Oops - started writing this post back in November, it should have been published at the start of December, and instead it's being published at the start of January. Oh dear :(
I love to get new books in the post, and I am very spoilt by Virago sending me the latest modern classics. It's even more exciting when I get books which are "under embargo", meaning that I can't write about them until a certain date. I find it impossible not to pick them up immediately, so I'm writing this post in the middle of November, to publish at the end of the month - the books in question are being published on the 1st of December. And what a fantastic pair of books they are!
I love to get new books in the post, and I am very spoilt by Virago sending me the latest modern classics. It's even more exciting when I get books which are "under embargo", meaning that I can't write about them until a certain date. I find it impossible not to pick them up immediately, so I'm writing this post in the middle of November, to publish at the end of the month - the books in question are being published on the 1st of December. And what a fantastic pair of books they are!
Written by the late Josephine Hart - who died earlier this year - , the two new VMCs are the strikingly titled, Damage, and Sin with their equally striking covers.
Damage is apparently famous for its film, starring Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche (I must see that now as I am a big Jeremy Irons fan) and is described on the press release as "one of the most chilling explorations of physical passion and dark, obsessive love ever written". It's not an especially "nice" book due to being so dark but I found the tale of a man who falls in love with his son's psychologically damaged girlfriend absolutely riveting.
Sin somehow seemed slightly less complex than damage, but was another extremely psychological tale. It tells the story of Ruth's resentment and obsession with her elder adopted sister Elizabeth. It's another immensely disturbing tale with considerable tragedy.
I'd come across Josephine Hart before with her Virago published Truth about love which was a tragedy based book about an Irish family which I also found exceptionally gripping, but I'm glad to have had the opportunity to read these two books too. I wouldn't recommend them for a light, entertaining read, but if you want something dark and powerful then they will definitely fit the bill. I was also impressed to see advertisements for these in the press (I can't recall where now)
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