The book collector alice thompson free#

Anything she sees or thinks that is out of the ordinary could be a sign that her “madness” has returned. A little help might have helped her regain perspective, but her husband hustles her off to an asylum after Violet accidentally hurts her son when she hallucinates that the boy is covered in insects. This worry starts to eat Violet alive as she sees threats to her son everywhere. (I say might be because a) she’s being manipulated so much that it’s hard to tell if she is having as many delusions as her husband tells her she is having and b) Victorians did not have that diagnosis in their repertoire.) Violet loves her son and worries about him so much that she doesn’t want a nanny to raise him. Before I twigged to the fairy tale aspect, I was very interested to watch Violet navigate what might be post-partum depression. There is another element of The Book Collector that fascinated me. Alice of Old Vincennes by Maurice Thompson 1900, Antique Book. But, like Angela Carter’s female protagonists, Violet-once she figures out what’s really going on-does not resign herself to the part her husband has laid out for her. Check out our book collector gift selection for the very best in unique or custom. Violet’s husband has more than a little of Blue Beard in the way he keeps his secrets and his willingness to threaten Violet when she pries too deeply. Thompson was educated at St Georges School, Edinburgh then read English at Oxford and wrote her Ph.D. The women who are murdered reference “The Little Mermaid,” “The Red Shoes,” and other classic stories. The Book Collector touches on a number of fairy tales. Before she knows quite what’s going on, Violet ends up in an asylum for women who are more troublesome than insane. Then he won’t let her read any of his books.

Then he won’t let Violet read the book of fairy tales he had made for that first wife. Her husband won’t talk about his first wife. To everyone else, Violet has all that a woman could want. The Book Collector is another dark fairy tale come to life in which an innocent woman discovers that her husband is a monster. Alice Thompsons first novel, Justine, was joint winner (with Graham Swift) of the. Violet is obsessed with ths of fairy tales her husband acquires, but her growing delusions see her confined in an asylum.

The book collector alice thompson free#

And this would have been a great shame because Thompson’s brief novel captures some of the feel of Angela Carter, who I adore for the ways that she plays with the conventions of fairy tales. Book Collector, Paperback by Thompson, Alice, ISBN 1784630438, ISBN-13 9781784630430, Brand New, Free shipping in the US Alice Thompsons new novel is a Gothic story of book collecting, mutilation and madness. Without her recommendation, I would have missed the delightfully chilling The Book Collector, by Alice Thompson. I’m very glad I follow Australian reader Sophie Carlon.