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Susan Stairs“I wonder today how no one else could see the bad thing coming. Not that I knew back then what the bad thing was; and if I had - if I'd known one of us was going to die - would there have been anything I could have done to prevent it? I play it all back in my mind, over and over. The clues were all there.” On New Year's Eve, eleven-year-old Ruth and her brother and sister sit at Ruth's bedroom window, watching the garden of their new Dublin home being covered in a thick blanket of snow. Ruth declares that a bad thing will happen in the coming year - she's sure of it. But she cannot see the outline of that thing - she cannot know that it will change their lives utterly, that the shape of their future will be carved into two parts; the before and the after.
Extent: 320pp Publication: July 2013 Acquiring editor: Sara O’Keeffe Rights: Translation US: Lucy Luck Associates THE ISLAND HOUSEElisabeth GiffordSteeped in the rich tradition of Scottish folklore, The Island House is a beguiling tale of love and loss, a meditation on motherhood and what each generation hands on to the next, and how we find our place in the world through the stories we tell. When Ruth and her husband move into a grand but dilapidated old vicarage on a stunning island in the Outer Hebrides, they set about turning the unloved house into a wonderful family home, a place where Ruth can finally feel safe. But the discovery of the remains of a baby buried beneath the house, during renovations, threatens the fragile peace she has made with her own troubled childhood. The tiny body Ruth unearths is unique and frightening. The baby’s legs are fused together into one limb – a mermaid child. Ruth is assailed by vivid experiences of what seems to be a child’s unseen presence in the house. And when she begins to research the history of the house, she uncovers the moving and heart-breaking story of Reverend Alexander Ferguson, an amateur evolutionary scientist who lived in the vicarage in 1880. His is a tale of love and loss – one Ruth can very much relate to. The more Ruth begins to understand the history of the house, the more she is forced to explore the tragedy embedded in her own past. ELISABETH GIFFORD studied French literature and world religions at Leeds University. She has written articles for The Times and The Independent and has a Diploma in Creative Writing from Oxford OUDCE and an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway College. She is married with three children. They live in Kingston on Thames but spend as much time as possible in the Hebrides. This is her first novel. Manuscript available: March 2013 Extent: 320pp Publication: August 2013 Acquiring editor: Sara O’Keeffe Rights: World ex US US: Rogers Coleridge and White T |
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