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This was the April choice for my Facebook Reading Challenge. Helen Dunmore was not much on my radar until I read Birdcage Walk last year, her final novel, published posthumously Dunmore died in I thought the book was incredible Zennor in Darkness I was desperate to read more of her work. Dunmore Zennor in Darkness also a poet and acclaimed short story writer, but her historical fiction is what she is best known for, I think, and it is outstanding. Zennor in Darkness was in fact her debut novel, published inand it won the McKitterick Prize, which is awarded to debut novels of authors over 40 there is hope for me yet! I was open-minded; I did not expect it to be as polished as Birdcage Zennor in Darknessin which she has fully matured as a writer and truly mastered her craft, but I did think it would Zennor in Darkness interesting to observe her burgeoning talent and to be able to see how she evolved as an artist. I really enjoyed Zennor in Darkness. It is a great story, two stories really, which become intertwined. Clare Coyne is the only daughter of widowed Francis Coyne, and the pair live together in the small town of Zennor in Cornwall. Francis Coyne is an ineffectual character, a botanist who earns very little money from his publishing, who spends more time with his books than with his daughter, and who does not seem to understand her Zennor in Darkness any level. Clare has artistic ability and is a talented artist. She spends her time looking after her father, keeping house, and drawing plants for his latest book project. Clare is very close to her cousins of her Zennor in Darkness age, particularly the girls Peggy and Hannah, and her slightly older male cousin, John. The novel is set inwhen Britain was in a state of trauma about its involvement in the First World War, the lives lost and the lives destroyed by battle. Another temporary resident of the small Cornish community is the author DH Lawrence, who is renting a house there with his German wife Frieda this part of the story is based on fact. In Cornwall the couple hoped to find peace and quiet, but as the novel progresses it becomes increasingly clear that some of the locals are suspicious of Lawrence, the outsider, the anti-patriot, and rumours spread that Frieda is actually a spy; the audacious red curtains hanging in the window of their rented cottage are thought to be signals to passing German U-boats! Clare strikes up a friendship with the Lawrences, and is excited by their bohemian lifestyle, such a contrast to her own humdrum life and community. Clare also becomes romantically and sexually involved with her beloved cousin John when he returns home briefly on leave from the trenches. Like Clare, John is a cut above, had ambitions to be a doctor Zennor in Darkness he was younger, though the war put paid to that. His ability has been recognised, however, and at Zennor in Darkness end of his leave he is to begin officer training. The setting of the novel is at times idyllic; there is a sense of suspension of time and escape from war in part why the Lawrences moved thereparticularly in the wonderful scenes at the beginning Zennor in Darkness the girls paddling in the sea and Zennor in Darkness recollections of the idyllic rural childhood they enjoyed. But as the novel progresses, darkness descends ever more over the events. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it will spur me on to read more of Helen Dunmore. View all posts by Julia's books. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using Zennor in Darkness Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Like this: Like Loading Author: Julia's books Zennor in Darkness. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:. Email required Address never made public. Name required. Post to Cancel. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Zennor In Darkness by Helen Dunmore

Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge Zennor in Darkness. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Zennor In Darkness by Helen Dunmore. Spring,and war haunts the Cornish coastal village of Zennor: ships are being sunk by U-boats, strangers are treated with suspicion, and newspapers are full of spy stories. Into this turmoil come D. H Lawrence and his German wife, Frieda hoping to Zennor in Darkness the war-fever that grips London. They Zennor in Darkness Clare Coyne, a young artist struggling to console her beloved cousin, John William, who is on leave from the trenches and suffering from shell-shock. Yet the Zennor in Darkness tide of gossip and innuendo means that Zennor is neither a place of recovery nor of escape. She Zennor in Darkness also a poet, children's novelist and short-story writer. Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. More Zennor in Darkness Original Title. McKitterick Prize Other Editions Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Zennor In Darknessplease sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of Zennor In Darkness. Jun 07, Katie rated it really liked it Shelves: historical-fictionset-in-the-ukhusbands-wives. Zennor in Darkness is about the effect WW1 has on a small rural community on the Cornish coast. At the heart of the novel is the relationship between two cousins, Clare and the Zennor in Darkness John William. It deploys a lot of flashback to recreate their relationship as children. I found it a rather uneven novel, brilliant and thoroughly engaging in parts but a little overly ambitious and even pretentious in others it was Helen Dunmore's first novel. DH Lawrence and his wife Frieda are characters in the story and though it was enjoyable reading about them their presence seemed rather gratuitous. We're told Zennor in Darkness residents are suspicious of them because Frieda is German but all the novel's charactersexcept one token nasty clergyman, are shown to be essentially good people so this hostility towards the Lawrences never has any dramatic representation in the novel. It's a bit of real history tacked on to a fictional story without much purpose. I thought Dunmore could have been less generous with some of her characters. If there's ignorant bigotry afoot show it, make it a force in the narrative. Instead she seemed intent on creating a romantically nostalgic vision of early 20th century pastoral life. What was most impressive was the writing itself which has made me eager to read her later work. View all 30 comments. His novel, The Rainbow had recently been banned in the UK for obscenity. The main character is Clare Coyne. She lives in St Ives with her Zennor in Darkness who married a Cornish woman well below his status but they had made St Ives their home. She was schooled differently and spoke differently although she could lapse into the local dialect at will. Her cousins Zennor in Darkness her closest friends and she fell in love with one of them, John William, as she grew older. Clare meets Lawrence on the cliffs one day and draws his portrait. They develop a friendship and Zennor in Darkness visits him and Frieda in their cottage in Zennor, a 6 mile walk from St Ives. Sadly, Lawrence and Frieda were the objects of much suspicion. He for his anti war stance and she for being German. It was rumoured that they hung their washing out in a particular sequence to send messages to U boats! Within two years, they were evicted from Cornwall under the Defence of the Realm Act. I loved the way we moved seamlessly from the thoughts of one person to another. So nearly 5. PS Michael Morpurgo owned the cottage that the Lawrences lived in for a number of years, only selling it last year. I read that Frieda always suspected Lawrence of homosexuality and there were rumours that he had an affair with Zennor in Darkness farmer in Zennor. Clare is a fictional character but the farmer, William Henry, appears in this novel. View all 7 comments. This was one of those books that I was dying to read because it takes place in Cornwall St Ives and Zennor. I have been to Cornwall and am back there for a second time staying in St Ives! It is a magical place- this book captures its allure beautifully. The descriptions are evocative of the place and probably the people living here in The start was slow for me- for the first almost half of the book, I actually would rate it a 3! But for just over the second half of the bo Zennor in Darkness was one of those books that I was dying to read because it takes place in Cornwall St Ives and Zennor. Zennor in Darkness for just over the second half of the book, I would rate it a 5! What I Zennor in Darkness about the book: the placeof course; the way small Zennor in Darkness gossip ignites like a fire; the descriptions of the effects of the war on the returning soldiers and on the people left behind; the love and bond of family; and the fact that D. Lawrence and his German wife are incorporated into the story. The beginning is slow- too many family members to keep track of; too descriptive at times and too much circling around the same storyline- but then this book explodes! Zennor in Darkness read the second half in less than Zennor in Darkness day. I do highly recommend this book, but be patient at the start! Zennor in Darkness all 19 comments. Helen Dunmore's Zennor in Darkness proved the perfect tome to pick up over a relaxed and warm bank holiday weekend. I first read the novel some years ago, but did not remember much about it, save for D. Lawrence featuring as one of the protagonists, and the sweeping Cornish setting. First published inJohn le Carre calls this 'a beautiful and inspired novel', and the Sunday Telegraph deems it 'highly Zennor in Darkness and beautifully written'. Zennor in Darkness opens in Maywhen war has com Helen Dunmore's Zennor in Darkness proved the perfect tome to pick up over a relaxed and warm bank holiday weekend. Zennor in Darkness opens in