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Amanda Craig

Author of Hearts and Minds

11+ Works 820 Members 38 Reviews 4 Favorited

About the Author

Includes the name: Amanda Craig 

Image credit: Fantastic Fiction

Works by Amanda Craig

Hearts and Minds (2009) 202 copies
In a Dark Wood (2000) 155 copies
Love in Idleness (2003) 115 copies
The Lie of the Land (2017) 91 copies
A Vicious Circle (1996) 80 copies
The Golden Rule (2020) 78 copies
A Private Place (1800) 35 copies
Foreign Bodies (1990) 27 copies
The Other Side of You (2017) 23 copies
The Three Graces (2023) 13 copies

Associated Works

The Secret Countess (1981) — Introduction, some editions — 1,735 copies
The Fountain Overflows (1956) — Introduction, some editions — 1,054 copies
The Flight of the Falcon (1965) — Introduction, some editions — 886 copies
Stars of Fortune (1956) — Introduction, some editions — 78 copies
First Light: A celebration of Alan Garner (2016) — Contributor — 29 copies
Why Willows Weep: Contemporary Tales from the Woods (2011) — Contributor — 22 copies

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Reviews

A contemporary novel that looks at the abuse of women and also the influence of fiction to shape our lives. The plot features Hannah, a mother of a young daughter who is in the midst of a divorce. On a train journey to Cornwall to visit her dying mother. She meets Jinni who is in a similar situation and they agree to murder each other’s husbands. This play on the plot of Patricia Highsmith’s novel is then given a twist into a different direction as Hannah has second thoughts. At some points, Hannah seems annoyingly naïve but eventually grows into the knowledge that life is not like a Jane Austen novel. On the way she learns that although being poor is a struggle, the lives of the rich can be severely deficient in other ways. Amanda Craig, through the twists and turns of the story, digs deep into the lives of Hannah’s relations and friends to suggest where true wealth may lie.… (more)
 
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camharlow2 | 2 other reviews | Jan 6, 2023 |
I was disappointed with this book, after having been looking forward to its publication I had greatly enjoyed Amanda Craig’s previous novels, and made a point of trekking down to Daunt Books to buy a signed copy. However, I found it so heavily strewn with anti-man comments and sentiments that I almost gave up.

Sadly, I am sure that many of her characters’ views may be all too representative of the experiences that far too many women undergo, and I won’t attempt to deny the transgressions of my gender. That did not, however, prevent me from feeling worn down by the continual references, and at several points I nearly gave up and started reading something else instead.

Perhaps that pervasive context predisposed me against it, but I didn’t think it was as good as I have come to expect from Amanda Craig. I was surprised, for one thing, not to find more empathy for the protagonist, Hannah Penrose, who has certainly battled relentless adversity as she struggles to bring up her daughter on her own, with no help at all from her ex-husband. I have generally found Craig’s leading women to be immediately engaging characters, but I never succeeded in making the leap of faith in Hannah. This was despite her constant reaffirmation of herself as a reader, and champion of other readers. In fact, that may have been symptomatic of my difficulties with this book. In this aspect, even though I support the sentiment, I found it simply too ‘preachy’.

The plot lacked a lot of the dexterity that I have come to associate with Amanda Craig, too. It might most easily be summarised as a blend of Strangers on a Train and Beauty and the Beast. That is, of course, a crass simplification, although it carries a kernel of truth.

I don't think i can be bothered to say much more - I feel as if I have already exerted more energy than the book merits simply in reading it.
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½
 
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Eyejaybee | 2 other reviews | Jul 16, 2020 |
From the moment I read the synopsis of The Golden Rule I knew I wanted to read it. I was intrigued by the idea that two strangers meet on a train and plot to kill each other's husbands in what ought to be perfect, untraceable murders. This of course is very similar to the plot of Strangers on a Train and Amanda Craig did use it as part of her inspiration for this book.

However, this is not a crime novel, nor a thriller. This is a beautifully portrayed story of all of human life: the rich, the poor, the kind, the unkind, the perception of London hoi polloi and Cornish yokels. I was totally bewitched by it from start to finish.

