Author:Rose Tremain
Joseph and Harriet Blackstone emigrate from Norfolk to New Zealand in search of new beginnings and prosperity. But the harsh land near Christchurch threatens to destroy them almost before they begin. When Joseph finds gold in the creek he is seized by a rapturous obsession with the voluptuous riches awaiting him deep in the earth. Abandoning his farm and family, he sets off alone for the new gold-fields over the Southern Alps, a moral wilderness where many others, under the seductive dreams of 'the colour', are violently rushing to their destinies.
By turns both moving and terrifying, The Colour is about a quest for the impossible, an attempt to mine the complexities of love and explore the sacrifices to be made in the pursuit of happiness.
Tremain is a magnificent storyteller with an enormous story to tell
—— Independent on SundayThis is a writer whose breadth of imagination and supple prose transcend the genre: she is one of the finest writers in England
—— Daily TelegraphTremain has produced her own wondrous piece of gold
—— ScotsmanA fabulous work, bravely imaginative, deeply moving, surprising, invigorating and satisfying
—— IndependentThis is a beautifully crafted book - at once a gripping adventure story and a compelling portrayal of human emotion at its bravest and its most vulnerable
—— EconomistThe Colour is the produce of a large and generous talent, generous in its giving of enjoyment
—— Financial TimesAn engrossing novel, an adventure story with a sensitive side
—— ObserverThe Colour is a measured book, a diligent, painstaking book
—— Sunday TelegraphShe is a magical storyteller - it is as an artist that she excels
—— New StatesmanBrilliantly detailed and textured
—— Daily MailTremain is the finest of historical fiction writers
—— Gloss‘Getting inside a living person’s head sounds like a colossally bad idea, but Sittenfeld makes it convincing here, just as she did with a character based on First Lady Laura Bush in her 2008 novel, AMERICAN WIFE’
—— BBC CULTUREDeviously clever . . . Sittenfeld’s Hillary is both a player in the Game of Thrones and a romance novel heroine. She’s a brilliant badass who has found her voice and knows how to use it. She’s whoever she wants to be
—— THE OPRAH MAGAZINEAs Hillary finds her groove, so the momentum and entertainment builds, as does your admiration for how ingeniously and plausibly Sittenfeld has re-written the script
—— DAILY MAILA counterfactual novel ... throbs with energy
—— TLSA fascinating glimpse into an alternative future
—— DAILY MIRRORPacy... plenty of sex and gossip - and a cameo from a certain yellow-haired, orange-faced president-to-be... ripe for TV adaptation
—— SUNDAY TELEGRAPHA brilliantly smart re-imagining
—— WOMAN AND HOMESittenfeld's writing is so fine, her characters so vivid, her empathy so profound that she manages to absorb the reader on a level that transcends partisanship. In 2020, that was a remarkable achievement and an enormous gift to her readers
—— THE NEW YORKERIt ends up being a love letter to a type: the female intellectual, who is given none of the licence of her less talented male peers. At the end, i found myself saying Oh My God
—— OBSERVERA triumphant feminist reinvention. Sittenfeld is the bard of presidential female adjacents
—— VOGUERODHAM is wide- ranging political anthropology, concerned not so much with what makes Hillary tick as it is with the culture around her and how she might have shaped events, and been shaped by them, if the pieces of reality's jigsaw were rearranged just so. It's stippled with clever mischief
—— NEW YORK TIMESA smartly structured character study and a stay- up- all- night plot . . . A captivating and durable story containing rooms within rooms. RODHAM turns into a high- speed bildungsroman about a woman of formidable intellect and self- insight.
—— THE LOS ANGELES TIMESIt's the genius of Sittenfeld's prose that we come to understand this ambivalence,as well as the deep conflicts in this complicated character. In the longing and loneliness, the anger as well as ambition, this Hillary makes RODHAM a compelling portrait of a future that might have been.
—— THE BOSTON GLOBETantalizing . . . part thought experiment, part wish- fulfillment fantasy . . . delectably discussable, a book tailor- made for book clubs.
—— USA TODAYWildly compelling . . . What RODHAM is interested in is examining what feminine ambition looks like when it is untethered from a man. . . . Sittenfeld is free to invent, and the reality she builds is deliciously dishy.
—— VOXThought-provoking and compelling
—— SUNDAY EXPRESSA moving feat of feminist and novelistic imagination
—— THE TABLETFrom this memorable novel's eerie first paragraph to its enigmatic ending, Laura van den Berg has invented something beautiful indeed
—— LA TimesThis is one of my favorite novels of 2015, and we’re not even IN 2015 yet . . .The language is beautiful, spare, and carefully crafted, and the characters are fully realized and unforgettable. There is tension and redemption and insight and even humor in these pages, and they make for a really incredible read
—— BookriotSurreal adventures blend with a reflective and sad sensibility in van den Berg’s lyrical debut novel
—— Library JournalBoth novels offer precision of language and metaphor and scene even as what is being constructed feels messy, chaotic, sad, hopeless... Both orphaned and alone in the world, both so completely real, both telling a story that feels important and exciting to read. I feel lucky to have stumbled upon these books this year, and challenged by them to be better
—— The MillionsThis debut novel by acclaimed short story writer van den Berg tends to lean much closer to the realms of literary fiction with its complex psychology. . . Van den Berg's writing is curiously beautiful
—— Kirkusa strange beauty in this apocalyptic tale
—— Psychologies