Synopses & Reviews
Set among the hills and gorges of southern France, Trespass is a thrilling novel about disputed territory, sibling love and devastating revenge, by the bestselling author of The Road Home, winner of the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction.
In a silent valley stands an isolated stone farmhouse, the Mas Lunel. Its owner is Aramon Lunel, an alcoholic so haunted by his violent past that he's become incapable of all meaningful action, letting his hunting dogs starve and his land go to ruin. Meanwhile, his sister, Audrun, alone in her modern bungalow within sight of the Mas Lunel, dreams of exacting retribution for the unspoken betrayals that have blighted her life.
Into this closed Cevenol world comes Anthony Verey, a wealthy but disillusioned antiques dealer from London. Now in his sixties, Anthony hopes to remake his life in France, and he begins looking at properties in the region. From the moment he arrives at the Mas Lunel, a frightening and unstoppable series of consequences is set in motion.
Two worlds and two cultures collide. Ancient boundaries are crossed, taboos are broken, a violent crime is committed. And all the time the Cevennes hills remain, as cruel and seductive as ever, unforgettably captured in this powerful and unsettling novel, which reveals yet another dimension to Rose Tremain's extraordinary imagination.
From the Hardcover edition.
Review
As perfect a thriller and a novel as one can find in contemporary fiction, this is not only a gripping read but a thoughtful examination of human moral error.The story Tremain weaves between her pair of siblings is taut and full of suspense. . . . Trespass evinces a steely grip on corrupt human nature.[Tremain] knows how to stretch a good yarn, and this one . . . has an effortless ease to it.A thoroughly engrossing psychological thriller. . . . Tremain’s writing is both vivid and wonderfully compressed, the eye that is cast over proceedings unblinking. . . . From an apparent idyll, Tremain has summoned a spirit of profound disquiet and, as with all her best writing, revealed the anguish that can lie just below the surface of everyday lives.A gothic novel, dark and eerie. . . . Rose Tremain is a maestro. - --Jane Smiley
Review
Two pairs of siblings and their twisted pasts converge in this gripping, dark novel from Orange Prize–winner Tremain (The Road Home).... Tremain renders this untamed area with haunting prose.The book feels timeless but rooted, tangible but otherworldly. Meticulously plotted, with the must sadness that comes of cleaving to the past, Trespass will reward your reading . . . and have you questioning if blood is thicker than water after all.This is a terrific book: accomplished in its poised, imaginative storytelling and in its vivid, sensual rendering of landscape and character, emotion, and memory.Explores, in an agreeably creepy way, notions about the stewardship of land both wild and cultivated . . . [a] potent little horror story. --Donna Rifkind
Synopsis
"Rose Tremain's writing is so good, she makes us hear English anew," writes theSan Francisco Chronicle. This powerful and unsettling work reveals yet another dimension to Tremain's extraordinary imagination.
Synopsis
In a silent valley in southern France stands an isolated stone farmhouse. Aramon, the owner, is so haunted by his violent past that he drowns himself in drink. Meanwhile, his sister Audrun dreams of exacting retribution for a lifetime of betrayals. Into this world comes Anthony Verey, a disillusioned antiques dealer from London. When he sets his sights on the house, a frightening series of consequences is set in motion.
"Rose Tremain's writing is so good, she makes us hear English anew," writes the San Francisco Chronicle. This powerful and unsettling work, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, reveals yet another dimension to Tremain's extraordinary imagination.
Synopsis
In a silent valley in southern France stands an isolated stone farmhouse, the Mas Lunel. Aramon, the owner, is so haunted by his violent past that he's become incapable of all meaningful action, letting his hunting dogs starve and his land go to ruin. Meanwhile, his sister Audrun, alone in her modern bungalow within sight of the Mas Lunel, dreams of exacting retribution for the unspoken betrayals that have blighted her life. Into this closed world comes Anthony Verey, a wealthy but disillusioned antiques dealer from London. When he sets his sights on the Mas, a frightening and unstoppable series of consequences is set in motion. "Rose Tremain's writing is so good, she makes us hear English anew," writes the . This powerful and unsettling work reveals yet another dimension to Tremain's extraordinary imagination.
Synopsis
Like Howards End, Trespass proves that the vagaries of real estate can make for dramatic fiction. . . . [Tremain] grabs her readers by their ankles and dangles them over the abyss. She spares us nothing and she never lets us go.
Synopsis
Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize; one of the 's best books by women in 2010. "Complex, suspenseful, and almost hypnotically readable."--Margot Livesey,
About the Author
Rose Tremain is the author of fifteen works of fiction, which have been published in twenty-seven countries. These include Trespass, longlisted for the Booker Prize; Sacred Country, winner of the Prix Femina Etranger in France; The Road Home, winner of the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction; and Restoration, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, filmed in 1995, and presented as a stage play in 2009. Tremain lives in Norfolk and London with the biographer Richard Holmes.