Sunday 12 August 2012

A Change Of Climate: Book Review


A Change of Climate by Hilary Mantel is one of the most absorbing books I've read recently. Set in England and Africa, it is about a couple from Norfolk, the Eldreds, whose memories of their time spent as missionaries in South Africa and Botswana and the tragedy which occured there have shaped their lives and the lives of their four children.

The book begins in England in the present, where the couple live with their family. Ralph, the father, is the director of a religious charitable trust and the Eldreds have opened their home to 'sad cases', as the children learn to call them. While the children have grown up knowing very little about what came before, it has still insidiously affected the lives of the whole family.

The reader is subsequently taken back to the past, learning about the couples upbringing and their time spent in South Africa. The climax is delayed, as the novel keeps cutting back to the present, and I just couldn't put the book down during this section.

It is a family saga, which encompasses a myriad of issues: marriage, evil, betrayal, injustice, forgiveness, and charity. Each character is engaging, each part of the story fascinating in its own way, and I would recommend it very highly if you are looking for a book which will make you think, as well as keeping you captivated from start to finish.



He took one of the peaches and cut into it. It was a yellow-fleshed peach, its skin as rough as a cat's tongue, and its ripeness spread out from the stone like a bloody graze.

It was cooler than Anna had expected, and the air seemed thin. She shrank away from the hooting and snarling of the traffic and the mosaic of faces in the street. At midnight a noise brought her to the window of their modest hotel. Hailstones - frozen chips of ice, an inch and a half across - rattled at the glass. The bombardment lasted for five minutes. It stopped as suddenly as it began. For an hour, deep in the watches of the night, the city was quiet, as if holding its breath.

12 comments:

  1. sounds like a charming book!

    xo Camilla

    Into The Fold

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  2. Glad you enjoyed it as much as I did. I like the subtle photo!
    Love mum

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  3. That sounds like a great summer read. I am constantly on the look out for new reading so I will look into this!

    http://www.themirroronthewall.com/

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  4. I am on the lookout for something new to read as I finished my last book a few days ago & didn't line myself up anything new to replace it with! I'll have to give this one a whirl x

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  5. It's going on my holiday reading list - thanks for the recommendation!

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  6. This sounds great...I love time travel sort of books where you get to have both modern and past in one novel. And I love anything that's set in Britain :)

    <3 Cambria
    jupefashion.blogspot.com

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  7. Great review! I am interested! Have a lovely week!

    LA By Diana Live Magazine

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  8. you live in scottland?! omg i am so jealous of you right now!!!
    Not the sort of book i'm into, but still sounds good =)

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  9. Sounds really interesting and definitely one I'd look into
    Thanks for sharing!

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  10. Sounds cool, I have been thinking of moving to England actually, but I'm worried it will be too cloudy and gloomy all the time!

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Comments most welcome, please and thank you