Compassionate story of an unlikely friendship, 01 Feb 2008
Elizabeth Webster the protagonist of this novel is a retired, single and extremely dogmatic lady. She is afflicted by an unknown illness which is a life changing experience for her. Many months later after recovering and travelling to North Africa for a holiday an unknown young man unexpectedly becomes part of life. Elizabeth and the young man Cherif are well portrayed characters and the story of this unlikely friendship is both sad and funny. However I felt this compassionate tale was somewhat stilted in parts with potential for much more development, had the author chosen to do so.


Not Good, 10 Jul 2007
This was an awkward and unconvincing story that utterly failed to engage me as a reader. Although I did develop an affection for the characters, this wasn't enough. I especially lost patience when her central character criticized Peter Susskind's fine book "Perfume". This was completely uncalled for. That said, Duncker is obviously a good writer, but this is not a good book.

Not recommended.

Not her best ..., 22 Sep 2006
Hmm, I didn't really enjoy this one, which is unusual because I normally love Duncker. However, in this case, I felt the story didn't actually begin until Cherif turned up on Page 80 (in my hardcover edition). That was when everything really got going, and the first 79 pages are nothing but backstory. I think the information in them would have been better dropped into the real story here and there to build up the tension.

It's also interesting that the plot (such as there is) all seems to occur in the last 20 pages in one of those bizarre Agatha Christie-like denouements. This came across as rather clunky.

As this is Duncker, there are of course some wonderful turns of phrase, but I really think the sections with Cherif and Miss Webster in the UK getting to know each other are the only parts worth the read - and would have been far better on their own as a novella or long short story.

completely captivating : Miss Garnett's Angel for 2006, 27 Apr 2006
Elizabeth Webster, former French teacher at a girls' school, is a Miss Jean Brodie well past her prime. Ordered abroad to North Africa after a devastating nervous breakdown which has left her half-dead and needing sticks to walk, she has become "everything she most despised: querulous, forgetful, indecisive." Her suffering is brilliantly described, but the Moroccan desert, and the people she meets at a luxury hotel there begin to restore her to herself, a process furthered when the hotelier's exquisitely beautiful son, Cherif, appears on her doorstep back in Little Blessingham.

Who, or what, is Cherif? Set in the year after 9/11, this question becomes increasingly pressing in what is both a mystery story and a comedy of manners. Miss Webster defends him against all comers partly because it is in her bloody-minded nature to do so, and partly out of a genuine, growing affection. Cherif - gentle, respectful, undemanding - gets a place studying Maths at the local university, and becomes her lodger when turned down by mean-spirited locals. A natural anarchist who believes that all forms of government should be blown sky-high, Miss Webster is alert to her own possible deception by a terrorist. Beautiful Cherif is, however, someone to share her extreme loneliness, to introduce her to her first rock concert, Sky TV and fasting at Ramadan.

The clash between English and Berber culture, described in Duncker's lucid, elegant prose, is funny and touching, ranging as it does from Cherif's bewilderment at motorway signs telling them to use the "hard shoulder" to his belief that Miss Webster, like Miss Marple, is unmarried because she was a lady detective. With only popular film culture in common, their approximate communications bring out the best in both of them, and even softens the hearts of the villagers who have hated their neighbour for years. Only connect, as Forster said.

This is not, however, just a feel-good novel like Miss Garnett's Angel. Duncker, author of prize-winning novels such as Hallucinating Foucault and The Deadly Space Between has excelled at exploring ideas through eccentric personal relationships while not gaining wide readership. Here, her intelligence is modulated into a story of real charm and compassion. Just how much should we trust strangers from an alien culture? Can we continue to live according to ancient beliefs in a darkening world? Can duty and desire ever be accommodated, or must they, like the opera Carmen, head for a fatal clash?

I loved this book. It is written with the spirit of George Eliot presiding over it - liberal, sympathetic, beadily intelligent and passionate. I've already bought a copy for my mother-in-law and one of my best friends. Don't miss it!

Patricia Duncker's previous books have been cerebral, involved tales (as is indicated by their titles, like Hallucinating Foucault, or Monsieur Shoushana's Lemon Trees). The Deadly Spaces Between, by contrast, is painted with a lusher, warmer emotional palette. The tale is told from a masculine perspective, with conviction and some verve. The narrator is Toby Hawk, the teenage son of a famous female artist. The setting is a "draughty, comfortable, mid-Victorian mass of red brick and white gables", deep in the rainy English provinces. Living alongside Toby and mum are a grandiose lesbian great aunt and her posh lawyer partner Liberty. All very emancipated. Yet, despite the unorthodox nature of this menage, the atmosphere in the house, as Duncker artfully sketches it, is positively bourgeois in its stasis. These people are glib and inert; nothing can disturb their complacent bohemianism. Then Duncker puts some mustard on the novelistic sandwich. A dark stranger comes, "a huge heavy man with a black car". This abrupt intrusion of this animated, brainy scientist, Roehm, throws the "Amazonian triangle" into a tizz, and kicks off a mystery that will take young Toby to London and beyond--to gay bars, opera houses, biology labs, ski runs, as well as the darker recesses of scientific history. The result is at once clever, dry, confusing, elegant, reserved and, just occasionally, exhilarating. --Sean Thomas

Compassionate story of an unlikely friendship, 01 Feb 2008
Elizabeth Webster the protagonist of this novel is a retired, single and extremely dogmatic lady. She is afflicted by an unknown illness which is a life changing experience for her. Many months later after recovering and travelling to North Africa for a holiday an unknown young man unexpectedly becomes part of life. Elizabeth and the young man Cherif are well portrayed characters and the story of this unlikely friendship is both sad and funny. However I felt this compassionate tale was somewhat stilted in parts with potential for much more development, had the author chosen to do so.


Not Good, 10 Jul 2007
This was an awkward and unconvincing story that utterly failed to engage me as a reader. Although I did develop an affection for the characters, this wasn't enough. I especially lost patience when her central character criticized Peter Susskind's fine book "Perfume". This was completely uncalled for. That said, Duncker is obviously a good writer, but this is not a good book.

Not recommended.

Not her best ..., 22 Sep 2006
Hmm, I didn't really enjoy this one, which is unusual because I normally love Duncker. However, in this case, I felt the story didn't actually begin until Cherif turned up on Page 80 (in my hardcover edition). That was when everything really got going, and the first 79 pages are nothing but backstory. I think the information in them would have been better dropped into the real story here and there to build up the tension.

It's also interesting that the plot (such as there is) all seems to occur in the last 20 pages in one of those bizarre Agatha Christie-like denouements. This came across as rather clunky.

As this is Duncker, there are of course some wonderful turns of phrase, but I really think the sections with Cherif and Miss Webster in the UK getting to know each other are the only parts worth the read - and would have been far better on their own as a novella or long short story.

completely captivating : Miss Garnett's Angel for 2006, 27 Apr 2006
Elizabeth Webster, former French teacher at a girls' school, is a Miss Jean Brodie well past her prime. Ordered abroad to North Africa after a devastating nervous breakdown which has left her half-dead and needing sticks to walk, she has become "everything she most despised: querulous, forgetful, indecisive." Her suffering is brilliantly described, but the Moroccan desert, and the people she meets at a luxury hotel there begin to restore her to herself, a process furthered when the hotelier's exquisitely beautiful son, Cherif, appears on her doorstep back in Little Blessingham.

Who, or what, is Cherif? Set in the year after 9/11, this question becomes increasingly pressing in what is both a mystery story and a comedy of manners. Miss Webster defends him against all comers partly because it is in her bloody-minded nature to do so, and partly out of a genuine, growing affection. Cherif - gentle, respectful, undemanding - gets a place studying Maths at the local university, and becomes her lodger when turned down by mean-spirited locals. A natural anarchist who believes that all forms of government should be blown sky-high, Miss Webster is alert to her own possible deception by a terrorist. Beautiful Cherif is, however, someone to share her extreme loneliness, to introduce her to her first rock concert, Sky TV and fasting at Ramadan.

The clash between English and Berber culture, described in Duncker's lucid, elegant prose, is funny and touching, ranging as it does from Cherif's bewilderment at motorway signs telling them to use the "hard shoulder" to his belief that Miss Webster, like Miss Marple, is unmarried because she was a lady detective. With only popular film culture in common, their approximate communications bring out the best in both of them, and even softens the hearts of the villagers who have hated their neighbour for years. Only connect, as Forster said.

This is not, however, just a feel-good novel like Miss Garnett's Angel. Duncker, author of prize-winning novels such as Hallucinating Foucault and The Deadly Space Between has excelled at exploring ideas through eccentric personal relationships while not gaining wide readership. Here, her intelligence is modulated into a story of real charm and compassion. Just how much should we trust strangers from an alien culture? Can we continue to live according to ancient beliefs in a darkening world? Can duty and desire ever be accommodated, or must they, like the opera Carmen, head for a fatal clash?

