The Beacon (novel)

The Beacon, is a novel by English author Susan Hill, first published in 2008 by Chatto and Windus and in paperback the following year by Vintage Books^[1].

Reception

• Joanna Briscoe in The Guardian described it as a "novel of great structural and stylistic control" and as being "an almost perfect little literary novel",
• Laura Thompson in The Telegraph describes it as "a little masterpiece"
• The Times said it was "a moving, evocative and rewarding novel".

Plot introduction

The four Prime children grow up in a bleak North Country farmhouse called 'The Beacon'; Colin and Berenice marry locally, May, the central character of the novel went to University in London but returns within a year. Only quiet, watchful Frank escapes to become a journalist on Fleet Street. But then he publishes a successful novel about his childhood which throws the family into turmoil...

Radio Dramatisation

The novel was dramatised for BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour Drama, broadcast in five 15-minute episodes from March 22-26 2010.^[2]

References

External links

• Author webpage
• Real and imagined terrors review by Joanna Briscoe in The Guardian
• The Beacon by Susan Hill review by Laura Thompson in The Telegraph
• Truth, lies and misery lit review by Katy Guest in The Independent
• Terrors of the imagination review by Paul Binding in The Spectator
• Times Review by Matthew Dennison
• A twisted tale of malice aforethought, review by Nicholas Lezard in The Guardian
• Vintage books webpage