Hannah is a single mother, poor but with a husband who could support her but instead abuses her, mentally and physically. Hannah is industrious but life is such a struggle for her. She meets Jinni on a train to Cornwall, Hannah's home county, and Jinni is everything she is not. She's rich, poised and stylish. But she wants to get rid of her husband and Hannah feels that she can only cope with her life if she can be free of Jake. A plot is hatched.

Nothing goes to plan though and Hannah's return to Cornwall is revelatory for many reasons, especially when she goes to Jinni's house and meets a man called Stan. I had in my mind that there was something of the Beauty and the Beast about the pair of them and I was pleased to see in the author's afterword that she had also used that as her inspiration. I loved the way Craig skilfully weaved together all the strands to create such a clever and engrossing story. I also particularly liked the fact that Hannah is a big reader and books are such a big part of the story as a whole.

One other thing that particularly stood out was the depiction of Cornwall. Hannah is from a place that has not been touched by holiday makers and second home owners. Compare that to the more affluent areas and you can see why the Cornish might get a bit peeved about incomers.

I can't do justice to The Golden Rule in just a few paragraphs. It's a book that I could talk and talk about, there's so much in there. It's razor-sharp, yet so thoughtful, it's bold, yet understated. It really has it all.
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1 vote
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nicx27 | 2 other reviews | Jul 4, 2020 |
Quite simply, this is an extraordinary novel, although sadly I think it is beyond my powers to describe it adequately without making it sound too fanciful. Amanda Craig captures the multi-tiered aspects of London society as it edges toward the almost catastrophic financial downturn that arose from the ‘credit crunch’ of 2008.

The story revolves around five principal characters and the intricate way in which they all gradually become involved with each other. We meet Polly, a divorcee and single mother whose work as a human rights lawyer takes up most of her waking hours, leaving her permanently exhausted and struggling to balance the demands of family life. As the novel opens, her plight becomes even more stressful as Iryna, the Russian au pair who had been so fundamental to the stability of her household, disappears.

Meanwhile Job is an illegal immigrant who fled poverty, oppression and torture in Zimbabwe. Having managed to garner enough money to secure a flight to London, he is now straining to balance two draining jobs, switching between working as a minicab driver and handwashing smart cars at a dubious establishment in the hinterland of King’s Cross. Between these two posts he manages to scrape enough money to pay his rent for a dreadful bedsit, and also to send a small sum each month back home to his wife in Zimbabwe. It is now more than six months since he received any word from his wife, and he is no longer confident that she is even still alive.

Ian Bredin is a South African, working as a teacher at an inner London comprehensive school, still facing another two terms before he can secure his ‘Qualified Teacher’ status. The school is underfunded, and nearly all of the pupils are disaffected: bullying is rife, and religious divides within the diverse, multicultural school population are already becoming prevalent. Despite his best intentions, Ian finds that he spends most of his time merely preventing fights from breaking out in the classroom, and he knows that he never manages actually to teach his pupils anything.

Katie is from New England, and decamps to London following a failed relationship with a man from an immensely wealthy family, but who turned out, despite a charming carapace, to be boorish beyond measure. Now in London, Katie finds herself struggling to survive in what seems a very lonely city. She works as assistant (almost skivvy) to the editor of the twenty-first century iteration of The Rambler, the weekly journal that in former times had been journalistic home to the likes of Dr Johnson, Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins.

Anna is a fifteen year old Lithuanian girl who leaps at the opportunity to escape from what she fears will be a life of utter drudgery. Her hopes of a new life soar when a young woman who had been a couple of years ahead of her at school returns from London, clad in marvellous chic clothes and make up, eager to recruit other girls to come and join her there, working as waitresses or chambermaid. Anna cannot be dissuaded from throwing her lot in, only to find that she has been trafficked, and is pitched into a life of what seems like unremitting Hell.

All five of them will find their stories intersecting in the most shattering way. Exquisitely plotted, the author never once lets the string of coincidences impair the underlying plausibility of the story, and all of the characters are beautifully drawn.

Amanda Craig also manages to deliver blistering attacks on the plights of asylum seekers, and the manner in which the underclass become almost invisible to the bulk of the population though a communal wave of denial, though she achieves this without ever seeming to proselytise. All in all this is an enchanting novel, and a great way to start a new year of reading.
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Eyejaybee | 11 other reviews | Jan 3, 2020 |

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Works
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Rating
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ISBNs
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Favorited
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