I loved this book. It is written with the spirit of George Eliot presiding over it - liberal, sympathetic, beadily intelligent and passionate. I've already bought a copy for my mother-in-law and one of my best friends. Don't miss it!

Unpleasant stuff, 09 Oct 2006
The book is initially very appealing: the main characters are painted well; the story begins nicely; and my interest was easily held. However, the plot lost momentum in the middle, and petered out at the end. I'm still not sure what some of the plot lines were all about.

There are two sex scenes. The first one is between mother and son. The second one is violent. If this turns you on, then buy the book. I found it pretty unpleasant.

The book also contains one of the tales from Duncker's "Seven Tales of Sex and Death". This tale was nasty.


Fantastic, 07 Jun 2004
I'm only half-way into the book at the moment so dare say I shouldn't be reviewing it yet but I just can't wait.
After reading 'Hallucinating Foucault' I was prompted to read 'The Deadly Space Between', simlilarly to that it has the same mature text, eloquent metaphors and beautiful descriptiveness. It is however not as immediate as 'Hallucinating Foucault' and for any reader looking for their first foray into Duncker's work I would recommend this as apposed to 'The Deadly Space Between' to begin with before progressing to.
In various parts of these two novels it is plain to see just how fabulous the author is.
I won't go into detail around the actual plot as it isn't fair to as I haven't actually finished reading it but it is completely captivating (given some patience) and challenging almost.

This is definately recommended.

Simply Brilliant!, 14 May 2003
I bought this book simply from the blurb and I was not disappointed! The characters are compelling and likable and the ending is shocking. The seemingly normal beginning of everyday events quickly draw you into the characters bizarre lives and from there the story quickly begins to unfold. You cannot fail to love this book and the characters and the story stay with you even after you have put the book down. You must read this book!

Disturbing reading..., 21 Apr 2003
The world to introverted eighteen year old Tobias Hawk is one surrounded by women. His artist mother Iso raises him in a careless fashion having been cut off from her religious family for giving birth to him at the age of fifteen. The brutalities of the world do not touch his mother who is protected in a self serving way by her wealthy aunt Lucy. Toby's own obsessions with Iso are a dark underlay to his life and this is all he wants. But it all changes when his mother takes a lover.

The enigmatic Roehm fulfills many roles to Toby and Iso - father, lover, initiator to the rites of worldly men. The relationship lines are blurred and Toby finds himself torn between the urge to keep the life he has always known pure from other influences and his desires for Roehm. Neither mother or son can resist the dark attraction of the mysterious Roehm, man without a past, and seemly impossible to base in the reality of the present. Roehm seems to know their unvoiced thoughts and fears, and is a master in manipulation.

The searches Toby makes on the Internet and with the assistance of Liberty, Lucy's young lover, bring nothing but alpine references and hallucinogenic experiences for the bewildered Toby. In an effort to save Iso, who Toby believes has attempted to murder Roehm in a fit of passion, Toby finishes the killing and pursues the fleeing Iso to Switzerland where the answers to his questions about his parentage and about Roehm come not from the living world.

This moody, erotically questioning novel travels in fits and starts with a more satisfying pick up in pace in the final pages. This may be too late for the reader who could be easily frustrated in the pompous self indulgent wanderings of Toby's mind, whose world is truly so narrow that nothing not effecting his immediate existence is completely irrelevant to him. The child wanting to be a man fails to grow throughout the novel and the reader may not really care what happens as an outcome despite many unanswered questions.

===
Andrea Thompson

Literary Vivid and Accessible Page Turner, 01 Jul 2002
this is a great book. very well written, pacey but deep. Treads the boundary between the real and the imaginary with great skill and control. It also made me laugh out loud in parts which, for me, is a rarity with novels. very strong and disturbing characterisations especially Roehm. PD is not scared of tackling matters sexual and grotesque with tremendous results. one of the best books i've read for a long while.

Compassionate story of an unlikely friendship, 01 Feb 2008
Elizabeth Webster the protagonist of this novel is a retired, single and extremely dogmatic lady. She is afflicted by an unknown illness which is a life changing experience for her. Many months later after recovering and travelling to North Africa for a holiday an unknown young man unexpectedly becomes part of life. Elizabeth and the young man Cherif are well portrayed characters and the story of this unlikely friendship is both sad and funny. However I felt this compassionate tale was somewhat stilted in parts with potential for much more development, had the author chosen to do so.


Not Good, 10 Jul 2007
This was an awkward and unconvincing story that utterly failed to engage me as a reader. Although I did develop an affection for the characters, this wasn't enough. I especially lost patience when her central character criticized Peter Susskind's fine book "Perfume". This was completely uncalled for. That said, Duncker is obviously a good writer, but this is not a good book.

Not recommended.

Not her best ..., 22 Sep 2006
Hmm, I didn't really enjoy this one, which is unusual because I normally love Duncker. However, in this case, I felt the story didn't actually begin until Cherif turned up on Page 80 (in my hardcover edition). That was when everything really got going, and the first 79 pages are nothing but backstory. I think the information in them would have been better dropped into the real story here and there to build up the tension.

It's also interesting that the plot (such as there is) all seems to occur in the last 20 pages in one of those bizarre Agatha Christie-like denouements. This came across as rather clunky.

As this is Duncker, there are of course some wonderful turns of phrase, but I really think the sections with Cherif and Miss Webster in the UK getting to know each other are the only parts worth the read - and would have been far better on their own as a novella or long short story.

completely captivating : Miss Garnett's Angel for 2006, 27 Apr 2006
Elizabeth Webster, former French teacher at a girls' school, is a Miss Jean Brodie well past her prime. Ordered abroad to North Africa after a devastating nervous breakdown which has left her half-dead and needing sticks to walk, she has become "everything she most despised: querulous, forgetful, indecisive." Her suffering is brilliantly described, but the Moroccan desert, and the people she meets at a luxury hotel there begin to restore her to herself, a process furthered when the hotelier's exquisitely beautiful son, Cherif, appears on her doorstep back in Little Blessingham.

Who, or what, is Cherif? Set in the year after 9/11, this question becomes increasingly pressing in what is both a mystery story and a comedy of manners. Miss Webster defends him against all comers partly because it is in her bloody-minded nature to do so, and partly out of a genuine, growing affection. Cherif - gentle, respectful, undemanding - gets a place studying Maths at the local university, and becomes her lodger when turned down by mean-spirited locals. A natural anarchist who believes that all forms of government should be blown sky-high, Miss Webster is alert to her own possible deception by a terrorist. Beautiful Cherif is, however, someone to share her extreme loneliness, to introduce her to her first rock concert, Sky TV and fasting at Ramadan.

The clash between English and Berber culture, described in Duncker's lucid, elegant prose, is funny and touching, ranging as it does from Cherif's bewilderment at motorway signs telling them to use the "hard shoulder" to his belief that Miss Webster, like Miss Marple, is unmarried because she was a lady detective. With only popular film culture in common, their approximate communications bring out the best in both of them, and even softens the hearts of the villagers who have hated their neighbour for years. Only connect, as Forster said.

This is not, however, just a feel-good novel like Miss Garnett's Angel. Duncker, author of prize-winning novels such as Hallucinating Foucault and The Deadly Space Between has excelled at exploring ideas through eccentric personal relationships while not gaining wide readership. Here, her intelligence is modulated into a story of real charm and compassion. Just how much should we trust strangers from an alien culture? Can we continue to live according to ancient beliefs in a darkening world? Can duty and desire ever be accommodated, or must they, like the opera Carmen, head for a fatal clash?

I loved this book. It is written with the spirit of George Eliot presiding over it - liberal, sympathetic, beadily intelligent and passionate. I've already bought a copy for my mother-in-law and one of my best friends. Don't miss it!

Unpleasant stuff, 09 Oct 2006
The book is initially very appealing: the main characters are painted well; the story begins nicely; and my interest was easily held. However, the plot lost momentum in the middle, and petered out at the end. I'm still not sure what some of the plot lines were all about.

There are two sex scenes. The first one is between mother and son. The second one is violent. If this turns you on, then buy the book. I found it pretty unpleasant.

The book also contains one of the tales from Duncker's "Seven Tales of Sex and Death". This tale was nasty.


Fantastic, 07 Jun 2004
I'm only half-way into the book at the moment so dare say I shouldn't be reviewing it yet but I just can't wait.
After reading 'Hallucinating Foucault' I was prompted to read 'The Deadly Space Between', simlilarly to that it has the same mature text, eloquent metaphors and beautiful descriptiveness. It is however not as immediate as 'Hallucinating Foucault' and for any reader looking for their first foray into Duncker's work I would recommend this as apposed to 'The Deadly Space Between' to begin with before progressing to.
In various parts of these two novels it is plain to see just how fabulous the author is.
I won't go into detail around the actual plot as it isn't fair to as I haven't actually finished reading it but it is completely captivating (given some patience) and challenging almost.

