A big debut novel -- a perfect blend of the quirky and commercial, in the vein of When God Was a Rabbit.
Introducing... Odeline Milk, a strange young lady from the suburbs. A young lady with an obsession -- you can guess what it is by the way she dresses: white collarless shirt, a waistcoat and billowing black trousers, the bowler hat. She's on her way to London, to make her name as a great mime artist. She hopes. And typical Odeline, she's arriving prepared. With the small inheritance left her by her mother, she's bought herself a home, an old canal boat.
What she doesn't know yet is that for some the city's canals have an appeal of their own. They are below the eyeline, a sort of halfworld, a good place to hide for a community of curious outsiders, all with their own stories to tell, stories which might help a certain young lady to think differently about life.
Because there's a lot Odeline doesn't know.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author:
MAVE FELLOWES lives in London. Her work has appeared in Granta and various other publications. This is her first novel.
From Booklist:
Eightteen-year-old Odeline Milk was raised by her quiet, meticulous accountant mother and always wondered who her father could be. When her mother dies unexpectedly, only a few weeks pass before determined Odeline leaves her childhood home and purchases a narrow boat, Chaplin & Company, in a London canal where she plans to live while she cultivates her lifelong dream of becoming a great mime. Her romantic ideas about her bohemian adulthood are quickly smashed when she finds that her boat is tacky and ill kept, her first booking is in front of a pub full of drunks, and her neighbors don’t respect her art. But she softens as she grows more integrated into the offbeat community of outcasts. Debut author Fellowes tells the story of Odeline, her neighbors, and the narrow boat in clear, eloquent prose, capturing every detail of Odeline’s environment and her unselfconscious, achingly whimsical ways. Though Odeline—who, despite her much-reviled art form, is incredibly gifted—triumphantly begins to find her own way, Fellowes unrelentingly weaves threads of heartbreak and longing through this coming-of-age story. --Sarah Hunter
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherCharnwood
- ISBN 10 1444818783
- ISBN 13 9781444818789
- BindingHardcover
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Rating