Mary George of Allnorthover [Hardcover]

Lavinia Greenlaw (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 9, 2001

This is the story of a teenager at several turning points in her life -- a richly detailed and suspenseful novel about various kinds of courtship gone wrong. The day Tom Hepple returns to the English village of Allnorthover, he stops at the local reservoir, beneath which lies his childhood home. Looking for a sign, he sees a girl walking on water. Not just any girl -- it is Mary George, an uncommonly sympathetic seventeen-year-old, who seems at first to be more important to others than she is to herself. As nearsighted Mary tries to locate herself in the world, struggling with growing up, falling in love, and breaking away, Tom makes her the focus of his attempt to regain his past. Secrets and misapprehensions surface as the village reveals its stories and unwittingly helps Tom toward the catastrophic conclusion of his plan.
MARY GEORGE OF ALLNORTHOVER takes place in Essex in the 1970s -- a small, orderly world disrupted by power cuts, petrol shortages, and drought. The brash color and noise of punk rock is infiltrating the disco in the village hall, and London is getting closer all the time. Mary George is as caught up in all this change as she is in her own history. Her story brings to new life the great themes of family, property, inheritance, and belonging. The traditions of the nineteenth-century novel are both adhered to and subverted in Lavinia Greenlaw's remarkable first book of prose.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Precise, lyrical prose distinguishes London poet Greenlaw's haunting debut novel, set in a dying English country village in the 1970s. British reticence and punk music provide the backdrop for the story of 17-year-old Mary George, a young woman growing up without direction. When Tom Hepple, a local who has spent the last decade in psychiatric care, returns to Allnorthover, he seeks out his childhood home, long since buried under the town's reservoir. An optical trick leads him to believe that he sees Mary walking on water above his home, a belief spurred by both his mental turmoil and the burden of family trauma. Although Tom's twin brother and other of his family members try to deflect Tom's obsession, he compulsively pursues the girl. Meanwhile, Mary simply tries to remain invisible as she contends with her own insecurities. Both of her parents are off-kilter: her architect father lives like a recluse outside town, and her mother pleads with Mary to remember her father's indiscretions and his past dealings with the Hepples (referring to a scandal that the reader learns about only gradually) while assuring her of Tom's harmlessness. Mary is also figuring out how to belong to a family, to a group of friends, to a boyfriend and her search dredges up further secrets and class tensions. At town festivals and rave shows, the pre-goth Mary and a band of sympathetic characters move slowly in different directions, but also toward an inexorable and tragic denouement. Greenlaw sets her secret-filled story in a meticulously realistic setting a village where all the families are intertwined by shared history and where fuel shortages and power cuts signal the disruption that will follow. Rights sold in Germany and the Netherlands.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In the 1970s, Mary George is a typical teenager living with her mother, Stella, in the small English village Allnorthover. She rarely sees her father, who divorced Stella when Mary was four. As the novel opens, Mary, returning from an all-night party, reverts to a childhood pastime and walks along a tree branch that overhangs the local water reservoir. Her balancing act is witnessed by Tom Hepple, a local madman. Now Tom believes that Mary has walked on water and that she is an angel who will show him how to reclaim his family home, which lies beneath the water. Soon the village is aware of his obsession with Mary. Mary, who is experiencing all of the normal teenage angst first serious boyfriend, part-time jobs, and the history of her parents' divorce simply tries to avoid Tom; however, a collision is unavoidable. Greenlaw describes the village and its inhabitants in fine detail, portraying ancient feuds and family histories as the villagers interact with Tom, Mary, and one another. This first novel is a moving exploration of Mary's maturation into adulthood. Recommended for larger public libraries. Cheryl L. Conway, Univ. of Arkansas Lib., Fayetteville
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company; None edition (July 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618095233
• ISBN-13: 978-0618095230
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,712,274 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Tale, October 22, 2002

By 

Elizabeth Hendry (New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mary George of Allnorthover (Hardcover)

Mary George of Allnorthover is an unique coming-of0age novel with a unique protagonist. Mary Beorge, a young girl growing up in a small British town in the 1970s tries to deal with here parents' separation, boys, the mysteries of her own past and Tom, a local man fresh from institutionalization who believes she can walk on water. Mary is definitely on the brink of something--she can see it and we can see it--and like most teens, she is desperately trying to determine what that is, where she fits in, who her friends should be. The novel is beautifully written, if a little slow, but still very well done.