This is definately recommended.

Simply Brilliant!, 14 May 2003
I bought this book simply from the blurb and I was not disappointed! The characters are compelling and likable and the ending is shocking. The seemingly normal beginning of everyday events quickly draw you into the characters bizarre lives and from there the story quickly begins to unfold. You cannot fail to love this book and the characters and the story stay with you even after you have put the book down. You must read this book!

Disturbing reading..., 21 Apr 2003
The world to introverted eighteen year old Tobias Hawk is one surrounded by women. His artist mother Iso raises him in a careless fashion having been cut off from her religious family for giving birth to him at the age of fifteen. The brutalities of the world do not touch his mother who is protected in a self serving way by her wealthy aunt Lucy. Toby's own obsessions with Iso are a dark underlay to his life and this is all he wants. But it all changes when his mother takes a lover.

The enigmatic Roehm fulfills many roles to Toby and Iso - father, lover, initiator to the rites of worldly men. The relationship lines are blurred and Toby finds himself torn between the urge to keep the life he has always known pure from other influences and his desires for Roehm. Neither mother or son can resist the dark attraction of the mysterious Roehm, man without a past, and seemly impossible to base in the reality of the present. Roehm seems to know their unvoiced thoughts and fears, and is a master in manipulation.

The searches Toby makes on the Internet and with the assistance of Liberty, Lucy's young lover, bring nothing but alpine references and hallucinogenic experiences for the bewildered Toby. In an effort to save Iso, who Toby believes has attempted to murder Roehm in a fit of passion, Toby finishes the killing and pursues the fleeing Iso to Switzerland where the answers to his questions about his parentage and about Roehm come not from the living world.

This moody, erotically questioning novel travels in fits and starts with a more satisfying pick up in pace in the final pages. This may be too late for the reader who could be easily frustrated in the pompous self indulgent wanderings of Toby's mind, whose world is truly so narrow that nothing not effecting his immediate existence is completely irrelevant to him. The child wanting to be a man fails to grow throughout the novel and the reader may not really care what happens as an outcome despite many unanswered questions.

===
Andrea Thompson

Literary Vivid and Accessible Page Turner, 01 Jul 2002
this is a great book. very well written, pacey but deep. Treads the boundary between the real and the imaginary with great skill and control. It also made me laugh out loud in parts which, for me, is a rarity with novels. very strong and disturbing characterisations especially Roehm. PD is not scared of tackling matters sexual and grotesque with tremendous results. one of the best books i've read for a long while.

Page-turner, 06 Jun 2008
A page-turner, though not necessarily a careless one. I read it in one sitting - it is a short book, and not too challenging either. The background research is not bad for the genre. I would recommend reading it in an airport or on a plane.

My favourite book, 11 Jan 2007
This is my comfort book - the one I turn to when I'm lonely or feeling down - I love it to bits. I'm not sure what the other reviewer is going on about but everything about this book is brilliant - if you look at the other versions you'll see the other reviews reflect this. Strongly Recommended.

Diasappointment, 15 Nov 2006
I have seldom been so disappointed by a well-recommended book. I thought it not very well written and totally unconvincing. Not a single character, scene or conversation came across as real.

Passionate and rivetting read, 16 Sep 2004
Darkly erotic (as in all Duncker's best work), this tale is a rivetting page-turner and tumbles the reader into the roller-coaster world of falling in love and being in love. An inspirational debut and the seed of all the author's later work.

One I'd definitely recommend.

Fascinating, 04 Jun 2004
This book is captivating, fascinating and quite inspiring. The climax is quite hard-going even to the colder reader. Worth reading!

Compassionate story of an unlikely friendship, 01 Feb 2008
Elizabeth Webster the protagonist of this novel is a retired, single and extremely dogmatic lady. She is afflicted by an unknown illness which is a life changing experience for her. Many months later after recovering and travelling to North Africa for a holiday an unknown young man unexpectedly becomes part of life. Elizabeth and the young man Cherif are well portrayed characters and the story of this unlikely friendship is both sad and funny. However I felt this compassionate tale was somewhat stilted in parts with potential for much more development, had the author chosen to do so.


Not Good, 10 Jul 2007
This was an awkward and unconvincing story that utterly failed to engage me as a reader. Although I did develop an affection for the characters, this wasn't enough. I especially lost patience when her central character criticized Peter Susskind's fine book "Perfume". This was completely uncalled for. That said, Duncker is obviously a good writer, but this is not a good book.

Not recommended.

Not her best ..., 22 Sep 2006
Hmm, I didn't really enjoy this one, which is unusual because I normally love Duncker. However, in this case, I felt the story didn't actually begin until Cherif turned up on Page 80 (in my hardcover edition). That was when everything really got going, and the first 79 pages are nothing but backstory. I think the information in them would have been better dropped into the real story here and there to build up the tension.

It's also interesting that the plot (such as there is) all seems to occur in the last 20 pages in one of those bizarre Agatha Christie-like denouements. This came across as rather clunky.

As this is Duncker, there are of course some wonderful turns of phrase, but I really think the sections with Cherif and Miss Webster in the UK getting to know each other are the only parts worth the read - and would have been far better on their own as a novella or long short story.

completely captivating : Miss Garnett's Angel for 2006, 27 Apr 2006
Elizabeth Webster, former French teacher at a girls' school, is a Miss Jean Brodie well past her prime. Ordered abroad to North Africa after a devastating nervous breakdown which has left her half-dead and needing sticks to walk, she has become "everything she most despised: querulous, forgetful, indecisive." Her suffering is brilliantly described, but the Moroccan desert, and the people she meets at a luxury hotel there begin to restore her to herself, a process furthered when the hotelier's exquisitely beautiful son, Cherif, appears on her doorstep back in Little Blessingham.

Who, or what, is Cherif? Set in the year after 9/11, this question becomes increasingly pressing in what is both a mystery story and a comedy of manners. Miss Webster defends him against all comers partly because it is in her bloody-minded nature to do so, and partly out of a genuine, growing affection. Cherif - gentle, respectful, undemanding - gets a place studying Maths at the local university, and becomes her lodger when turned down by mean-spirited locals. A natural anarchist who believes that all forms of government should be blown sky-high, Miss Webster is alert to her own possible deception by a terrorist. Beautiful Cherif is, however, someone to share her extreme loneliness, to introduce her to her first rock concert, Sky TV and fasting at Ramadan.

The clash between English and Berber culture, described in Duncker's lucid, elegant prose, is funny and touching, ranging as it does from Cherif's bewilderment at motorway signs telling them to use the "hard shoulder" to his belief that Miss Webster, like Miss Marple, is unmarried because she was a lady detective. With only popular film culture in common, their approximate communications bring out the best in both of them, and even softens the hearts of the villagers who have hated their neighbour for years. Only connect, as Forster said.

This is not, however, just a feel-good novel like Miss Garnett's Angel. Duncker, author of prize-winning novels such as Hallucinating Foucault and The Deadly Space Between has excelled at exploring ideas through eccentric personal relationships while not gaining wide readership. Here, her intelligence is modulated into a story of real charm and compassion. Just how much should we trust strangers from an alien culture? Can we continue to live according to ancient beliefs in a darkening world? Can duty and desire ever be accommodated, or must they, like the opera Carmen, head for a fatal clash?

I loved this book. It is written with the spirit of George Eliot presiding over it - liberal, sympathetic, beadily intelligent and passionate. I've already bought a copy for my mother-in-law and one of my best friends. Don't miss it!

Unpleasant stuff, 09 Oct 2006
The book is initially very appealing: the main characters are painted well; the story begins nicely; and my interest was easily held. However, the plot lost momentum in the middle, and petered out at the end. I'm still not sure what some of the plot lines were all about.

There are two sex scenes. The first one is between mother and son. The second one is violent. If this turns you on, then buy the book. I found it pretty unpleasant.

The book also contains one of the tales from Duncker's "Seven Tales of Sex and Death". This tale was nasty.


Fantastic, 07 Jun 2004
I'm only half-way into the book at the moment so dare say I shouldn't be reviewing it yet but I just can't wait.
After reading 'Hallucinating Foucault' I was prompted to read 'The Deadly Space Between', simlilarly to that it has the same mature text, eloquent metaphors and beautiful descriptiveness. It is however not as immediate as 'Hallucinating Foucault' and for any reader looking for their first foray into Duncker's work I would recommend this as apposed to 'The Deadly Space Between' to begin with before progressing to.
In various parts of these two novels it is plain to see just how fabulous the author is.
I won't go into detail around the actual plot as it isn't fair to as I haven't actually finished reading it but it is completely captivating (given some patience) and challenging almost.

