Dear Child (UK Double Signed & Numbered Copy)
by Romy Hausmann
- Used
- Hardcover
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- Very Fine/Very Fine
- ISBN 10
- 1529401445
- ISBN 13
- 9781529401448
- Seller
-
Hull, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Quercus, 2020. First Edition, First Printing. Hardback. Very Fine/Very Fine. The Book is very fine, square, tight and unread. It is unmarked, with clean pages, free of inscriptions or marks. The book has been signed by the author and the translator (Jamie Bulloch) directly on to the special tipped-in limitation page. It is numbered (174 of 250). The Dust Jacket is very fine, unfaded, unclipped (£12.99) and is free of rips, tears or marks. First Edition, First Printing - Signed by the author. All our books are covered with a clear, removable, chemically inert, protective wrapper before being securely bubble wrapped and dispatched in strong corrugated cardboard boxes.
Reviews
Dear Child is the third novel by best-selling German author, Romy Hausmann. It's a hit-and-run car accident that brings unconscious Lena and her daughter, Hannah, to the hospital emergency department in Cham. As Lena is treated, Sister Ruth talks to Hannah. What she learns from this poised, controlled young girl sets off alarm bells: within a short time, a late-night call is made to parents in Munich.
Matthias Beck and his wife, Karin immediately set out for Cham, near the Czech border: even waiting until morning is too long to find out if the woman is their daughter, their Lena, missing for almost fourteen years. Police are searching for an isolated cabin in the woods, and a boy called Jonathan: Hannah's brother. Will Matthias and Karin finally have an answer?
There are three narrative strands: Matthias gives the perspective of the heart-broken father who has never stopped searching; Jasmin's is a second-person narrative addressed to Lena and details some of her ordeal; Hannah's words, with dictionary definitions, encyclopaedic facts, rules and schedules, but also glimpses of violence, succinctly illustrates the conditions under which Lena and her children lived in the cabin in the woods.
Of course, it quickly becomes apparent that Hannah is an unreliable narrator, including what are clearly fantasies, and not revealing all she knows. Some of what she says will leave the reader gasping. Nor can Matthias be completely relied upon, while Jasmin's mental state after her escape also affects her perceptions.
What a brilliantly-plotted, twisty tale Hausmann gives the reader! There are plenty of red herrings keep the reader guessing until the final chapters, and even after the dramatic denouement, there are more surprises in store. Hausmann describes the power of the media to colour the public perception of an incident by questioning the virtue of the victim, and also demonstrates how powerlessness can drastically influence the choices one makes. A gripping and thought-provoking read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Quercus
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Details
- Bookseller
- Just Fiction Books (GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 18502
- Title
- Dear Child (UK Double Signed & Numbered Copy)
- Author
- Romy Hausmann
- Format/Binding
- Hardback
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Very Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition, First Printing
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10
- 1529401445
- ISBN 13
- 9781529401448
- Publisher
- Quercus
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 2020
- Bookseller catalogs
- Crime & Thrillers;
Terms of Sale
Just Fiction Books
All shipments to UK addresses are sent via an appropriate Royal Mail service, that will include tracking and require a signature on delivery.
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About the Seller
Just Fiction Books
About Just Fiction Books
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.