Edith's Diary: A Virago Modern Classic (VMC)
Patricia Highsmith
BY THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY, CAROL AND STRANGERS ON A TRAIN
INTRODUCED BY DENISE MINA
'Highsmith probes to the very core of her heroine with a controlled ferocity and single-mindedness that illuminates every page of her novel' THE TIMES
'A work of extraordinary force and feeling . . . her strongest, her most imaginative' NEW YORKER
'One of the mere twenty or so that I would say were perfect, unimprovable masterpieces' A. N Wilson, DAILY TELEGRAPH
Edith Howland's diary is her most precious possession, and as she is moving house she is making sure it's safe. A suburban housewife in fifties America, she is moving to Brunswick with her husband Brett and her beloved son, Cliffie, to start a new life for them all. She is optimistic, but most of all she has high hopes for her new venture with Brett, a local newspaper, the Brunswick Corner Bugle.
As Edith Howland's life becomes harsh, her diary entries only become brighter and brighter. Life seems full of promise, and indeed, to read her diary, filled with her most intimate feelings and revelations, you would never think otherwise. Strange, then, that reality is so dangerously different . . .
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About Patricia Highsmith
Reviews for Edith's Diary: A Virago Modern Classic (VMC)
The Times
Edith's Diary is certainly one of the saddest novels I ever read, but it is also one of the mere twenty or so that I would say were perfect, unimprovable masterpieces
A. N. Wilson
Telegraph
As original, as funny, as cleverly written and as moving as any novel I have read since I started reviewing
Auberon Waugh
Evening Standard
Edith's fall takes the form of a psychological chiller, but there is also something larger, the poignancy of her struggle not to go under. She is betrayed by such ordinary dreams
New York Times A work of extraordinary force and feeling . . . her strongest, her most imaginative and by far her most substantial novel
New Yorker
Moral speculations surface about the respective responsibilities of the uncaring and the unloved, tenterhooks cushioned with an enveloping intimacy of character and place
Kirkus Reviews
Highsmith's novels are peerlessly disturbing ....bad dreams that keep us thrashing for the rest of the night
The New Yorker
Edith's fall takes the form of a psychological chiller, but there is also something larger, the poignancy of her struggle not to go under. She is betrayed by such ordinary dreams
New York Times
Highsmith probes to the very core of her heroine with a controlled ferocity and single-mindedness that illumines every page of her novel. It is a masterly book, a haunting book, a book that lingers long in the memory and constantly disturbs and delights.
The Times
The Times
A work of extraordinary force and feeling . . . her strongest, her most imaginative and by far her most substantial novel
New Yorker
New Yorker
As original, as funny, as cleverly written and as moving as any novel I have read since I started reviewing
Auberon Waugh
The Evening Standard
Edith's Diary is certainly one of the saddest novels I ever read, but it is also one of the mere twenty or so that I would say were perfect, unimprovable masterpieces
A.N Wilson
Daily Telegraph