This is definately recommended.

Simply Brilliant!, 14 May 2003
I bought this book simply from the blurb and I was not disappointed! The characters are compelling and likable and the ending is shocking. The seemingly normal beginning of everyday events quickly draw you into the characters bizarre lives and from there the story quickly begins to unfold. You cannot fail to love this book and the characters and the story stay with you even after you have put the book down. You must read this book!

Disturbing reading..., 21 Apr 2003
The world to introverted eighteen year old Tobias Hawk is one surrounded by women. His artist mother Iso raises him in a careless fashion having been cut off from her religious family for giving birth to him at the age of fifteen. The brutalities of the world do not touch his mother who is protected in a self serving way by her wealthy aunt Lucy. Toby's own obsessions with Iso are a dark underlay to his life and this is all he wants. But it all changes when his mother takes a lover.

The enigmatic Roehm fulfills many roles to Toby and Iso - father, lover, initiator to the rites of worldly men. The relationship lines are blurred and Toby finds himself torn between the urge to keep the life he has always known pure from other influences and his desires for Roehm. Neither mother or son can resist the dark attraction of the mysterious Roehm, man without a past, and seemly impossible to base in the reality of the present. Roehm seems to know their unvoiced thoughts and fears, and is a master in manipulation.

The searches Toby makes on the Internet and with the assistance of Liberty, Lucy's young lover, bring nothing but alpine references and hallucinogenic experiences for the bewildered Toby. In an effort to save Iso, who Toby believes has attempted to murder Roehm in a fit of passion, Toby finishes the killing and pursues the fleeing Iso to Switzerland where the answers to his questions about his parentage and about Roehm come not from the living world.

This moody, erotically questioning novel travels in fits and starts with a more satisfying pick up in pace in the final pages. This may be too late for the reader who could be easily frustrated in the pompous self indulgent wanderings of Toby's mind, whose world is truly so narrow that nothing not effecting his immediate existence is completely irrelevant to him. The child wanting to be a man fails to grow throughout the novel and the reader may not really care what happens as an outcome despite many unanswered questions.

===
Andrea Thompson

Literary Vivid and Accessible Page Turner, 01 Jul 2002
this is a great book. very well written, pacey but deep. Treads the boundary between the real and the imaginary with great skill and control. It also made me laugh out loud in parts which, for me, is a rarity with novels. very strong and disturbing characterisations especially Roehm. PD is not scared of tackling matters sexual and grotesque with tremendous results. one of the best books i've read for a long while.

Page-turner, 06 Jun 2008
A page-turner, though not necessarily a careless one. I read it in one sitting - it is a short book, and not too challenging either. The background research is not bad for the genre. I would recommend reading it in an airport or on a plane.

My favourite book, 11 Jan 2007
This is my comfort book - the one I turn to when I'm lonely or feeling down - I love it to bits. I'm not sure what the other reviewer is going on about but everything about this book is brilliant - if you look at the other versions you'll see the other reviews reflect this. Strongly Recommended.

Diasappointment, 15 Nov 2006
I have seldom been so disappointed by a well-recommended book. I thought it not very well written and totally unconvincing. Not a single character, scene or conversation came across as real.

Passionate and rivetting read, 16 Sep 2004
Darkly erotic (as in all Duncker's best work), this tale is a rivetting page-turner and tumbles the reader into the roller-coaster world of falling in love and being in love. An inspirational debut and the seed of all the author's later work.

One I'd definitely recommend.

Fascinating, 04 Jun 2004
This book is captivating, fascinating and quite inspiring. The climax is quite hard-going even to the colder reader. Worth reading!

Falling in love can be complicated!, 28 Jul 2006
This edition boasts an engrossing translation: graceful, articulate and capturing the sensuality of Gautier's prose. Furthermore Duncker's introduction updates many of the novel's themes using contemporary references to explicate 19th century sexual mores. I felt the story provided an entertaining exploration of the `art' of seduction and the psychosocial basis for hetero- and homosexual attraction. Gautier juxtaposes the Chevalier d'Albert's quest for the ideal female lover with Mademoiselle de Maupin's clandestine desire to understand the true nature of men. In doing so Gautier cleverly exposes the nature of homoerotic desire to such an extent that those of us who feel secure with our own sexuality may be forced to rethink what if?

Compassionate story of an unlikely friendship, 01 Feb 2008
Elizabeth Webster the protagonist of this novel is a retired, single and extremely dogmatic lady. She is afflicted by an unknown illness which is a life changing experience for her. Many months later after recovering and travelling to North Africa for a holiday an unknown young man unexpectedly becomes part of life. Elizabeth and the young man Cherif are well portrayed characters and the story of this unlikely friendship is both sad and funny. However I felt this compassionate tale was somewhat stilted in parts with potential for much more development, had the author chosen to do so.


Not Good, 10 Jul 2007
This was an awkward and unconvincing story that utterly failed to engage me as a reader. Although I did develop an affection for the characters, this wasn't enough. I especially lost patience when her central character criticized Peter Susskind's fine book "Perfume". This was completely uncalled for. That said, Duncker is obviously a good writer, but this is not a good book.

Not recommended.

Not her best ..., 22 Sep 2006
Hmm, I didn't really enjoy this one, which is unusual because I normally love Duncker. However, in this case, I felt the story didn't actually begin until Cherif turned up on Page 80 (in my hardcover edition). That was when everything really got going, and the first 79 pages are nothing but backstory. I think the information in them would have been better dropped into the real story here and there to build up the tension.

It's also interesting that the plot (such as there is) all seems to occur in the last 20 pages in one of those bizarre Agatha Christie-like denouements. This came across as rather clunky.

As this is Duncker, there are of course some wonderful turns of phrase, but I really think the sections with Cherif and Miss Webster in the UK getting to know each other are the only parts worth the read - and would have been far better on their own as a novella or long short story.

completely captivating : Miss Garnett's Angel for 2006, 27 Apr 2006
Elizabeth Webster, former French teacher at a girls' school, is a Miss Jean Brodie well past her prime. Ordered abroad to North Africa after a devastating nervous breakdown which has left her half-dead and needing sticks to walk, she has become "everything she most despised: querulous, forgetful, indecisive." Her suffering is brilliantly described, but the Moroccan desert, and the people she meets at a luxury hotel there begin to restore her to herself, a process furthered when the hotelier's exquisitely beautiful son, Cherif, appears on her doorstep back in Little Blessingham.

Who, or what, is Cherif? Set in the year after 9/11, this question becomes increasingly pressing in what is both a mystery story and a comedy of manners. Miss Webster defends him against all comers partly because it is in her bloody-minded nature to do so, and partly out of a genuine, growing affection. Cherif - gentle, respectful, undemanding - gets a place studying Maths at the local university, and becomes her lodger when turned down by mean-spirited locals. A natural anarchist who believes that all forms of government should be blown sky-high, Miss Webster is alert to her own possible deception by a terrorist. Beautiful Cherif is, however, someone to share her extreme loneliness, to introduce her to her first rock concert, Sky TV and fasting at Ramadan.

The clash between English and Berber culture, described in Duncker's lucid, elegant prose, is funny and touching, ranging as it does from Cherif's bewilderment at motorway signs telling them to use the "hard shoulder" to his belief that Miss Webster, like Miss Marple, is unmarried because she was a lady detective. With only popular film culture in common, their approximate communications bring out the best in both of them, and even softens the hearts of the villagers who have hated their neighbour for years. Only connect, as Forster said.

This is not, however, just a feel-good novel like Miss Garnett's Angel. Duncker, author of prize-winning novels such as Hallucinating Foucault and The Deadly Space Between has excelled at exploring ideas through eccentric personal relationships while not gaining wide readership. Here, her intelligence is modulated into a story of real charm and compassion. Just how much should we trust strangers from an alien culture? Can we continue to live according to ancient beliefs in a darkening world? Can duty and desire ever be accommodated, or must they, like the opera Carmen, head for a fatal clash?

I loved this book. It is written with the spirit of George Eliot presiding over it - liberal, sympathetic, beadily intelligent and passionate. I've already bought a copy for my mother-in-law and one of my best friends. Don't miss it!

Unpleasant stuff, 09 Oct 2006
The book is initially very appealing: the main characters are painted well; the story begins nicely; and my interest was easily held. However, the plot lost momentum in the middle, and petered out at the end. I'm still not sure what some of the plot lines were all about.

There are two sex scenes. The first one is between mother and son. The second one is violent. If this turns you on, then buy the book. I found it pretty unpleasant.

The book also contains one of the tales from Duncker's "Seven Tales of Sex and Death". This tale was nasty.