Maywhen war has come to haunt 'the coastal village of Zennor; ships are being sunk by U-boats, strangers are treated with suspicion, and newspapers are full of spy stories. Lawrence and his German wife, Frieda, move, seeking a cheaper existence away from the controversy which his writing has caused in London. Also resident in the village, and living with her widowed father, is a young woman named Clare Coyne. She is a young artist, whom Lawrence and Frieda soon befriend. When Lawrence arrives in Cornwall, it is almost directly after the publication and scandal of his novel Lady Chatterley's Lover. In Zennor, he is 'growing vegetables to eke out his tiny income. He earns his living by his writing, and it has shrunk close to nothing since his novel was seized by the police in November and prosecuted for obscenity. The book is shameful, say reviewers and prosecution. It is a thing which creeps and crawls He does not know when he will be able to publish another novel. But with a remote cottage Zennor in Darkness at five pounds a year, and cheap rural living, he hopes that he and his wife may get through the war. At the outset of the novel, when Clare decides to swim with her cousins with nothing on, she writes: 'Second in, she must be second out. And she wants the sea to herself for a minute, the noise and swell of it, her bare flesh rocking in salt water. Dunmore is very understanding of the location against which the action of the novel plays out, as well as the wider political climate, and the links between the two. When Clare and Lawrence survey the sea, for instance, she writes: 'It is wonderful to have your back to the land, to the whole of England: to have your back to the darkness of it, its frenzy of bureaucratic bloodshed, its cries in the night To have your back to this madness which finds a reason for everything: a madness of telegrams, medical examinations and popular songs; a madness of girls making shells and ferocious Zennor in Darkness. Zennor in Darkness by Helen Dunmore

I first read the novel some years ago, but did not remember much about it, save for D. Lawrence featuring as one of the protagonists, and the sweeping Cornish setting. Lawrence and his German wife, Frieda, move, seeking a cheaper existence away from the controversy which his writing has caused in London. Also resident in the village, and living with her widowed father, is a young woman named Clare Coyne. She is a young artist, whom Lawrence and Frieda soon befriend. He earns his living by his writing, and it has shrunk close to nothing since his novel was seized by the police in November and prosecuted for obscenity. The book is shameful, say reviewers and prosecution. But with a remote cottage rented at five pounds a year, and cheap rural Zennor in Darkness, he hopes that he and his wife may Zennor in Darkness through the war. And she wants the sea to herself for a minute, the noise and swell of it, her bare flesh rocking in salt water. Dunmore is very understanding of the location against which the action of the novel plays out, as well as the wider political climate, and the links between the Zennor in Darkness. Using this technique, Dunmore shows a more tender side of her, and it is also, of course, far more revealing than she is able to be in her public life. Snippets of first person perspective, and thoughts of individual characters, have Zennor in Darkness woven throughout. Sometimes asides are given, or reflections between snatches of dialogue. Separate characters are focused upon in individual chapters, and we are thus able to see the rich tapestry of those Zennor in Darkness live within Zennor, some of whom are real historical figures, and others of which have been imagined by Dunmore. Everything within Zennor in Darkness has been beautifully placed into what is a taut and tightly executed novel. Zennor in Darkness is a novel to really admire; it is slow, sensuous, incredibly human, and highly beautiful. Purchase from The Book Depository. I read this when it came out, so had forgotten much of the detail you bring pleasantly back to mind. I live not far from Zennor, so agree that the descriptions Zennor in Darkness the location are spot on. Just one quibble: the novel Zennor in Darkness had just been banned by the authorities was The Rainbow; Lady C came out a decade later. He was writing Women in Love while in Cornwall. I posted a series of pieces on DHL in Cornwall a couple of years Zennor in Darkness a fascinating period in his turbulent life with Frieda. So sad that Helen Dunmore died recently. Pingback: Best Zennor in Darkness of theliterarysisters. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Share this: Twitter Facebook. Like this: Like Loading Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:. Email required Address never made public. Name required. Post to Cancel. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use. To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy.