Karine Lalechère Libros

Elias Canetti escribió que, en raras ocasiones, las personas logran liberarse de las cadenas que las atan, solo para quedar sujetas a otras nuevas. Mary, una niña de quince años en una granja de la Inglaterra rural de 1830, tiene el pelo del color de la leche y un defecto físico en una pierna. Su vida cambia momentáneamente cuando es enviada a trabajar como criada para cuidar a la mujer del vicario enferma. Esta experiencia le permite aprender a leer y escribir, dejando atrás su mundo de sombras. Sin embargo, al descubrir la luz de las palabras, se enfrenta a la cegadora realidad de su vida. Solo le queda el poder de contar su historia para encontrar sosiego en la escritura. La autora ha recreado un microcosmos apabullante, poblado de personajes memorables, como el padre de Mary, que maldice su vida por no tener hijos varones; el abuelo, que se finge enfermo para ver a su querida nieta; y Edna, la criada que guarda sudarios bajo la cama para un futuro que no tiene. Todo esto se desarrolla en un entorno bucólico que fluye con las estaciones y las labores de la granja, cobrando vida a través de la inocencia desgarradora de Mary, quien busca dejar un testimonio escrito de su destino inevitable.

Marian Sutro is an outsider: the daughter of a diplomat, brought up on the shores of Lake Geneva and in England, half French, half British, naive yet too clever for her own good. But when she is recruited from her desk job by SOE to go undercover in wartime France, it seems her hybrid status, and fluent French, will be of service to a greater, more dangerous cause.

Rosemary's young, just at college, and she's decided not to tell anyone a thing about her family. So we're not going to tell you too much either: you'll have to find out for yourselves what it is that makes her unhappy family unlike any other. Rosemary is now an only child, but she used to have a sister the same age as her, and an older brother. Both are now gone - vanished from her life. There's something unique about Rosemary's sister, Fern. So now she's telling her story; a looping narrative that begins towards the end, and then goes back to the beginning. Twice. It's funny, clever, intimate, honest, analytical and swirling with ideas that will come back to bite you. We hope you enjoy it, and if, when you're telling a friend about it, you do decide to spill the beans about Fern - it's pretty hard to resist - don't worry.