Uncle Paul
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€17.99
Uncle Paul (1959) was Celia Fremlin's second novel, and consolidated the success of her suspenseful debut The Hours Before Dawn. Fifteen years ago Uncle Paul was exposed as a murderer by his wife Mildred, and sent to prison. Now a seaside holiday for Mildred's half-sister Isabel and her family seems to be the venue for Uncle Paul's revenge. Mildred arrives at a lonely cottage near to Isabel's caravan site, and Isabel's urgent summons to her sister Meg brings the three women together to play out a drama of fear and suspicion, betrayal and revenge. "Beautifully played out to a startling and valid ending...Fremlin is here to stay as a major mistress of insight and suspense". (New York Times). "Fremlin puts a keen edge on the reader's curiosity and keeps it there ...the writing is so good throughout". (Times Literary Supplement).
CELIA FREMLIN (1914 - 2009) was born in Kent and spent her childhood in Hertfordshire. She then studied at Oxford whilst working as a charwoman. During World War Two, she served as an air-raid warden before becoming involved with the Mass Observation Project, collaborating on a study of women workers, War Factory. In 1942 she married Elia Goller, moved to Hampstead and had three children. In 1968, their youngest daughter committed suicide aged nineteen; a month later, her husband also killed himself. In the wake of these tragedies, Fremlin briefly relocated to Geneva. In 1985, she married Leslie Minchin, with whom she lived until his death in 1999. Over four decades, Fremlin wrote sixteen celebrated novels, one book of poetry and three story collections. Her debut, The Hours Before Dawn, won the Edgar Award in 1960.