Fantastic, 07 Jun 2004
I'm only half-way into the book at the moment so dare say I shouldn't be reviewing it yet but I just can't wait.
After reading 'Hallucinating Foucault' I was prompted to read 'The Deadly Space Between', simlilarly to that it has the same mature text, eloquent metaphors and beautiful descriptiveness. It is however not as immediate as 'Hallucinating Foucault' and for any reader looking for their first foray into Duncker's work I would recommend this as apposed to 'The Deadly Space Between' to begin with before progressing to.
In various parts of these two novels it is plain to see just how fabulous the author is.
I won't go into detail around the actual plot as it isn't fair to as I haven't actually finished reading it but it is completely captivating (given some patience) and challenging almost.

This is definately recommended.

Simply Brilliant!, 14 May 2003
I bought this book simply from the blurb and I was not disappointed! The characters are compelling and likable and the ending is shocking. The seemingly normal beginning of everyday events quickly draw you into the characters bizarre lives and from there the story quickly begins to unfold. You cannot fail to love this book and the characters and the story stay with you even after you have put the book down. You must read this book!

Disturbing reading..., 21 Apr 2003
The world to introverted eighteen year old Tobias Hawk is one surrounded by women. His artist mother Iso raises him in a careless fashion having been cut off from her religious family for giving birth to him at the age of fifteen. The brutalities of the world do not touch his mother who is protected in a self serving way by her wealthy aunt Lucy. Toby's own obsessions with Iso are a dark underlay to his life and this is all he wants. But it all changes when his mother takes a lover.

The enigmatic Roehm fulfills many roles to Toby and Iso - father, lover, initiator to the rites of worldly men. The relationship lines are blurred and Toby finds himself torn between the urge to keep the life he has always known pure from other influences and his desires for Roehm. Neither mother or son can resist the dark attraction of the mysterious Roehm, man without a past, and seemly impossible to base in the reality of the present. Roehm seems to know their unvoiced thoughts and fears, and is a master in manipulation.

The searches Toby makes on the Internet and with the assistance of Liberty, Lucy's young lover, bring nothing but alpine references and hallucinogenic experiences for the bewildered Toby. In an effort to save Iso, who Toby believes has attempted to murder Roehm in a fit of passion, Toby finishes the killing and pursues the fleeing Iso to Switzerland where the answers to his questions about his parentage and about Roehm come not from the living world.

This moody, erotically questioning novel travels in fits and starts with a more satisfying pick up in pace in the final pages. This may be too late for the reader who could be easily frustrated in the pompous self indulgent wanderings of Toby's mind, whose world is truly so narrow that nothing not effecting his immediate existence is completely irrelevant to him. The child wanting to be a man fails to grow throughout the novel and the reader may not really care what happens as an outcome despite many unanswered questions.

===
Andrea Thompson

Literary Vivid and Accessible Page Turner, 01 Jul 2002
this is a great book. very well written, pacey but deep. Treads the boundary between the real and the imaginary with great skill and control. It also made me laugh out loud in parts which, for me, is a rarity with novels. very strong and disturbing characterisations especially Roehm. PD is not scared of tackling matters sexual and grotesque with tremendous results. one of the best books i've read for a long while.

Page-turner, 06 Jun 2008
A page-turner, though not necessarily a careless one. I read it in one sitting - it is a short book, and not too challenging either. The background research is not bad for the genre. I would recommend reading it in an airport or on a plane.

My favourite book, 11 Jan 2007
This is my comfort book - the one I turn to when I'm lonely or feeling down - I love it to bits. I'm not sure what the other reviewer is going on about but everything about this book is brilliant - if you look at the other versions you'll see the other reviews reflect this. Strongly Recommended.

Diasappointment, 15 Nov 2006
I have seldom been so disappointed by a well-recommended book. I thought it not very well written and totally unconvincing. Not a single character, scene or conversation came across as real.

Passionate and rivetting read, 16 Sep 2004
Darkly erotic (as in all Duncker's best work), this tale is a rivetting page-turner and tumbles the reader into the roller-coaster world of falling in love and being in love. An inspirational debut and the seed of all the author's later work.

One I'd definitely recommend.

Fascinating, 04 Jun 2004
This book is captivating, fascinating and quite inspiring. The climax is quite hard-going even to the colder reader. Worth reading!

Falling in love can be complicated!, 28 Jul 2006
This edition boasts an engrossing translation: graceful, articulate and capturing the sensuality of Gautier's prose. Furthermore Duncker's introduction updates many of the novel's themes using contemporary references to explicate 19th century sexual mores. I felt the story provided an entertaining exploration of the `art' of seduction and the psychosocial basis for hetero- and homosexual attraction. Gautier juxtaposes the Chevalier d'Albert's quest for the ideal female lover with Mademoiselle de Maupin's clandestine desire to understand the true nature of men. In doing so Gautier cleverly exposes the nature of homoerotic desire to such an extent that those of us who feel secure with our own sexuality may be forced to rethink what if?

Fascinating tales, 09 Sep 2004
These tales give us all the hallmarks of Duncker's fine writing and I couldn't put it down - wonderfully erotic and powerful stuff. Definitely one I'd recommend!

Patricia Duncker's third book is an elegant exploration of the way gender and identity shape a life. The starring role is given to James Miranda Barry, a 19th century society figure, who enrolled as a student at Edinburgh and carved out an illustrious medical career on three continents. Nothing too strange about that, except that James Miranda Barry lived life as a man but was actually a woman.

Duncker has created "an imaginative exploration" of the real Barry's life, adjusting facts and adding figures to transform a story of love and adventure into a masque of sexual identity, where the hero is really the leading lady and the love interest is a kitchen maid, turned actress, who relishes "the breeches parts" in Shakespeare's plays.

It's an enthralling, strange tale, peopled with actors and soldiers, artists and revolutionary generals. Illicit liaisons, adultery, confused paternity, colonial history and family secrets provide the transgressive background to Barry's disorientating transformation into someone who was "neither man nor woman but partook of both", who combined "a woman's delicacy and grace" with "the courage and skill of a man."

Duncker's literary skills are equally adept and disorienting. Her prose is cool and clean, shot through with lush descriptions of flowers and landscape (her decadence seems to be saved for the glories of nature). Although Alice Jones the kitchen maid actress can proclaim to Barry: "You are who the world says you are. And the world says you're a man" but with Duncker it isn't quite that simple. Barry's manly charade is played out with the subtle, startling awareness of his (sic) womanly identity. It makes for a very sophisticated narrative where all surfaces are deceptive and all experiences are dual. --Eithne Farry

Compassionate story of an unlikely friendship, 01 Feb 2008
Elizabeth Webster the protagonist of this novel is a retired, single and extremely dogmatic lady. She is afflicted by an unknown illness which is a life changing experience for her. Many months later after recovering and travelling to North Africa for a holiday an unknown young man unexpectedly becomes part of life. Elizabeth and the young man Cherif are well portrayed characters and the story of this unlikely friendship is both sad and funny. However I felt this compassionate tale was somewhat stilted in parts with potential for much more development, had the author chosen to do so.


Not Good, 10 Jul 2007
This was an awkward and unconvincing story that utterly failed to engage me as a reader. Although I did develop an affection for the characters, this wasn't enough. I especially lost patience when her central character criticized Peter Susskind's fine book "Perfume". This was completely uncalled for. That said, Duncker is obviously a good writer, but this is not a good book.

Not recommended.

Not her best ..., 22 Sep 2006
Hmm, I didn't really enjoy this one, which is unusual because I normally love Duncker. However, in this case, I felt the story didn't actually begin until Cherif turned up on Page 80 (in my hardcover edition). That was when everything really got going, and the first 79 pages are nothing but backstory. I think the information in them would have been better dropped into the real story here and there to build up the tension.

It's also interesting that the plot (such as there is) all seems to occur in the last 20 pages in one of those bizarre Agatha Christie-like denouements. This came across as rather clunky.

As this is Duncker, there are of course some wonderful turns of phrase, but I really think the sections with Cherif and Miss Webster in the UK getting to know each other are the only parts worth the read - and would have been far better on their own as a novella or long short story.

completely captivating : Miss Garnett's Angel for 2006, 27 Apr 2006
Elizabeth Webster, former French teacher at a girls' school, is a Miss Jean Brodie well past her prime. Ordered abroad to North Africa after a devastating nervous breakdown which has left her half-dead and needing sticks to walk, she has become "everything she most despised: querulous, forgetful, indecisive." Her suffering is brilliantly described, but the Moroccan desert, and the people she meets at a luxury hotel there begin to restore her to herself, a process furthered when the hotelier's exquisitely beautiful son, Cherif, appears on her doorstep back in Little Blessingham.

