No catches, no fine print just unadulterated book loving, with your favourite books saved to your own digital bookshelf.
New members get entered into our monthly draw to win £100 to spend in your local bookshop Plus lots lots more…
Find out more
Helen Dunmore was the author of fourteen novels. Her first, Zennor in Darkness, explored the events which led to D H Lawrence’s expulsion from Cornwall (on suspicion of spying) during the First World War. It won the McKitterick Prize. Her third novel, A Spell of Winter, won the inaugural Orange Prize, now the Baileys Prize for Women’s Fiction. Her bestselling novel The Siege, set during the Siege of Leningrad, was described by Antony Beevor as ‘a world-class novel’ and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel of the Year and the Orange Prize.
Helen Dunmore’s work has been translated into more than thirty languages and she was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She died in June 2017.
Author photo © Caroline Forbes
At once lyrical and sparse, intimate and expansive, delicate and sharp, this collection is the final work of a late, great writer who understood and articulated the subtle complexities of the human heart in each of her novels, poems and stories. The themes here will be familiar to Dunmore aficionados – friendship, family, folk at life’s liminal junctures. Take Nina, whose tales portray a young woman teetering into a new phase of life. She’s a naïve and lonely seventeen-year-old living in a drab bedsit, unsure of what to do, but making do and on the brink - one hopes - of finding her place in the world. Indeed, many of these stories explore life’s big transitions, and how individuals live with such precariousness, as in “A Night Out”, a life-affirming tale of two widows’ unforeseen unity beneath the stars. There’s much tenderness too, characters who awaken affection, a personal favourite being glorious Auntie Binnie, an unassuming companion to an old lady who blooms as an artist later in life (“Portrait of Auntie Binbag, with Ribbons”). While Dunmore’s devotees will adore this treasure, I’d also recommend it wholeheartedly as an introduction to her exquisite writing.
At once lyrical and sparse, intimate and expansive, delicate and sharp, this collection is the final work of a late, great writer who understood and articulated the subtle complexities of the human heart in each of her novels, poems and stories. The themes here will be familiar to Dunmore aficionados – friendship, family, folk at life’s liminal junctures. Take Nina, whose tales portray a young woman teetering into a new phase of life. She’s a naïve and lonely seventeen-year-old living in a drab bedsit, unsure of what to do, but making do and on the brink - one hopes - of finding her place in the world. Indeed, many of these stories explore life’s big transitions, and how individuals live with such precariousness, as in “A Night Out”, a life-affirming tale of two widows’ unforeseen unity beneath the stars. There’s much tenderness too, characters who awaken affection, a personal favourite being glorious Auntie Binnie, an unassuming companion to an old lady who blooms as an artist later in life (“Portrait of Auntie Binbag, with Ribbons”). While Dunmore’s devotees will adore this treasure, I’d also recommend it wholeheartedly as an introduction to her exquisite writing.
A breathtaking, evocative, and stormy tale set in the early 1790’s, just as the fallout from the French Revolution was spilling over into life in Britain. Lizzie Fawkes, daughter of a radical thinker and writer, has settled in Bristol and married a property developer, a man who has the vision to see a parade of buildings in the air, yet fights inner demons. Can Lizzie find her voice as an uncertain life rattles the caged bars of her husband’s will? Helen Dunmore creates a dark and intimate tale within a momentous time, a tense foreboding hovers and slowly sinks over the story, a feeling of inevitability steals across the pages. The writing, through the beautifully detailed description, transported me to the banks of the gorge, to the terrace as it grew out of the mud, to the general everyday life of the time. ‘Birdcage Walk’ is a captivating tale, at times sinister and eerie, yet hope flutters free and somehow manages to keep afloat. ~ Liz Robinson
To be alive is to be inside the wave, always travelling until it breaks and is gone. These poems are concerned with the borderline between the living and the dead - the underworld and the human living world - and the exquisitely intense being of both. They possess a spare, eloquent lyricism as they explore the bliss and anguish of the voyage. Inside the Wave is Helen Dunmore's first new poetry book since The Malarkey (2012), whose title-poem won the National Poetry Competition. Her other books include Glad of These Times (2007), and Out of the Blue: Poems 1975-2001 (2001), a comprehensive selection drawing on seven previous collections. Her final poem, 'Hold out your arms', written shortly before her death and not included in the first printing of Inside the Wave, has now been added to the reprint.
