The House at the edge of the world (2015)

Rochester Julia

Part mystery, part psychological drama, Julia Rochester’s The House at the Edge of the World is a darkly comic, unorthodox and thrilling debut When I was eighteen, my father fell off a cliff. It was a stupid way to die. John Venton’s drunken fall from a Devon cliff leaves his family with an embarrassing ghost. His twin children, Morwenna and Corwin, flee in separate directions to take up their adult lives. Their mother, enraged by years of unhappy marriage, embraces merry widowhood. Only their grandfather finds solace in the crumbling family house, endlessly painting their story onto a large canvas map. His brightly coloured map, with its tiny pictures of shipwrecks, forgotten houses, saints and devils, is a work of his imagination, a collection of local myths and histo­ries. But it holds a secret. As the twins are drawn grudgingly back to the house, they discover that their father’s absence is part of the map’s mysterious pull. The House at the Edge of the World is the compellingly told story of how family and home can be both a source of comfort and a wholly destructive force. Cutting to the undignified half-truths every family conceals, it asks the questions we all must confront: who are we responsible for and, ultimately, who do we belong to?

  • - Année de publication : 2015
  • - Pages : 262
  • - Éditeur : Viking Books
  • - Langue : Anglais

A propos de l'auteur :

Rochester Julia :

Julia Rochester grew up on the Exe Estuary in Devon. She studied in London, Berlin and Cambridge and has worked for the BBC Portuguese Service and for Amnesty International as researcher on Brazil. She lives in London with her husband and daughter.

Crédit photo : Jochen Braun

La maison d'édition :

Viking Books :

Viking is a legendary imprint with a distinguished list of extraordinary writers in both fiction and nonfiction. The Viking Press was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheimer. Today, Viking boasts bestselling fiction authors like Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks, Tana…

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  • Christel Visée
    10 décembre 2016

    In a vivid style reminiscent of Janet Winterson, Julia Rochester's novel explores through the funny yet slightly cynical voice of Morwenna how people connect, separate, live, die, flee and reinvent themselves, especially within the frame of family life. "The House at the Edge of the World", in the wild seaside town of Thornton, is suddenly abandoned by Morwenna's father as he falls from a rock into the sea, disappears and is declared dead. As a result of this tragic event, Morwenna and her twin brother Corwin try to find a new life for themselves: in London in a bindery for Morwenna, and in India and all over the world for Corwin. The twins finally come back to their house at the edge of the world at the bedside of their dying grandfather who spent his whole life painting a map. This map reveals to them that their story might turn out to be different from what they thought. The reader finds himself, from the first to the last word, in a passionate, realistic, yet mysterious world where life is wildly blown into characters and places and where myths might also come to life.