Who, or what, is Cherif? Set in the year after 9/11, this question becomes increasingly pressing in what is both a mystery story and a comedy of manners. Miss Webster defends him against all comers partly because it is in her bloody-minded nature to do so, and partly out of a genuine, growing affection. Cherif - gentle, respectful, undemanding - gets a place studying Maths at the local university, and becomes her lodger when turned down by mean-spirited locals. A natural anarchist who believes that all forms of government should be blown sky-high, Miss Webster is alert to her own possible deception by a terrorist. Beautiful Cherif is, however, someone to share her extreme loneliness, to introduce her to her first rock concert, Sky TV and fasting at Ramadan.

The clash between English and Berber culture, described in Duncker's lucid, elegant prose, is funny and touching, ranging as it does from Cherif's bewilderment at motorway signs telling them to use the "hard shoulder" to his belief that Miss Webster, like Miss Marple, is unmarried because she was a lady detective. With only popular film culture in common, their approximate communications bring out the best in both of them, and even softens the hearts of the villagers who have hated their neighbour for years. Only connect, as Forster said.

This is not, however, just a feel-good novel like Miss Garnett's Angel. Duncker, author of prize-winning novels such as Hallucinating Foucault and The Deadly Space Between has excelled at exploring ideas through eccentric personal relationships while not gaining wide readership. Here, her intelligence is modulated into a story of real charm and compassion. Just how much should we trust strangers from an alien culture? Can we continue to live according to ancient beliefs in a darkening world? Can duty and desire ever be accommodated, or must they, like the opera Carmen, head for a fatal clash?

I loved this book. It is written with the spirit of George Eliot presiding over it - liberal, sympathetic, beadily intelligent and passionate. I've already bought a copy for my mother-in-law and one of my best friends. Don't miss it!

Unpleasant stuff, 09 Oct 2006
The book is initially very appealing: the main characters are painted well; the story begins nicely; and my interest was easily held. However, the plot lost momentum in the middle, and petered out at the end. I'm still not sure what some of the plot lines were all about.

There are two sex scenes. The first one is between mother and son. The second one is violent. If this turns you on, then buy the book. I found it pretty unpleasant.

The book also contains one of the tales from Duncker's "Seven Tales of Sex and Death". This tale was nasty.


Fantastic, 07 Jun 2004
I'm only half-way into the book at the moment so dare say I shouldn't be reviewing it yet but I just can't wait.
After reading 'Hallucinating Foucault' I was prompted to read 'The Deadly Space Between', simlilarly to that it has the same mature text, eloquent metaphors and beautiful descriptiveness. It is however not as immediate as 'Hallucinating Foucault' and for any reader looking for their first foray into Duncker's work I would recommend this as apposed to 'The Deadly Space Between' to begin with before progressing to.
In various parts of these two novels it is plain to see just how fabulous the author is.
I won't go into detail around the actual plot as it isn't fair to as I haven't actually finished reading it but it is completely captivating (given some patience) and challenging almost.

This is definately recommended.

Simply Brilliant!, 14 May 2003
I bought this book simply from the blurb and I was not disappointed! The characters are compelling and likable and the ending is shocking. The seemingly normal beginning of everyday events quickly draw you into the characters bizarre lives and from there the story quickly begins to unfold. You cannot fail to love this book and the characters and the story stay with you even after you have put the book down. You must read this book!

Disturbing reading..., 21 Apr 2003
The world to introverted eighteen year old Tobias Hawk is one surrounded by women. His artist mother Iso raises him in a careless fashion having been cut off from her religious family for giving birth to him at the age of fifteen. The brutalities of the world do not touch his mother who is protected in a self serving way by her wealthy aunt Lucy. Toby's own obsessions with Iso are a dark underlay to his life and this is all he wants. But it all changes when his mother takes a lover.

The enigmatic Roehm fulfills many roles to Toby and Iso - father, lover, initiator to the rites of worldly men. The relationship lines are blurred and Toby finds himself torn between the urge to keep the life he has always known pure from other influences and his desires for Roehm. Neither mother or son can resist the dark attraction of the mysterious Roehm, man without a past, and seemly impossible to base in the reality of the present. Roehm seems to know their unvoiced thoughts and fears, and is a master in manipulation.

The searches Toby makes on the Internet and with the assistance of Liberty, Lucy's young lover, bring nothing but alpine references and hallucinogenic experiences for the bewildered Toby. In an effort to save Iso, who Toby believes has attempted to murder Roehm in a fit of passion, Toby finishes the killing and pursues the fleeing Iso to Switzerland where the answers to his questions about his parentage and about Roehm come not from the living world.

This moody, erotically questioning novel travels in fits and starts with a more satisfying pick up in pace in the final pages. This may be too late for the reader who could be easily frustrated in the pompous self indulgent wanderings of Toby's mind, whose world is truly so narrow that nothing not effecting his immediate existence is completely irrelevant to him. The child wanting to be a man fails to grow throughout the novel and the reader may not really care what happens as an outcome despite many unanswered questions.

===
Andrea Thompson

Literary Vivid and Accessible Page Turner, 01 Jul 2002
this is a great book. very well written, pacey but deep. Treads the boundary between the real and the imaginary with great skill and control. It also made me laugh out loud in parts which, for me, is a rarity with novels. very strong and disturbing characterisations especially Roehm. PD is not scared of tackling matters sexual and grotesque with tremendous results. one of the best books i've read for a long while.

Page-turner, 06 Jun 2008
A page-turner, though not necessarily a careless one. I read it in one sitting - it is a short book, and not too challenging either. The background research is not bad for the genre. I would recommend reading it in an airport or on a plane.

My favourite book, 11 Jan 2007
This is my comfort book - the one I turn to when I'm lonely or feeling down - I love it to bits. I'm not sure what the other reviewer is going on about but everything about this book is brilliant - if you look at the other versions you'll see the other reviews reflect this. Strongly Recommended.

Diasappointment, 15 Nov 2006
I have seldom been so disappointed by a well-recommended book. I thought it not very well written and totally unconvincing. Not a single character, scene or conversation came across as real.

Passionate and rivetting read, 16 Sep 2004
Darkly erotic (as in all Duncker's best work), this tale is a rivetting page-turner and tumbles the reader into the roller-coaster world of falling in love and being in love. An inspirational debut and the seed of all the author's later work.

One I'd definitely recommend.

Fascinating, 04 Jun 2004
This book is captivating, fascinating and quite inspiring. The climax is quite hard-going even to the colder reader. Worth reading!

Falling in love can be complicated!, 28 Jul 2006
This edition boasts an engrossing translation: graceful, articulate and capturing the sensuality of Gautier's prose. Furthermore Duncker's introduction updates many of the novel's themes using contemporary references to explicate 19th century sexual mores. I felt the story provided an entertaining exploration of the `art' of seduction and the psychosocial basis for hetero- and homosexual attraction. Gautier juxtaposes the Chevalier d'Albert's quest for the ideal female lover with Mademoiselle de Maupin's clandestine desire to understand the true nature of men. In doing so Gautier cleverly exposes the nature of homoerotic desire to such an extent that those of us who feel secure with our own sexuality may be forced to rethink what if?

Fascinating tales, 09 Sep 2004
These tales give us all the hallmarks of Duncker's fine writing and I couldn't put it down - wonderfully erotic and powerful stuff. Definitely one I'd recommend!

James Miranda Barry, 27 Feb 2004
An interesting book when it eventually got going. Far too much time was spent on the childhood ?where does this information come from. Being a factual book it's hard to digest what might have been in childhood without some substantial evidence. However her life within the military would have been documented to a degree and therefore some embellishment was acceptable.That said the writing of Patricia Dunker was excellant and was therefore an enjoyable read

Superb, 04 Aug 2003
A wonderful book which approaches its inherently intriguing subject from a unique, original and wholly unexpected perspective. Always manages to avoid the obvious. The quality of the writing is also stunningly good. Definitely one of my top reads of 2003.

This is a really amazing book,a feast for the mind, 13 Nov 2000
I really enjoyed this book it took me I while to get through but by the end I could't put it down. It is a story of an amazing journey through a tough life. The fact that it is partially true makes it even better.

The best book I've read all year, 18 Aug 2000
Whoever is marketing this book should be shot. I haven't see any blurb, bumf or reviews about it anywhere - which is a total sin as it is a cracking story, exquisitely written and totally original. It really is a classic and they should be shouting about it from the roof-tops. Get it for yourself - you'll want to read it over and over again.

A fascinating book on a fascinating person, 29 Dec 1999
Let's begin it like this: I work in a bookshop where there are three booksellers. We've got a completely different taste and usually disaggree on whixh books we like. But when one of us was asked to recommend a book this christmas season (and we're ofttimes asked for recommendations during that periode of time, as you may imagine), everyone of us recommended »James Miranda Barry«, as one of the most beautiful books we had ever read. And, in most cases, we sold the book, then. It's brilliant. The style is great, there's a power and magic in these words that leaves you speechless for a while. And the plot is great. There has really been a James Miranda Barry, and he was, most likely, a woman, who attracted both men and women though he (?) lived as a man for most of his live. People always wondered about Dr. Barry's sex, but he was never involved in any scandals about it. It's the story of a person who, bereft of a sexual identity, lives in danger of losing her whole identity. This may sound kitschy. But believe me - it's impüossible to write a kitschy book about someone who has ice cold fingers all of the time. Just read this book. Then, you'll understand.

