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Un reveillon mortel by Alice Thomas Ellis
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Un reveillon mortel (edition 1998)

by Alice Thomas Ellis, Alice Thomas Ellis

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2374112,544 (3.32)17
Five strangers gather at Eric's inn on a remote Hebridean island after he advertises in the London weeklies for "Christmas at the edge of the world." Harry, a military widower, is fascinated by General Gordon and the last days of Khartoum. Jessica is a voice-over artist and actress. Jon is a vain actor who is dangerously obsessed with Jessica. Anita, a salesperson in the stationary department of a store and, Ronald, a psychoanalyst who is pining for the cooking and domestic skills of his recently departed wife. Each has their own reasons for escaping the usual festivities, but the refuge of the island is complicated as Eric's wife Mabel flounces out at the last minute and the locals and visitors mingle and clash. A beautifully timed comic novel with a hint of the supernatural.… (more)
Member:mathpoul
Title:Un reveillon mortel
Authors:Alice Thomas Ellis
Other authors:Alice Thomas Ellis
Info:Editions de l'Olivier (1998), Broché, 254 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:**
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Work Information

The Inn at the Edge of the World by Alice Thomas Ellis

  1. 00
    Mary Rose by J. M. Barrie (KayCliff)
  2. 00
    The Evening of Adam by Alice Thomas Ellis (KayCliff)
    KayCliff: The story "The Statue" in "The Evening of Adam" includes: "... my dream of spending Christmas alone in a small snowbound hotel at the end of the world".
  3. 00
    The Birds of the Air by Alice Thomas Ellis (KayCliff)
    KayCliff: Both these books of Ellis's deal with Christmas celebration.
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Showing 3 of 3
As you'll imagine, it was the wonderful title that drew me to this book. The novel itself isn't, to be honest, quite as wonderful, but it's by no means a poor thing: I did like it, but it was a bit of a let-down after the title!

Eric, an Englishman who's bought a cottage hotel on a remote Hebridean island in the hopes that the isolation will stop his wife from sleeping around, places an ad in the English papers suggesting his hostelry as the ideal place for an Escape Christmas holiday. Five disparate people seize on the idea, and travel separately to spend a few days in seclusion among the islanders . . . and, it seems, the selkies; the islander called Finlay and his unnamed sister-in-law seem to be beyond even selkiedom, to be archetypal beings of some unidentified kind. What follows is really a comedy -- or tragicomedy -- of manners with supernatural overtones: I grinned a lot, laughed aloud a couple of times. The narrative technique is interesting too: an almost aggressive use of multiple viewpoints which is quite unsettling (in a good sense). All in all, a well spent few hours. ( )
  JohnGrant1 | Aug 11, 2013 |
Original review from May 2006

Have you noticed my fir?' asked the professor. Jessica, emerging from the sparse and anonymous forests of her imaginings, misunderstood him. Fur? Was he speaking of his own body hair? Was he perhaps a werewolf? Or was he drawing attention to some unappreciated mink, ocelot or garment of beaver?
'. . . planted it years ago,' he was saying. 'Whipped off the tinsel and the gewgaws, stuck it in the garden and now it's nearly sixty feet tall.'


An innkeeper on a remote Scottish island advertises a Christmas break for people who want to get away from the holiday season and five people turn up; a famous actress, an unknown actor, an elderly widower, a recently-divorced psychoanalyst and a shop manager.

I like this author's books - they're nice and short, the stories go in unexpected directions, and they usually have a touch of the uncanny about them.

Re-read for the Motley Fool online Book Club (Dec 2012/Jan 2013):

No-one else seemed to enjoy "The Inn at the Edge of the World", which I nominated because it's the only book with a Christmas setting that I own.

On re-reading it I found it quite old-fashioned, like a Muriel Spark book but without as many laughs. I've read a couple of the author's other books and they have the same kind of feel too.

I had forgotten about Mabel's webbed fingers until they were mentioned at the end. So it's probably because of her that they were really drawn to the island, rather than because of Eric's desire to run a country pub. I guess that's why she likes fur coats too. ( )
4 vote isabelx | Apr 17, 2011 |
"They change the skies, but not their minds, who sail across the seas."

Written with a deceptive lightness, and at turns funny, sweet, deep, and sad. Reading it made me think of precious things I have lost and fear to lose, and made me happy. 10.10.07

Recommended ( )
5 vote ben_a | Oct 11, 2007 |
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Epigraph
"It is not given to the Seal People to be ever content . . . for their land - longings shall be sea - longings and their sea - longings shall be land - longings."
Dedication
For Stephanie
First words
"The island mentality", said Eric.
Quotations
The room at the end of the passage made Eric think of an orphanage, or perhaps a lunatic asylum, full as it was of unwanted things, or things that had lost their purpose. Most of them had been abandoned by the previous owner and some of them seem to have been constructed by someone whose mind was wandering at the time. What, for instance, was the conical object formed of pink, quilted plastic? Somebody must have found himself in possession of a piece of pink, quilted plastic and made it into a cone. But why? Eric lifted it from the stained divan on which it reposed and trod on it, but its maker had given it a substructure of steel and he merely dented the plastic. (page 24-25)
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Five strangers gather at Eric's inn on a remote Hebridean island after he advertises in the London weeklies for "Christmas at the edge of the world." Harry, a military widower, is fascinated by General Gordon and the last days of Khartoum. Jessica is a voice-over artist and actress. Jon is a vain actor who is dangerously obsessed with Jessica. Anita, a salesperson in the stationary department of a store and, Ronald, a psychoanalyst who is pining for the cooking and domestic skills of his recently departed wife. Each has their own reasons for escaping the usual festivities, but the refuge of the island is complicated as Eric's wife Mabel flounces out at the last minute and the locals and visitors mingle and clash. A beautifully timed comic novel with a hint of the supernatural.

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