Suvarna Garge (Editor)

The Observations

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Language
  
English

Media type
  
Print

ISBN
  
0-571-22335-4

Author
  
Publisher
  
Faber and Faber

Publication date
  
06 Apr 2006

Pages
  
432

Originally published
  
6 April 2006

Page count
  
432

Country
  
United Kingdom

The Observations httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaenthumbc

Similar
  
Works by Jane Harris, Other books

Jane harris reading from the observations


The Observations, is the debut novel by English author Jane Harris published in 2006 and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2007. It was Waterstones book of the month and Faber & Faber's lead debut fiction title for spring 2006 (with its biggest ever initial print run for a first book).

Contents

It was published in the UK by Faber and Faber, in the US by Penguin, and in Australia/New Zealand by Allen & Unwin. It has been published in the Netherlands, Italy, Denmark, Greece, Spain, Germany, Norway, Poland, France, Portugal, Sweden and Brazil. It is due to be published in Israel, Serbia and Montenegro, Romania, Croatia, Russia, Turkey.. An audiobook version is available, narrated by the author. There is also a Danish audiobook version.

Plot introduction

Set in Scotland in 1863, is narrated by the lively, sharp Bessy Buckley, who leaves Glasgow and happens into a job as a maid at Castle Haivers.

Arabella, her mistress, encourages Bessy to write her thoughts and experiences in a journal. She also subjects Bessy to odd experiments, but Bessy goes along with them because she is flattered by the attention and quickly grows attached to her mistress.

Things change when Bessy snoops in Arabella's locked desk and discovers the book Arabella has been writing, The Observations, a study of the "habits and nature of the Domestic Class."

Bessy is incensed to read criticisms of herself in the account, and also learns of Arabella's affection for one of her predecessors, a girl who died under mysterious circumstances.

Bessy concocts a revenge that ends up having consequences far more lasting than she ever envisioned …

Reception

  • Kirkus Reviews says "Harris’s story, though light on plot, is rich in character, its strength deriving almost wholly from Bessy’s irrepressible and ripe narrative voice. A helter-skelter conclusion combines farce (Arabella escapes confinement and beats with a shovel the pompous cleric responsible for Nora’s downfall), tragedy (another death on the railway line) and moral improvement (Bessy’s virtues recognized), takes a few sideswipes at the publishing business and still leaves the door open for what Bessy might do next." and concludes "Rollicking and engaging. A confident, fresh, roguishly charming first work"
  • Catherine Taylor writing in The Independent also praises Bessy's narrative voice. "The supreme controller of this sumptuous narrative is Bessy herself, arch manipulator to the end, as she - and Harris - effortlessly show how compelling a rattling good story can be".
  • Joanna Briscoe, in The Guardian continues the theme, "Jane Harris has pulled off a difficult trick, showing the heart behind the tart with genuine and affecting empathy, cleverly undercutting preconceptions that the character has, at least on the surface, fulfilled. The beleaguered but spirited protagonist's emotions are suppressed, hinted at, and beautifully described in a series of stories within stories built on shifting realities as deception is met with counter-deception. Despite the easy comparisons, this is a true one-off."
  • Awards

  • Prix du Premier Roman – France (2009)
  • Waterstone's Book of the Month (April 2006)
  • USA Book of the Month Club's First Fiction Prize (2007)
  • Waterstone's 25 Authors for the Future
  • Shortlistings

  • The Orange Prize for Fiction (2007)
  • British Book Awards, Newcomer of the Year (2007)
  • South Bank Show / Times Breakthrough Award (2007)
  • The Saltire Society, First Book of the Year (2006)
  • Glen Dimplex New Writers Award (2006)
  • References

    The Observations Wikipedia


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