'A compulsive page-turner. Fuller creates an atmosphere of simmering menace with all the assurance of a latter-day Daphne du Maurier'-The Times
From the attic of a dilapidated English country house,she sees them - Cara first: dark and beautiful,clinging to a marble fountain of Cupid,and Peter,an Apollo. It is 1969 and they are spending the summer in the rooms below hers while Frances writes a report on the follies in the garden for the absent American owner. But she is distracted. Beneath a floorboard in her bathroom,she discovers a peephole which gives her access to her neighbours'private lives.
To Frances'surprise,Cara and Peter are keen to spend time with her. It is the first occasion that she has had anybody to call a friend,and before long they are spending every day together: eating lavish dinners,drinking bottle after bottle of wine,and smoking cigarettes till the ash piles up on the crumbling furniture. Frances is dazzled.
But as the hot summer rolls lazily on,it becomes clear that not everything is right between Cara and Peter. The stories that Cara tells don't quite add up - and as Frances becomes increasingly entangled in the lives of the glamorous,hedonistic couple,the boundaries between truth and lies,right and wrong,begin to blur. Amid the decadence of that summer,a small crime brings on a bigger one: a crime so terrible that it will brand all their lives forever.
Publisher: Penguin Books LtdISBN: 9780241983461Number of pages: 288Weight: 660 gDimensions: 196 x 128 x 24 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'Rich and compelling. Fuller is an accomplished writer'- The Observer
'Heady,claustrophobic... makes for perfect heatwave reading. Echoes Penelope Lively's Booker-winning Moon Tiger,Anita Brookner's Look At Me,and Sarah Waters'-The Little Stranger,Independent
'...darkly smouldering,desperately sad,superior psychological thriller contains shades of Zoe Heller's Notes On A Scandal'- The Daily Mail
'It is rare for me to put down a novel and then immediately consider rereading it to see what cleverness I might have missed. This time,though,I am tempted.'- Lucy Atkins,The Sunday Times
'Atmospheric. Rich,clever and very readable.'- Amanda Craig,The Telegraph
'A delicate and disturbing read,alive with love,lust,envy and guilt'- S Magazine
'Bitter Orange reads like an assured,old-school,du Maurieresque classic. It's an atmospheric page-turner that speeds us towards a bloody climax of shocks and surprises'- Irish Times
'Sinister and suspenseful,this gothic novel simmers with guilt,lust and envy'- The Mail on Sunday
'Bewitching,otherworldly... full of dark foreboding. Claire Fuller is a dazzling storyteller.'- The Scotsman
'A compulsive page-turner. Fuller creates an atmosphere of simmering menace with all the assurance of a latter-day Daphne du Maurier'- The Times
''A rich,dark pressure cooker of a novel that simmers with slow heat and suppressed tension'- Ruth Ware
'An exquisite and skilfully written novel,which worms its way under your skin while Frances's loneliness seeps off every page'- Red
'Fuller is a master at summoning the atmosphere of a heady,hot summer that thrums with tension'- Stylist
'Multi-layered,lush,twisty and brilliantly clever'- The Sunday Mirror
'A smart creation from a skilled writer: a heady psychological novel that builds its layers carefully to allow gradual revelations and stomach-churning surprises'- The Financial Times
'Full of complex characters and narrative richness'- The Sunday Times Culture
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