March 2017 Book of the Month. A breathtaking, evocative, and stormy tale set in the early 1790’s, just as the fallout from the French Revolution was spilling over into life in Britain. Lizzie Fawkes, daughter of a radical thinker and writer, has settled in Bristol and married a property developer, a man who has the vision to see a parade of buildings in the air, yet fights inner demons. Can Lizzie find her voice as an uncertain life rattles the caged bars of her husband’s will? Helen Dunmore creates a dark and intimate tale within a momentous time, a tense foreboding hovers and slowly sinks over the story, a feeling of inevitability steals across the pages. The writing, through the beautifully detailed description, transported me to the banks of the gorge, to the terrace as it grew out of the mud, to the general everyday life of the time. ‘Birdcage Walk’ is a captivating tale, at times sinister and eerie, yet hope flutters free and somehow manages to keep afloat. ~ Liz Robinson
A wonderfully tense and arresting Cold War relationship tale, stuffed full to the brim with suspense. Set in 1960, couple Lily and Simon become caught in an unbelievably powerful web of lies. Normal everyday life intermingles with the hidden, and secrets are set to be exposed as the story slips with subtlety along the edge of an uncertain path. Some of the characters are not necessarily likeable, others are positively loathsome, but they all feel so very real. Helen Dunmore handles the intrigue with a masterly hand, hints and suggestions slither and slide through the story, creating uneasiness and suspicion. It is the small but not insignificant things that really bring this tale to life, the descriptions and the feelings create a vibrant ring of truth. ‘Exposure’ is an evocative, thrilling tale that I recommend setting aside some quality time for, once I started reading, I simply didn't want to stop. ~ Liz Robinson August 2016 Book of the Month.
February 2016 Book of the Month. A wonderfully tense and arresting Cold War relationship tale, stuffed full to the brim with suspense. Set in 1960, couple Lily and Simon become caught in an unbelievably powerful web of lies. Normal everyday life intermingles with the hidden, and secrets are set to be exposed as the story slips with subtlety along the edge of an uncertain path. Some of the characters are not necessarily likeable, others are positively loathsome, but they all feel so very real. Helen Dunmore handles the intrigue with a masterly hand, hints and suggestions slither and slide through the story, creating uneasiness and suspicion. It is the small but not insignificant things that really bring this tale to life, the descriptions and the feelings create a vibrant ring of truth. ‘Exposure’ is an evocative, thrilling tale that I recommend setting aside some quality time for, once I started reading, I simply didn't want to stop. ~ Liz Robinson
January 2014 eBook of the Month. Shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize 2015. A tale rooted in the sadness of the effect of World War I on those who returned. We are going to get a lot of these in this centenary year. This one is from a very fine writer indeed. It tells of Daniel, a poor village boy, trying to forge a life while damaged and traumatised, intercepted with flashbacks to the war and to his relationship with a childhood friend. Official guidance information is included which is fascinating and Dunmore’s description of how things smell, the mud, dirt, wounds, men etc. is quite extraordinary. There are several lies and a huge amount of sadness; a most impressive book.
Featured on The Book Show on Sky Arts on 24 February 2011. Betrayal is a powerful and touching novel of ordinary people in the grip of a terrible and sinister regime - 1950s Soviet Union, and a moving portrait of a love that will not be extinguished.
The setting once again for the seventh novel by Helen Dunmore is one of war. The siege refers to the siege of Leningrad during WW2 by the Germans. It draws us deep into the Levin's family struggle to stay alive. It is a story about war and the wounds it inflicts on people's lives. It is also a lyrical and deeply moving celebration of love, life and survival. Incredibly evocative descriptions of the desperate conditions of Lengingrad at the time invade every page and as is the hallmark of every Dunmore novel – incredibly well written.
As the summer ends the autumn mist begins to roll off the water towards Simone’s home, a chilling metaphor for the turn of events which are about to engulf her life. This is a story about relationships and blackmail, past and present lives, intertwined in a haunting, intense thriller. Do not expect the fast pace of a “whodunit” though, this is a novel which slowly and eerily unravels almost as if we are watching in slow motion as each moment effects the next.
Set in dangerous, unfamiliar times at the beginning of the 20th century, which strangely echo our own, the story reveals how terrorism lies hidden within ordinary life, as the rulers of Finland struggle to hold on to power as the Russian Empire exerts its muscle. House of Orphans is the story of a girl, Eeva who has a hint of mysteriousness about her. She’s the daughter of a failed revolutionary, who is sent to a country orphanage before being sent off to work as a servant where she finds love, but is unable to accept it for she feels committed to a boy from a childhood long ago, to whom she must now return. Dunmore has woven an immensely rich, brilliant story of love, history and change.
