Trick or Treat
A Novel
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
In this "perfect, black little tale" from the author of Honour Thy Father, a feud between neighbors in an English town escalates to terrifying consequence (The Observer).
In northern England, along a block of row houses, lives the widow Nell. Lately, she's had a difficult time adjusting to her new lodger—her son Rodney. An ex-con imprisoned for something no one likes to talk about, Rodney has moved back into his old bedroom. He is his mother's pride and shame.
Two doors down from Nell is Olive. Obese, childless, near senile, and given to violent mood swings, Olive is comforted by her pets, and coddled by a patient lover. Once, Olive was beautiful. Once, Olive was Nell's best friend. But for more than fifty years now, they've been separated by a paralyzing hatred and rivalry.
Then, one night, the eight-year-old son of a new neighbor invites them both to a Guy Fawkes Day bonfire in his backyard. Amid the smoldering embers of fall leaves, a spark of another kind is ignited. Their violent rage is set to explode, a buried past will be revealed, and no one on their quiet little block is ever going to feel safe again.
In this "absorbing" (Los Angeles Times) novel from the Somerset Maugham Award winner, Glaister expertly reveals her "uncomfortable knack of putting her finger on things we fear most" (The Independent on Sunday).
"A cool, sure, bright entertainment." —Kirkus Reviews
"Before Gillian Flynn, there was Lesley Glaister." —Harper's Bazaar
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
There are no tricks and many treats in this gem of a novel, which centers on three households in a small English neighborhood in the interval between Halloween and Guy Fawkes Day . Octogenarian Olive, a once beautiful radical who has become obese and addled in her old age, shares a home with her longtime companion and devoted caretaker. Their neighbors are Nell, an old woman waging a war on dirt to expunge the shame of her ex-con son's crime, and a family overflowing with children, whose youngest member links them all. As the novel progresses, secrets about the past and the history of a bitter rivalry between Olive and Nell surface, shedding light on the present and ultimately shaping it in painful, searing ways. Glaister, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award last year for her first novel, Honour Thy Father , writes with sensitivity and humor. Olive, who is losing her grip on the world, and Nell, who fiercely struggles to control her environment, are memorable characters. That readers will empathize with Olive's anguish over the loss of a straw hat is a credit to the novelist's gift for opening up their inner lives and imbuing even the smallest objects with emotional weight. Deftly building suspense, Glaister moves the narrative to an explosive, sadly ironic and very satisfying denouement.
