The Land of Decoration Synopsis
Shortlisted for the Specsavers National Book Awards 'New Writer of the Year' 2012.
Judith and her father don't have much - their house is full of dusty relics, reminders of the mother she's never known. But Judith sees the world with the clear Eyes of Faith, and where others might see rubbish, Judith sees possibility. Bullied at school, she finds solace in making a model of the Promised Land - little people made from pipe cleaners, a sliver of moon, luminous stars and a mirror sea - a world of wonder that Judith calls The Land of Decoration. Perhaps, she thinks, if she makes it snow indoors (using shaving foam and cotton wool and cellophane) there will be no school on Monday...Sure enough, when Judith opens her curtains the next day, the world beyond her window has turned white. She has performed her first miracle. And that's when her troubles begin.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780099565741 |
| Publication date: |
3rd January 2013 |
| Author: |
Grace McCleen |
| Publisher: |
Vintage |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
304 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Family Drama
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| Recommendations: |
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Grace McCleen Press Reviews
'This extraordinary tale of one little girl's End Times grabbed me by the throat. The Land of Decoration is part social observation and part crazy mysticism, held together by a brutally real story of parent-child love.' -- Emma Donoghue, author of Room
'Loveable, unique and thrillingly uncategorisable... A story about a small person's small antithesis of a small town full of small-minded people, this is a big-hearted novel.' - Chris Cleave, Financial Times
'Gripping, beautiful... [M]akes you gasp with delight...In many ways it's suspense--is Judith going to get hurt?--that keeps you tearing through the pages (be prepared for the complete and total devastation of your social life; once you pick up this novel, you will not be able to do anything until you finish)... This isn't a child like the other children in books--say, the unbelievably smart ones who can lecture on astronomy and rare stamps. This is a regular old child, a loving, confused, tender-hearted little person who is trying, like all of us, to make some sense of out of this life.' - Oprah.com pick for Book of the Week
he novel's best moments offer a profound sense of the existential crisis that any believer eventually faces... McCleen also has a good ear for the blessings of comedy -- the little moments of absurdity that children experience as they try to make sense of religion.' - Ron Charles, The Washington Post
'Grace McCleen's writing is deep, fantastical and powerful, and she really lets us into the heart of this tender, gentle little girl...A wonderful gen of a debut novel.' -- The Independent
'A tremendously affecting novel, skillfully and arrestingly written, and one that packs a big emotional punch.' -- The Sunday Times
About Grace McCleen
Grace McCleen's first novel, The Land of Decoration, was published in 2012 and was awarded the Desmond Elliott Prize for the best first novel of the year. It was also chosen for Richard & Judy's Book Club and won her the Betty Trask Prize in 2013. Her second novel, The Professor of Poetry, was published by Sceptre in 2013 and was shortlisted for the Encore Award. She read English at the University of Oxford and has an MA from York, and currently lives in London.
More About Grace McCleen