Dunmore’s strength is in pulling together complex stories in a beautifully poetic language style and yet making the reading easily assimilated. The interconnected threads to the story revolve mainly around loss; a girl left in a shoebox at 2 days old, the death of her daughter years later. In order to understand the story of her life and her loss she listens to stories of the lives of friends and family. Sounds rather morbid but there is great depth to the whole novel that will grab you as you read it.
Shortlisted for the Best of the Orange Best 2010 by the Orange Prize Youth Panel. Winner of the 1996 Orange Prize for Fiction. This is a marvellous novel about forbidden passions and thwarted love by one of the UK's finest writers. A Spell of Winter won the prestigious Orange Prize and deservedly so given its lyrical writing without a word out of place. You'll also be completely captivated by the skilfully crafted characters and by the love story and eventual redemption.
This is Helen Dunmore’s first novel and although some of her later novels have been more widely read and more obvious commercial bestsellers, this one is an outstanding piece of writing that will truly stand the test of time. During World War I, D.H. Lawrence and his wife moved to Cornwall where they became the subject of intense suspicion from the locals and this forms the inspiration for the novel centering on Clare, a young girl who comes under the influence of the Lawrences. Dunmore is superb at evoking characters from the past and yet making you feel relaxed in their company and the situations these characters are found in are captured perfectly as well.
A spellbinding magical adventure. Master storyteller Helen Dunmore writes the story of Sapphire and her brother Conor, and their discovery of INGO, a powerful and exciting world under the sea. You'll find the mermaid of Zennor inside Zennor church. She fell in love with a human, but she was a Mer creature and so she couldn't come to live with him up in the dry air. She swam up the stream to hear him sing, then one day he swam down it and was never seen again. He became one of the Mer people... Sapphire's father told her that story when she was little. When he is lost at sea she can't help but think of that old myth; she's convinced he's still alive. The following summer her brother Conor keeps disappearing for hours on end. She goes to the cove to find him, but instead meets Faro, an enigmatic and intriguing Merman. He takes her to Ingo and introduces her to a world she never knew existed. She must let go of all her Air thoughts and embrace the sea and all things Mer. After her first visit she is entranced - merely the sound of running water makes her yearn to be in Ingo once more. Ingo blood runs strongly in Sapphy and Conor fears she will leave the Air world for good. He pleads with her to ignore her craving for the sea and stay safely in their cottage up on the cliff. But not only is Sapphy intoxicated by the Mer world, she longs to see her father once more. And she's sure she can hear him singing across the water... "e;I wish I was away in IngoFar across the briny sea..."e;
Nominated for the Folio Prize and shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historial Fiction, and the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize. Set during and just after the First World War, The Lie is an enthralling, heart-wrenching novel of love, memory and devastating loss by one of the UK's most acclaimed storytellers. Cornwall, 1920, early spring. A young man stands on a headland, looking out to sea. He is back from the war, homeless and without family. Behind him lie the mud, barbed-wire entanglements and terror of the trenches. Behind him is also the most intense relationship of his life. Daniel has survived, but the horror and passion of the past seem more real than the quiet fields around him. He is about to step into the unknown. But will he ever be able to escape the terrible, unforeseen consequences of a lie?
'Tonight it is the concert. Two Prodigies of Nature are coming to play in my lady's ball-room. As soon as the concert begins I understand why the whole world comes to stare and listen.'Scipio is eleven years old and a lady's page. He plays the harpsichord, speaks French and German, and sings in Italian. But what was appealing and remarkable in a small child is no longer so in a 'hobbledehoy'. And after he meets the two child prodigies, Wolfi and Nannerl, at a concert, Scipio's fate will change forever.
In the winter of 1952, Isabel Carey moves to the East Riding of Yorkshire with her husband Philip, a GP. With Philip spending long hours on call, Isabel finds herself isolated and lonely as she strives to adjust to the realities of married life. Woken by intense cold one night, she discovers an old RAF greatcoat hidden in the back of a cupboard. Sleeping under it for warmth, she starts to dream. And not long afterwards, while her husband is out, she is startled by a knock at her window. Outside is a young RAF pilot, waiting to come in. His name is Alec, and his powerful presence both disturbs and excites her. Her initial alarm soon fades, and they begin an intense affair. But nothing has prepared her for the truth about Alec's life, nor the impact it will have on hers ...
