Starred review from January 23, 2012
Set in the English countryside in the aftermath of WWII, this quietly compelling sixth novel from Cameron (The Weekend) focuses on the story of the eponymous heroine, Coral, a nurse, sent to Hart House in 1950 to tend the dying Mrs. Hart. With great efficiency, Cameron introduces the other players: Mrs. Hart’s son, Maj. Clement Hart, an embittered veteran wounded in the war; his friend Robin Lofting; the brittle, disapproving housekeeper, Mrs. Prense. But after Mrs. Hart dies, and Major Hart proposes to Coral, this seemingly well-realized homage to the postwar British novel quickly turns almost gothic. Walking in a forest near Hart House, Coral comes across a young girl tied to a tree. She’s being pelted with pinecones by a young boy in a game they call Prisoner. Though she insists they stop, Coral takes no other action; the young girl is later murdered in the same forest; and suspicion—bizarrely—falls upon Coral. The book is suffused with a lonely sadness and an aura of the surreal, and the many dramatic events in Coral’s life are entirely plausible thanks to Cameron’s skill as a storyteller. Agent: Irene Skolnick, the Irene Skolnick Literary Agency.
Starred review from May 28, 2012
Set during the 1950s in a dark, dreary “mausoleum” of a mansion, Cameron’s novel follows the titular Coral Glynn as she arrives at Hart House to nurse the terminally ill Mrs. Hart, who lives with her son, Maj. Clement Hart, and their rigid housekeeper. But soon disaster strikes, and Coral and Clement find their relationship changing in unexpected ways. Simon Prebble provides charming, unassuming narration in this captivating audio edition. He also lends the characters a variety of spot-on voices and accents. He provides Clement—a war-worn, physically damaged, middle-aged man—with a brusque yet kind voice, while also rendering lower-class dialects for servants and shopkeepers. The result is a captivating audiobook that will keep listeners engaged until the very end. A Farrar, Straus and Giroux hardcover.