The Greatcoat
A Ghost Story
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3.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
The love affair between a neglected wife and a mysterious soldier is “a perfect ghost story” from the acclaimed author of The Siege and The Betrayal (The Independent).
In the winter of 1952, Isabel Carey moves to the East Riding of Yorkshire with her new husband, Philip, a doctor. While he spends long hours on call, Isabel finds herself lonely and vulnerable, trying to adjust to the realities of being a country housewife.
One evening, Isabel is woken by intense cold. Hunting for extra blankets, she discovers an old Royal Air Force greatcoat hidden in the back of a cupboard. Sleeping under the coat for warmth, she starts to dream and is soon startled by a knock at her window—where a young RAF pilot stands outside, wearing that same coat. His powerful presence both disturbs and excites Isabel. And soon, their unexpected connection sparks an affair that will change them both irreparably.
“Written in crisp, enthralling prose,” The Greatcoat is an atmospheric tale of love and war that blurs the line between the real and the imaginary (The New Yorker).
“Dunmore’s gift, familiar from The Siege and The Betrayal, is to use a finely drawn domestic setting to show the great events of European history on a human scale. She doesn’t need ‘horror’ to spook her readers; our past is bad enough.” —The Guardian
“The most elegant flesh-creeper since The Woman in Black.” —The Times (London)
“The sense of déjà vu surrounding the story makes it all the more chilling . . . Tense and engaging.” —The New Yorker
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In 1952, with England still suffering the aftershocks of WWII ("Shortages, restrictions, rules and ration books, coupons and exhortations..."), Isabel and her new husband Philip move to the countryside, where he is taking over a medical practice. While Philip is immediately absorbed in his work, Isabel feels lonely and unsure of her decision to enter into the life of a country doctor's wife. One cold night, Isabel discovers, in the top of the cupboard, an RAF greatcoat, apparently being kept by Mrs. Atkinson, their strange landlady. Before long the ghost of the coat's former owner, a WWII officer named Alec, appears outside the window and draws Isabel into a curious and passionate romance. It's only a matter of time before the truth of the officer's past is revealed. Orange Prize winner Dunmore (for A Spell of Winter) this time delivers more of a slender film treatment than a fully developed novel, with blurry paranormal rules and obvious themes about the impact of war and its losses on our lives.
