Half Broken Things: Summary and book reviews of Half Broken Things by Morag Joss, plus links to an excerpt from Half Broken Things and a biography of Morag Joss.
Half Broken Things
by Morag Joss
Hardcover: Sep 2005,
320 pages.
Paperback: Jul 2006,
320 pages.
A
gripping tale of psychological suspense perfect for the readership of
Minette Walters and Ruth Rendell, Half Broken Things is a novel
that peers into the lives of three dangerously lost people…and the
ominous haven they find when they find each other.
Jean is a house sitter at the end of a dreary career. Steph is nine
months pregnant and on the run. And Michael is a thief. Through a
mixture of deceit, good luck, and misfortune, these three damaged loners
have come together at a secluded country home called Walden Manor. Now
all three have found what they needed most: a new beginning, a little
kindness, a little love. Living off the manor's riches, tending its
grounds and gardens, they leave the outside world far behind and build a
happiness so long denied them. That is, until the first unexpected
visitor arrives...igniting a chain reaction that is at once spellbinding
and disastrous.
A stunning, thought-provoking crime novel of chilling moral complexity, Half
Broken Things is a gripping, haunting exploration of love and our
need for it, of the damage done when we go long without it, and the
deeds we might be driven to in its name.
A number of reviewers compare Morag Joss to Minette Walters, as does the book jacket cover. Other than that they've both British and write psychological suspense I don't really see the comparison - I've tried a few of Minette Walters's books but found them too gory for my tastes - but I did not feel this when reading Half Broken Things.
As Joss herself says, "Although Half Broken Things has a crime in it, I didn't set out to write it as a crime novel. It's been published as a crime novel and one can see why but if it is a crime novel, it's one by accident.....I've started to feel queasy about murder as entertainment. I've begun to think there are so many more interesting things about death than the whodunnit.....I wanted to explore what people will do when they're in such terrible need of love. If there was a big idea then that was it." (Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Kirkus Reviews
A grim, courageous work that crosses into dark,interior regions American readers rarely dare to tread.
Booklist - Emily Melton
Starred Review. This is an extraordinary book--dark, painful, thought-provoking, and disturbing. Joss' masterful narrative delivers a provocative examination of good and evil, the nature of love, and the infinite variety of human behavior.
Publishers Weekly
British author Joss's brilliantly conceived, finely executed novel, which captured the CWA's Silver Dagger Award, offers psychological suspense of the highest order. This is a must read.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by Miranda Spiers Half Broken Things This book re-arranges your normal opinion on people who are doing wrong - and what, in fact,could ordinarily could be described as doing evil. It tugs you between condemnation and compassion, and widens your conception of how needy but basically... Read More
Morag Joss
grew up on the west coast of
Scotland, completed a degree in
English at St Andrew's
University and then studied
singing at the Guildhall School
of Music. The trigger for her
start as a writer was in the mid
1980s when family friend P.D.
James came to stay and Joss took
her on a tour of the Roman Baths
in the city of Bath. While
touring the baths Joss jokingly
suggested that 'this would be a
good place to find a body', they
bounced around the idea for a
minute or two and then P.D.
James said 'Oh, you must go and
write it now, dear'. At the
time, Joss didn't take the idea
seriously but a couple of months
later, without telling anyone,
she entered a story-writing
contest sponsored by Good
Housekeeping magazine and was
awarded a...
With wry candor and tender humor, Ayelet Waldman has crafted a strikingly beautiful novel for our time, tackling the absurdities of modern life and reminding us why we love some people no matter what.
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Kirkus Reviews
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by Miranda Spiers
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