2 Books Like Ormeshadow

Although nominally crime fiction, it is only so in the most abstract sense. The disappearance of a little girl is just the catalyst for a darkly hilarious and relentlessly misanthropic take on the human condition and its general lack of empathy. Our narrator is a completely unsympathetic, alcoholic misogynist who can barely tolerate his wife, daughter or mistress. At first he appears merely insensitive towards the murder of a local child, yet as the story progressed we begin to suspect he may be more deeply involved than he is admitting. Meanwhile the wife, anticipating our modern day internet sleuths, becomes inappropriately obsessed with the case, stalking the family with her catatonic, psychologically-damaged daughter in tow. Nobody come out of this novel well, but I love it for the relish with which it exposes our worst flaws. It also still has something relevant, if unpleasant, to say about life in little… show more.

From the author of 'Black Narcissus', 'The Diddakoi' & 'The Dolls' House', this coming of age tale with a macabre twist does not seem to have garnered as much attention as some of the author's other works, but I liked it a lot. A family of English children plan an extended holiday in France, but once mother gets sick on the train they are put up in a hotel (with an orchard) & left to fend for themselves. The narrator, 13 year old Cecil, experiences culture shock, her first period & a growing jealousy of her older sister who attracts the attentions of a suave, older English gentleman (who might not be all he seems). The tone lies somewhere between 'The Railway Children' & one of Gaston Leroux's detective novels, nostalgia as a wistful dream turned a little sour.