The Book of Guilt

Catherine Chidgey

Publisher: John Murray Press
Publication Date: 15/05/2025 ISBN: 9781399823616 Category:
Hardback

£20.00

Purchase a Mr B’s Sticker with your order.

Become the envy of all book lovers with your own Mr B’s sticker to show off where you do your shopping.

Quantity:

Description

MORNING, AFTERNOON, NIGHT. THE MOTHERS ARE ALWAYS WATCHING . . .

‘Brilliant . . . Chidgey’s luxurious and unhurried prose stokes tension in a compulsive thriller’ Observer

‘Written with insight and brio, deftly balancing darkness and light, depth and pace’ Guardian

‘Grand and devastating, and packed with perfectly timed revelations . . .This involving, humane novel brims with vitality – and soul’ New York Times

‘Chidgey writes with surgical precision and emotional weight . . . quietly devastating, fiercely intelligent and unforgettable’ Irish Times

‘Eloquent prose, rich characterizations, and knotty concepts – an emotional and intellectual tour de force’ Kirkus

‘Brilliant . . . you will race through this book in a single, breathless sitting’ Literary Review

England, 1979. Vincent, Lawrence and William are the last remaining residents of a secluded New Forest home, part of the government’s Sycamore Scheme. Every day, the triplets do their chores, play their games and take their medicine, under the watchful eyes of three mothers: Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night.

Their nightmares are recorded in The Book of Dreams.
Their lessons are taken from The Book of Knowledge.
And their sins are reported in The Book of Guilt.

All the boys want is to be sent to the Big House in Margate, where they imagine a life of sun, sea and fairground rides. But, as the government looks to shut down the Sycamore Homes, the triplets begin to question everything they have been told.

Gradually surrendering its dark secrets, The Book of Guilt is a profoundly unnerving exploration of belonging in a world where some lives are valued less than others.

‘What a book! Tense, inventive, mysterious and moving, The Book of Guilt poses big questions in the context of a rocketing plot. I loved it completely’ Karen Joy Fowler, author of Booth

‘Original, dark, clever and compelling’ Mary Ann Sieghart, author of The Authority Gap

‘This is a compelling and terrifying novel whose alternative history engages chillingly with current possibilities. No one writes children better than Chidgey. She exactly gets their experimental cruelty and related innocence as they attempt to piece their world together’ Elizabeth Cook, author of Lux

Publisher Review

This is a compelling and terrifying novel whose alternative history engages chillingly with current possibilities. No one writes children better than Chidgey. She exactly gets their experimental cruelty and related innocence as they attempt to piece their world together -- Elizabeth Cook, author of LUX Original, dark, clever and compelling -- Mary Ann Sieghart, author of THE AUTHORITY GAP

Find this book on the following lists

Book experts at your service

What are you looking for?

A recommendation
Something specific
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
  • Mr B's Recommendation Station
  • Fill in the three questions below, along with your name and email address, and our book experts will be in touch soon with their personal recommendations

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
  • I'm after something specific
  • Tell us about the book, author or subject you're looking for, along with your name and email address and our book experts will be in touch as soon as possible