Compassionate story of an unlikely friendship, 01 Feb 2008
Elizabeth Webster the protagonist of this novel is a retired, single and extremely dogmatic lady. She is afflicted by an unknown illness which is a life changing experience for her. Many months later after recovering and travelling to North Africa for a holiday an unknown young man unexpectedly becomes part of life. Elizabeth and the young man Cherif are well portrayed characters and the story of this unlikely friendship is both sad and funny. However I felt this compassionate tale was somewhat stilted in parts with potential for much more development, had the author chosen to do so.


Not Good, 10 Jul 2007
This was an awkward and unconvincing story that utterly failed to engage me as a reader. Although I did develop an affection for the characters, this wasn't enough. I especially lost patience when her central character criticized Peter Susskind's fine book "Perfume". This was completely uncalled for. That said, Duncker is obviously a good writer, but this is not a good book.

Not recommended.

Not her best ..., 22 Sep 2006
Hmm, I didn't really enjoy this one, which is unusual because I normally love Duncker. However, in this case, I felt the story didn't actually begin until Cherif turned up on Page 80 (in my hardcover edition). That was when everything really got going, and the first 79 pages are nothing but backstory. I think the information in them would have been better dropped into the real story here and there to build up the tension.

It's also interesting that the plot (such as there is) all seems to occur in the last 20 pages in one of those bizarre Agatha Christie-like denouements. This came across as rather clunky.

As this is Duncker, there are of course some wonderful turns of phrase, but I really think the sections with Cherif and Miss Webster in the UK getting to know each other are the only parts worth the read - and would have been far better on their own as a novella or long short story.

completely captivating : Miss Garnett's Angel for 2006, 27 Apr 2006
Elizabeth Webster, former French teacher at a girls' school, is a Miss Jean Brodie well past her prime. Ordered abroad to North Africa after a devastating nervous breakdown which has left her half-dead and needing sticks to walk, she has become "everything she most despised: querulous, forgetful, indecisive." Her suffering is brilliantly described, but the Moroccan desert, and the people she meets at a luxury hotel there begin to restore her to herself, a process furthered when the hotelier's exquisitely beautiful son, Cherif, appears on her doorstep back in Little Blessingham.

Who, or what, is Cherif? Set in the year after 9/11, this question becomes increasingly pressing in what is both a mystery story and a comedy of manners. Miss Webster defends him against all comers partly because it is in her bloody-minded nature to do so, and partly out of a genuine, growing affection. Cherif - gentle, respectful, undemanding - gets a place studying Maths at the local university, and becomes her lodger when turned down by mean-spirited locals. A natural anarchist who believes that all forms of government should be blown sky-high, Miss Webster is alert to her own possible deception by a terrorist. Beautiful Cherif is, however, someone to share her extreme loneliness, to introduce her to her first rock concert, Sky TV and fasting at Ramadan.

The clash between English and Berber culture, described in Duncker's lucid, elegant prose, is funny and touching, ranging as it does from Cherif's bewilderment at motorway signs telling them to use the "hard shoulder" to his belief that Miss Webster, like Miss Marple, is unmarried because she was a lady detective. With only popular film culture in common, their approximate communications bring out the best in both of them, and even softens the hearts of the villagers who have hated their neighbour for years. Only connect, as Forster said.

This is not, however, just a feel-good novel like Miss Garnett's Angel. Duncker, author of prize-winning novels such as Hallucinating Foucault and The Deadly Space Between has excelled at exploring ideas through eccentric personal relationships while not gaining wide readership. Here, her intelligence is modulated into a story of real charm and compassion. Just how much should we trust strangers from an alien culture? Can we continue to live according to ancient beliefs in a darkening world? Can duty and desire ever be accommodated, or must they, like the opera Carmen, head for a fatal clash?

I loved this book. It is written with the spirit of George Eliot presiding over it - liberal, sympathetic, beadily intelligent and passionate. I've already bought a copy for my mother-in-law and one of my best friends. Don't miss it!

Unpleasant stuff, 09 Oct 2006
The book is initially very appealing: the main characters are painted well; the story begins nicely; and my interest was easily held. However, the plot lost momentum in the middle, and petered out at the end. I'm still not sure what some of the plot lines were all about.

There are two sex scenes. The first one is between mother and son. The second one is violent. If this turns you on, then buy the book. I found it pretty unpleasant.

The book also contains one of the tales from Duncker's "Seven Tales of Sex and Death". This tale was nasty.


Fantastic, 07 Jun 2004
I'm only half-way into the book at the moment so dare say I shouldn't be reviewing it yet but I just can't wait.
After reading 'Hallucinating Foucault' I was prompted to read 'The Deadly Space Between', simlilarly to that it has the same mature text, eloquent metaphors and beautiful descriptiveness. It is however not as immediate as 'Hallucinating Foucault' and for any reader looking for their first foray into Duncker's work I would recommend this as apposed to 'The Deadly Space Between' to begin with before progressing to.
In various parts of these two novels it is plain to see just how fabulous the author is.
I won't go into detail around the actual plot as it isn't fair to as I haven't actually finished reading it but it is completely captivating (given some patience) and challenging almost.

This is definately recommended.

Simply Brilliant!, 14 May 2003
I bought this book simply from the blurb and I was not disappointed! The characters are compelling and likable and the ending is shocking. The seemingly normal beginning of everyday events quickly draw you into the characters bizarre lives and from there the story quickly begins to unfold. You cannot fail to love this book and the characters and the story stay with you even after you have put the book down. You must read this book!

Disturbing reading..., 21 Apr 2003
The world to introverted eighteen year old Tobias Hawk is one surrounded by women. His artist mother Iso raises him in a careless fashion having been cut off from her religious family for giving birth to him at the age of fifteen. The brutalities of the world do not touch his mother who is protected in a self serving way by her wealthy aunt Lucy. Toby's own obsessions with Iso are a dark underlay to his life and this is all he wants. But it all changes when his mother takes a lover.

The enigmatic Roehm fulfills many roles to Toby and Iso - father, lover, initiator to the rites of worldly men. The relationship lines are blurred and Toby finds himself torn between the urge to keep the life he has always known pure from other influences and his desires for Roehm. Neither mother or son can resist the dark attraction of the mysterious Roehm, man without a past, and seemly impossible to base in the reality of the present. Roehm seems to know their unvoiced thoughts and fears, and is a master in manipulation.

The searches Toby makes on the Internet and with the assistance of Liberty, Lucy's young lover, bring nothing but alpine references and hallucinogenic experiences for the bewildered Toby. In an effort to save Iso, who Toby believes has attempted to murder Roehm in a fit of passion, Toby finishes the killing and pursues the fleeing Iso to Switzerland where the answers to his questions about his parentage and about Roehm come not from the living world.

This moody, erotically questioning novel travels in fits and starts with a more satisfying pick up in pace in the final pages. This may be too late for the reader who could be easily frustrated in the pompous self indulgent wanderings of Toby's mind, whose world is truly so narrow that nothing not effecting his immediate existence is completely irrelevant to him. The child wanting to be a man fails to grow throughout the novel and the reader may not really care what happens as an outcome despite many unanswered questions.

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Andrea Thompson

Literary Vivid and Accessible Page Turner, 01 Jul 2002
this is a great book. very well written, pacey but deep. Treads the boundary between the real and the imaginary with great skill and control. It also made me laugh out loud in parts which, for me, is a rarity with novels. very strong and disturbing characterisations especially Roehm. PD is not scared of tackling matters sexual and grotesque with tremendous results. one of the best books i've read for a long while.

Page-turner, 06 Jun 2008
A page-turner, though not necessarily a careless one. I read it in one sitting - it is a short book, and not too challenging either. The background research is not bad for the genre. I would recommend reading it in an airport or on a plane.

My favourite book, 11 Jan 2007
This is my comfort book - the one I turn to when I'm lonely or feeling down - I love it to bits. I'm not sure what the other reviewer is going on about but everything about this book is brilliant - if you look at the other versions you'll see the other reviews reflect this. Strongly Recommended.

Diasappointment, 15 Nov 2006
I have seldom been so disappointed by a well-recommended book. I thought it not very well written and totally unconvincing. Not a single character, scene or conversation came across as real.

Passionate and rivetting read, 16 Sep 2004
Darkly erotic (as in all Duncker's best work), this tale is a rivetting page-turner and tumbles the reader into the roller-coaster world of falling in love and being in love. An inspirational debut and the seed of all the author's later work.