Stunning reissue, in beautiful new cover-look, of this magical and award-winning novel - the first of the spellbinding Ingo Chronicles... Once there was a man who fell in love with a mermaid. He swam down into the sea to be with her, and was never seen again... Sapphire's father told her that story when she was little. When he is lost at sea she can't help but think of that old myth: she's convinced he's still alive. Then, the following summer, Sapphy meets Faro, an enigmatic and intriguing Mer boy. Diving down into Ingo, she discovers a world she never knew existed, where she must let go of all her Air thoughts and embrace the sea... But not only is Sapphy intoxicated by the Mer world, she longs to see her father once more. And she's sure she can hear him singing across the water: I wish I was away in Ingo Far across the briny sea...
Stunning reissue in a beautiful new cover-look of this fourth novel in the critically acclaimed Ingo Chronicles. Sapphire, Conor and their Mer friends Faro and Elvira are ready to make the Crossing of Ingo - a long and dangerous journey that only the strongest young Mer are called upon to make. No human being has ever attempted this thrilling voyage to the bottom of the world. Ervys, his followers and new recruits, the sharks, are determined that Sapphire and Conor must be stopped - dead or alive...
An atmospheric and beautifully written adventure, from the award-winning author of the Ingo series. Morveren lives with her parents and twin sister Jenna on an island off the coast of Cornwall. As Morveren and Jenna's relationship shifts and changes, like driftwood on the tide, Morveren finds a beautiful teenage boy in a rock pool after a storm. Going to his rescue, she is shocked to see that he is not human but a Mer boy. With Jenna refusing to face the truth, Morveren finds herself alone at the worst possible time. Because when the worlds of Air and Mer meet, the consequences can be terrible...
Stunning reissue in a beautiful new cover-look of this third novel in the critically acclaimed Ingo Chronicles. A devastating flood has torn through the worlds of Air and Ingo, and now, deep in the ocean, a monster is stirring. Mer legend says that only those with dual blood - half Mer, half human - can overcome the Kraken. Sapphy must return to the Deep, with the help of her friend the whale, and face this terrifying creature - and her brother Conor and Mer friend Faro will not let her go alone...
Stunning reissue in a beautiful new cover-look of this second novel in the critically acclaimed Ingo Chronicles. I can't go back in the house. I'm restless, prickling all over. The wind hits me like slaps from huge invisible hands. But it's not the wind that worries me. It's something else, beyond the storm... Sapphire and Conor can't forget their adventures in Ingo, the mysterious world beneath the sea. They long to see their Mer friends Faro and Elvira, and swim with the dolphins once more. But a crisis is brewing far below the ocean's surface, where the wisest of the Mer guards the Tide Knot. And soon both Sapphire and Conor will be drawn into Ingo's troubled waters...
The malarkey is over in the back of the car - As soon as you turn your back, time slips. The humdrum present has become the precious, irrecoverable past. The ways in which the present longs for the past, questions it, tries to get in touch with it and stretches the power of memory to its limits, are central to this new collection by Helen Dunmore. Joseph Severn recalls Keats hurling a bad dinner out onto the steps of the Piazza di Spagna; the glamour of John Donne's portrait 'taken in shadows' seduces a new generation; the dead assert their right to walk through the imaginations of the living - These are poems and stories of loss and extraordinary rediscovery. The Malarkey is Helen Dunmore's first poetry book since Glad of These Times (2007) and Out of the Blue: Poems 1975-2001 (2001), a comprehensive selection drawing on seven previous collections. It brings together poems of great lyricism, feeling and artistry.
Penguin Specials are designed to fill a gap. Written to be read over a long commute or a short journey, they are original and exclusively in digital form. This is a chilling tale by Helen Dunmore.'It was nothing, she tells herself, but her body knows better.'Florence lives in the country, lapped by miles and miles of darkness. She feels safe there - until a noise wakes her in the middle of the night. Protection is a short story by bestselling author Helen Dunmore that will cause your skin to prickle and make you ask yourself how far you would go to protect your family.
Featured on The Book Show on Sky Arts on 24 February 2011. Betrayal is a powerful and touching novel of ordinary people in the grip of a terrible and sinister regime - 1950s Soviet Union, and a moving portrait of a love that will not be extinguished.
If this is your author page then you can share your Twitter updates with your readers right here on LoveReading
Find out more
