2002, when the Gilberts hand over Thornwalk House to a hotelier, and then rewinds to unfurl the life stories of the five Gilbert siblings, who were raised by their mother and their late father's sister. At age 15 in 1928, Lydia, the eldest child, was routinely locked in her room to stop her from seeing the tutor with whom she had fallen in love. A burn mark remains on the library rug from an incident in 1921, when five-year-old Annabel quietly watched a blaze spread from the fireplace. Readers may initially struggle with the multiple story lines and crowded cast of characters, but the narrative coheres as Tomaski reveals the backstabbing, mental illness, and other problems that brought about the estate's decline, showing how imperious Hugo, the oldest of two brothers, takes over the family's mercantile business, while his restless younger brother, Jeremy, and their troubled youngest sibling, Rosalind, each take off in search of greener pastures. Along the way, Tomaski imbues the narrative with pathos and wit ("A woman scorned is nothing compared to the girl whose lover suddenly has a reputation for bad breath"). Patient readers will find much to enjoy.
