Photo de l'auteur

Joanna O'Neill (1)

Auteur de A World Invisible

Pour les autres auteurs qui s'appellent Joanna O'Neill, voyez la page de désambigüisation.

4 oeuvres 40 utilisateurs 17 critiques 1 Favoris

Œuvres de Joanna O'Neill

A World Invisible (2008) 24 exemplaires
A World Denied (2010) 7 exemplaires
The Stranger Bookshop (2014) 7 exemplaires
A World Possessed (2011) 2 exemplaires

Étiqueté

Partage des connaissances

Nom canonique
O'Neill, Joanna
Nom légal
O'Neill, Joanna
Sexe
female
Nationalité
UK
Lieux de résidence
West Woodburn, Northumberland, England, UK

Membres

Critiques

I loved it. I loved the viewpoint that it was written from. I loved the mix of characters. The storyline kept me guessing the whole time.
I've been reading a few books lately, written from an older viewpoint, and its been quite refreshing to be honest.
The book made me want to run out and buy my own quaint bookshop!
The various storylines wove well into each other, and I felt that it ended on a nice high.
As a nod to the author, I've already bought another one of her books!
Keep writing. I look forward to reading 'A World Invisible'!… (plus d'informations)
 
Signalé
Kiwimrsmac | 3 autres critiques | Nov 29, 2017 |
This is a first novel for this author, I will be looking out for more from her.

Set in the realm of contemporary England, three distantly related people are brought together by an ancient puzzle which must be solved in order to keep two dimensions separate. They find that they are not the only ones with knowledge of the puzzle and it is a race to see who can get there first. What they will do when they get there?

I enjoyed this read quite a lot, even though the characters were lacking in warmth. I had the feeling that the author was trying to emphasize their "otherness," but it made them hard to cheer for. There was so much in this story which I wish had gone deeper and further. I'm thinking the author has more books in this world planned. Some intriguing characters had barely a page, and much was left unsaid and unexplained. Even so, the world and idea was terrific and kept me thinking about it when I was unable to read.… (plus d'informations)
½
 
Signalé
MrsLee | 10 autres critiques | Jun 15, 2016 |
I discovered the author Joanna O’Neill in April of 2010 and read her trilogy consisting of
A World Invisible, A World Denied and A World Possessed – a most interesting set of novels about parallel worlds – as they were published. Since that trilogy was so good, I could hardly wait for her next book, hoping that it would be of the same quality. I now have finished reading The Stranger Bookshop. It did not disappoint.

On the front cover is the question, “When is a ghost not a ghost?” I could tell you, but it would spoil the fun. This book is hard to review because there are so many little twists and turns that to tell you all the fascinating things in it would involve so many spoilers you needn’t read the book.

The plot is about a young woman who inherits two bookshops, sells one and keeps the other. The one she keeps is closely associated with and used to be the home of Edith Waterfield. That is actually only part of the plot, which is divided into “Then,” “Now” and “Once.” In spite of the three different time periods, there is no difficulty in following the storyline when alternating between them.

Edith lived with her sisters, Ruth and Lillian. They lived alone in the large house, all the brothers, except Edward, having been killed during World War I. They were among the many “surplus” women living in the village of Ravensburn in Northumberland. The story is partly about the courting of the sisters by young men, none of whom Edith cared for, but Lillian married Billy, whose face was badly mangled during the war. It was so bad that he had to wear a mask. Edith never married but “lived in sin” with John – a dream if there ever was one. Ruth moved away from the family home.

Edith was an aspiring author and worked on her book as often as she could. She was not the homemaker type, though her sisters performed domestic tasks. They had a helper, but she drowned and circumstances deteriorated from there on. Edith did try her hand at making a quilt, but the stitches weren’t even, so she never finished the quilt. By the time the bookshop changed hands, Edith had become a famous author of mostly children’s books, as she had written only one book for adults.

Bryony, the owner of the bookshop, and Rosalind, her helper are quite different; or so they think. Their meeting is rather strange. Perhaps serendipitous would be a better word, for it is indeed that.

Saying much more would give away too much of the story. The characters are a mixed bunch. You will love some and dislike some. The mysteries keep coming and eventually are solved, though the last one is not solved until the very end. It’s like when you pull on a loose string, and the whole sweater unravels. The Stranger Bookshop is well-written and easy to read. I recommend it highly and give it five out of five stars.
… (plus d'informations)
 
Signalé
Boobalack | 3 autres critiques | Jun 5, 2014 |
Cette critique a été rédigée pour LibraryThing Member Giveaways.
Lovely book really engaging storyline and characters with good twists and turns I would highly recommend this book as I could not put it down!
 
Signalé
maximeg | 3 autres critiques | May 6, 2014 |

Statistiques

Œuvres
4
Membres
40
Popularité
#370,100
Évaluation
4.1
Critiques
17
ISBN
10
Favoris
1