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Margot Livesey

Autor von The Flight of Gemma Hardy

14+ Werke 3,452 Mitglieder 205 Rezensionen Lieblingsautor von 10 Lesern

Über den Autor

Margot Livesey is the award-winning author of a story collection, Learning by Heart, and the novels Homework, Criminals, and The Missing World. Born in Scotland, she currently lives and teaches in the Boston area. (Bowker Author Biography)
Bildnachweis: Photo by Nigel Beale / Flickr

Werke von Margot Livesey

The Flight of Gemma Hardy (2012) 1,034 Exemplare
Eva Moves the Furniture (2001) 618 Exemplare
The House on Fortune Street (2008) 435 Exemplare
The Boy in the Field (2020) 315 Exemplare
Banishing Verona (2004) 249 Exemplare
The Missing World (2000) 238 Exemplare
Mollys Baby (1996) 204 Exemplare
Mercury: A Novel (2016) 150 Exemplare
Homework (1990) 101 Exemplare
The Road from Belhaven (2024) 39 Exemplare
criminales (2001) 1 Exemplar

Zugehörige Werke

Die Mühle am Floss (1860) — Einführung, einige Ausgaben8,657 Exemplare
Die privaten Memoiren und Bekenntnisse eines gerechtfertigten Sünders (1824) — Einführung, einige Ausgaben2,389 Exemplare
The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books (1997) — Mitwirkender — 301 Exemplare
The Writer's Notebook: Craft Essays from Tin House (2009) — Mitwirkender — 124 Exemplare
A Few Thousand Words About Love (1998) — Mitwirkender — 22 Exemplare

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Lizzie lives with her grandparents on Belhaven Farm; her parents are dead, and she's surprised to learn she has an older sister, Kate, who comes to live with them after the death of another relative. Kate's suitor, Callum, begins to court the farm as well, although he buts heads with the girls' grandfather, Rab, who is stuck in his ways and refuses to try anything new on the farm. Nevertheless, Kate and Callum marry and begin producing children; meanwhile, Lizzie is growing up, and when she meets Louis, a tailor's apprentice in Glasgow, he lures her to the city, where she finds work. Louis lures her into more, Lizzie not realizing the consequences until it's too late, and Louis refusing to marry her until his apprenticeship is up. Lizzie returns to the farm and has Barbara, but her "pictures" - visions of the future that have appeared to her throughout her life and have always proved prophetic - warn her that Louis will stray without her there, so she returns, leaving Barbara with her grandmother, Flora. But in Lizzie's absence, Flora gives Barbara to schoolteacher Miss Urquhart, and Lizzie becomes desperate to get her back - especially when a vision shows her that Barbara is in danger. It's not Louis or Kate who helps Lizzie, but Louis' friend Tom, who also provides Lizzie and Barbara refuge with his grandfather.

Beautifully written, with a rich setting - farm, village, and city - and characters. In retrospect, much might have been different if Lizzie had known a bit more about human biology and societal norms, and if Rab hadn't been so inflexible and unforgiving.

See also: Maggie O'Farrell

Quotes

Should a person's life depend on a thin chain of coincidences? (22)

Lizzie repeated what Hugh used to say: heaven was a way to make poor people behave. If they believed in the rewards of the afterlife, they wouldn't complain about this one. (55)

No one but Hugh had ever spoken as if her life were one thing and could, perhaps, be another. (73)

She had wanted to be a good girl, she still did, but there were other things she wanted more. (84)

He talked on, trying to convince her, but all she heard was that his life would continue running along the rails, while hers hurtled toward ruin. (117)

The letter weighed less than a handful of corn, yet to send it would change everything....I'm just knocking at the door, she told herself. I don't have to open it. (141)

"I'd give anything not to have left, but what can I do now?" (185)

"I don't blame you, but don't promise something you can't do." (Kate to Lizzie, 187)
… (mehr)
½
 
Gekennzeichnet
JennyArch | 2 weitere Rezensionen | Feb 14, 2024 |
This was an excellent and compelling read. Young Lizzie Craig lives with her grandparents, Flora and Rab, having been orphaned as a baby. She lives with them on a farm, Belhaven, in late 19th century Scotland.She has the gift of the second sight, but she only sees things sporadically, and keeps this information to herself. In her teens, a young man named Louis comes to help on the farm, and Lizzie falls in love with him. Louis is apprenticed to a tailor in Glasgow, and Lizzie soon runs away from home to be with him .

Lizzie makes many difficult , but often poor decisions , and finds herself pregnant out of wedlock. Louis' devotion to her is tested.

A fascinating and quick read, filled with interesting characters, I really enjoyed this story. The ending seemed a bit too quick , and I felt the conclusion was touching, but lacking in the closure that I would have preferred.

Nonetheless, a wonderful and recommended read.
… (mehr)
 
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vancouverdeb | 2 weitere Rezensionen | Feb 13, 2024 |
This book made me think about how we categorize things as before/after significant events in our lives. The setting is 1999, so there's the anxiety of the changeover from 99 to Y2K. The three main characters' lies pivot in different ways after finding a boy who'd been attacked. What events have been pivotal in your life? Obviously the pandemic. But do you have a thing that happened to you (or a thing you witnessed) that changed you significantly?

In the end, I thought this book was good but it bummed me out during an already pretty bummer time. So I wasn't in the best mood to appreciate it. I did love the dog, though. The dog was maybe the best part.… (mehr)
 
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LibrarianDest | 19 weitere Rezensionen | Jan 3, 2024 |
I liked this book a lot. I liked the first 2/3rds of the book much better than the last 1/3rd. For the record I'm not a fan of Jane Eyre but I did like Gemma. It might have gotten me hungry to read again.
 
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MsTera | 85 weitere Rezensionen | Oct 10, 2023 |

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