One I'd definitely recommend.

Fascinating, 04 Jun 2004
This book is captivating, fascinating and quite inspiring. The climax is quite hard-going even to the colder reader. Worth reading!

Falling in love can be complicated!, 28 Jul 2006
This edition boasts an engrossing translation: graceful, articulate and capturing the sensuality of Gautier's prose. Furthermore Duncker's introduction updates many of the novel's themes using contemporary references to explicate 19th century sexual mores. I felt the story provided an entertaining exploration of the `art' of seduction and the psychosocial basis for hetero- and homosexual attraction. Gautier juxtaposes the Chevalier d'Albert's quest for the ideal female lover with Mademoiselle de Maupin's clandestine desire to understand the true nature of men. In doing so Gautier cleverly exposes the nature of homoerotic desire to such an extent that those of us who feel secure with our own sexuality may be forced to rethink what if?

Fascinating tales, 09 Sep 2004
These tales give us all the hallmarks of Duncker's fine writing and I couldn't put it down - wonderfully erotic and powerful stuff. Definitely one I'd recommend!

James Miranda Barry, 27 Feb 2004
An interesting book when it eventually got going. Far too much time was spent on the childhood ?where does this information come from. Being a factual book it's hard to digest what might have been in childhood without some substantial evidence. However her life within the military would have been documented to a degree and therefore some embellishment was acceptable.That said the writing of Patricia Dunker was excellant and was therefore an enjoyable read

Superb, 04 Aug 2003
A wonderful book which approaches its inherently intriguing subject from a unique, original and wholly unexpected perspective. Always manages to avoid the obvious. The quality of the writing is also stunningly good. Definitely one of my top reads of 2003.

This is a really amazing book,a feast for the mind, 13 Nov 2000
I really enjoyed this book it took me I while to get through but by the end I could't put it down. It is a story of an amazing journey through a tough life. The fact that it is partially true makes it even better.

The best book I've read all year, 18 Aug 2000
Whoever is marketing this book should be shot. I haven't see any blurb, bumf or reviews about it anywhere - which is a total sin as it is a cracking story, exquisitely written and totally original. It really is a classic and they should be shouting about it from the roof-tops. Get it for yourself - you'll want to read it over and over again.

A fascinating book on a fascinating person, 29 Dec 1999
Let's begin it like this: I work in a bookshop where there are three booksellers. We've got a completely different taste and usually disaggree on whixh books we like. But when one of us was asked to recommend a book this christmas season (and we're ofttimes asked for recommendations during that periode of time, as you may imagine), everyone of us recommended »James Miranda Barry«, as one of the most beautiful books we had ever read. And, in most cases, we sold the book, then. It's brilliant. The style is great, there's a power and magic in these words that leaves you speechless for a while. And the plot is great. There has really been a James Miranda Barry, and he was, most likely, a woman, who attracted both men and women though he (?) lived as a man for most of his live. People always wondered about Dr. Barry's sex, but he was never involved in any scandals about it. It's the story of a person who, bereft of a sexual identity, lives in danger of losing her whole identity. This may sound kitschy. But believe me - it's impüossible to write a kitschy book about someone who has ice cold fingers all of the time. Just read this book. Then, you'll understand.

Compassionate story of an unlikely friendship, 01 Feb 2008
Elizabeth Webster the protagonist of this novel is a retired, single and extremely dogmatic lady. She is afflicted by an unknown illness which is a life changing experience for her. Many months later after recovering and travelling to North Africa for a holiday an unknown young man unexpectedly becomes part of life. Elizabeth and the young man Cherif are well portrayed characters and the story of this unlikely friendship is both sad and funny. However I felt this compassionate tale was somewhat stilted in parts with potential for much more development, had the author chosen to do so.


Not Good, 10 Jul 2007
This was an awkward and unconvincing story that utterly failed to engage me as a reader. Although I did develop an affection for the characters, this wasn't enough. I especially lost patience when her central character criticized Peter Susskind's fine book "Perfume". This was completely uncalled for. That said, Duncker is obviously a good writer, but this is not a good book.

Not recommended.

Not her best ..., 22 Sep 2006
Hmm, I didn't really enjoy this one, which is unusual because I normally love Duncker. However, in this case, I felt the story didn't actually begin until Cherif turned up on Page 80 (in my hardcover edition). That was when everything really got going, and the first 79 pages are nothing but backstory. I think the information in them would have been better dropped into the real story here and there to build up the tension.

It's also interesting that the plot (such as there is) all seems to occur in the last 20 pages in one of those bizarre Agatha Christie-like denouements. This came across as rather clunky.

As this is Duncker, there are of course some wonderful turns of phrase, but I really think the sections with Cherif and Miss Webster in the UK getting to know each other are the only parts worth the read - and would have been far better on their own as a novella or long short story.

completely captivating : Miss Garnett's Angel for 2006, 27 Apr 2006
Elizabeth Webster, former French teacher at a girls' school, is a Miss Jean Brodie well past her prime. Ordered abroad to North Africa after a devastating nervous breakdown which has left her half-dead and needing sticks to walk, she has become "everything she most despised: querulous, forgetful, indecisive." Her suffering is brilliantly described, but the Moroccan desert, and the people she meets at a luxury hotel there begin to restore her to herself, a process furthered when the hotelier's exquisitely beautiful son, Cherif, appears on her doorstep back in Little Blessingham.

Who, or what, is Cherif? Set in the year after 9/11, this question becomes increasingly pressing in what is both a mystery story and a comedy of manners. Miss Webster defends him against all comers partly because it is in her bloody-minded nature to do so, and partly out of a genuine, growing affection. Cherif - gentle, respectful, undemanding - gets a place studying Maths at the local university, and becomes her lodger when turned down by mean-spirited locals. A natural anarchist who believes that all forms of government should be blown sky-high, Miss Webster is alert to her own possible deception by a terrorist. Beautiful Cherif is, however, someone to share her extreme loneliness, to introduce her to her first rock concert, Sky TV and fasting at Ramadan.

The clash between English and Berber culture, described in Duncker's lucid, elegant prose, is funny and touching, ranging as it does from Cherif's bewilderment at motorway signs telling them to use the "hard shoulder" to his belief that Miss Webster, like Miss Marple, is unmarried because she was a lady detective. With only popular film culture in common, their approximate communications bring out the best in both of them, and even softens the hearts of the villagers who have hated their neighbour for years. Only connect, as Forster said.

This is not, however, just a feel-good novel like Miss Garnett's Angel. Duncker, author of prize-winning novels such as Hallucinating Foucault and The Deadly Space Between has excelled at exploring ideas through eccentric personal relationships while not gaining wide readership. Here, her intelligence is modulated into a story of real charm and compassion. Just how much should we trust strangers from an alien culture? Can we continue to live according to ancient beliefs in a darkening world? Can duty and desire ever be accommodated, or must they, like the opera Carmen, head for a fatal clash?

I loved this book. It is written with the spirit of George Eliot presiding over it - liberal, sympathetic, beadily intelligent and passionate. I've already bought a copy for my mother-in-law and one of my best friends. Don't miss it!

Compassionate story of an unlikely friendship, 01 Feb 2008
Elizabeth Webster the protagonist of this novel is a retired, single and extremely dogmatic lady. She is afflicted by an unknown illness which is a life changing experience for her. Many months later after recovering and travelling to North Africa for a holiday an unknown young man unexpectedly becomes part of life. Elizabeth and the young man Cherif are well portrayed characters and the story of this unlikely friendship is both sad and funny. However I felt this compassionate tale was somewhat stilted in parts with potential for much more development, had the author chosen to do so.


Not Good, 10 Jul 2007
This was an awkward and unconvincing story that utterly failed to engage me as a reader. Although I did develop an affection for the characters, this wasn't enough. I especially lost patience when her central character criticized Peter Susskind's fine book "Perfume". This was completely uncalled for. That said, Duncker is obviously a good writer, but this is not a good book.

Not recommended.

Not her best ..., 22 Sep 2006
Hmm, I didn't really enjoy this one, which is unusual because I normally love Duncker. However, in this case, I felt the story didn't actually begin until Cherif turned up on Page 80 (in my hardcover edition). That was when everything really got going, and the first 79 pages are nothing but backstory. I think the information in them would have been better dropped into the real story here and there to build up the tension.

It's also interesting that the plot (such as there is) all seems to occur in the last 20 pages in one of those bizarre Agatha Christie-like denouements. This came across as rather clunky.

As this is Duncker, there are of course some wonderful turns of phrase, but I really think the sections with Cherif and Miss Webster in the UK getting to know each other are the only parts worth the read - and would have been far better on their own as a novella or long short story.

completely captivating : Miss Garnett's Angel for 2006, 27 Apr 2006
Elizabeth Webs