LoveReading Says
A charming book with gentle humour and lots of heart. It’s no spooky ghost story, just the tale of a woman who can do something most people cannot, communicate with the dead. We follow her search for a purpose and an emotional home. Light and easy, it’s a joy to curl up with. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Similar this month: None.
Comparison: Alice Sebold, Ben Sherwood, Hilary Mantel.
Reviewed by Sarah BroadhurstSarah Broadhurst spent her early working life in the book trade in both retail and wholesale until the arrival of children forced her to look for freelance work she could do from…
More reviews by Sarah Broadhurst About The Extra Large Medium
Annie Colville talks to the people who wear chocolate brown. They come to her to tell of the lost key behind the sofa, the Crown Derby coffee sets, the clematis that needs a good prune. Annie Colville has long since learned that death does not a philosopher of Auntie Mabel make.
Read the full description
Find This Book In
The Extra Large Medium Synopsis
Annie Colville talks to the people who wear chocolate brown. They come to her to tell of the lost key behind the sofa, the Crown Derby coffee sets, the clematis that needs a good prune. Annie Colville has long since learned that death does not a philosopher of Auntie Mabel make.
Since she was a child Annie has been able to see and speak to the dead. But when her husband disappears suddenly he does not come to visit her. So is Evan still alive? During her long wait to discover what happened to Evan Bees, Annie searches through her mother’s vast collection of lovers for the other missing man in her life, and struggles with the people and the responsibilities her gifts bring to her.
Who is the mysterious girl who sits by the lake at the Country Park? What happened to the lost woman her sister has spent the last ten years trying to find, keeping her beloved sibling alive through memories? And why are so many of the dead voices called Jim?
About This Edition
About Helen Slavin
Helen Slavin was born in Heywood in Lancashire in 1966. She was raised by eccentric parents on a diet of Laurel and Hardy, William Shakespeare and the Blackpool Illuminations. Educated at her local comp her favourite subjects at school were English and Going Home.
After The University of Warwick she worked in many jobs including, plant and access hire, a local government Education department typing pool, and a vasectomy clinic. A job as a television scriptwriter gave her the opportunity to spend all day drinking tea, living in a made-up fantasy world and getting paid for it (sometimes). A paragliding Welsh husband and two children have since distracted her and given her ample opportunity to spend all day drinking tea, nagging about homework and washing pants for England. In the wee small hours she still keeps a bijou flat in that fantasy world of writing.
When not working with animals and striving for world peace, Helen enjoys the music of Elbow and baking bread. Her favourite colour is purple and if she had to be stranded on a desert island with someone it would be Ray Mears ( alright, George Clooney is very good looking but can he make fire with a stick? No. See?)
She now lives, with her family, in Trowbridge, Wiltshire where, when she’s not writing, she’s asleep. Or in Tescos.
More About Helen Slavin
