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The Greatcoat (2012)

by Helen Dunmore(Favorite Author)

3.03 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0099564939 (ISBN13: 9780099564935)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Hammer

review 1: This is a different sort of ghost story. It follows the lives of a young married couple, Philip and Isabel who have just moved into their first rented flat. I felt for Isabel trying to escape the boredom of her days, not allowed to go out to work, stuck in a cold flat with no friends, whilst Philip went out to work, doing long hours as a doctor. After her discovery of the Greatcoat in the cupboard brings about the appearance of its long dead owner - Alec - it is hardly surprising that, after the initial alarm at finding a man at her window in the middle of the night, she lets him into her life. I didn't feel that Alec was a particularly sinister or threatening ghost until one moment almost at the end. And for most of the novel Isabel seems to accept him as part of her worl... mored without questioning where he comes from. The novel merges the past and the present so the characters get sucked into each other's worlds. At times even Alec appears confused and at times Isabel is able to stay in his world even when he isn't there. Unusually, the ghost has an actual physical presence. I enjoyed the novel, it was well-written and atmospheric, but I would have liked to have been more scared.
review 2: This is a perfect little ghost story. I read it in one sitting. It is the story of Isobel, the wife of a doctor, newly wed and isolated. It takes place in 1952 in a British village that housed one of many airstrips during the war, which is fresh in everyone's minds. Isobel finds a RAF greatcoat in the cupboard of her bedroom. It actually belongs to her landlady who lives upstairs. Isobel does not like the landlady who seems to be too nosy and spends all her time pacing back and forth above them. I recommend this book to anyone to read anytime, but Halloween might be the most appropriate. less

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