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LONGLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2013
Lucy is different – ‘I don’t have right words for things and I have no good behavior’ – and she doesn’t understand why her mother has sent her to live with the elderly Mister and Missus on their farm. Yet she knows she must never leave or else her mother won’t be able to find her again.
But when something terrible happens to Samantha, her only friend on the farm, Lucy embarks on a dangerous journey, willing to risk everything for her.
Julie Sarkissian’s enchanting and enthralling debut novel introduces an unforgettable new heroine of contemporary fiction whose original voice, exuberance and bravery linger long after the final page.
Lucy is different – ‘I don’t have right words for things and I have no good behavior’ – and she doesn’t understand why her mother has sent her to live with the elderly Mister and Missus on their farm. Yet she knows she must never leave or else her mother won’t be able to find her again.
But when something terrible happens to Samantha, her only friend on the farm, Lucy embarks on a dangerous journey, willing to risk everything for her.
Julie Sarkissian’s enchanting and enthralling debut novel introduces an unforgettable new heroine of contemporary fiction whose original voice, exuberance and bravery linger long after the final page.
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Reviews
Julie Sarkissian has written a rare and precious novel - moving, captivating, and expertly written in a voice unlike any other. DEAR LUCY is full of characters who are heartbreakingly human; full of hope, desperation, love and joy. You'll want to linger over the poetry of each and every sentence, but the foreboding mystery looming on the horizon will keep you turning the pages of this hauntingly beautiful book.
DEAR LUCY introduces a young writer with a most original voice and a tenderly eccentric vision. Julie Sarkissian has created a boldly lyrical, suspenseful, and mysterious fictional world in this striking debut novel.
An incredibly accomplished debut. Brave, beautifully written and above all big-hearted. I loved it.
Gloriously intimate, full of strangeness and striking sentences that made me stop and savour Lucy's world.
Hypnotic and mesmerizing. This is gothic noir that is full of heart and pathos. Lucy's lyric voice comes barreling off the page, and you will be utterly transfixed by the twists and turns of her journey. Sarkissian is a brilliant young writer who has written one of the most memorable debut novels in recent years.
DEAR LUCY is about keeping promises against huge odds. This gorgeous novel does exactly that: the opening pages promise transcendent writing, remarkable characters, and a slowly unfolding mystery. But what happened and why is only part of what keeps you reading . . . Both whimsical and profound, DEAR LUCY wins your heart on the very first page and delivers it back, fuller and slightly cracked, on the last.
Lucy is a heroine with a unique voice who offers a deeply engaging view of her world. The desperate journey Lucy embarks on is compelling - she carries us along with her every step of the way. The reader can see what Lucy can't, and the skilful depiction of her naivety contrasted with the intentions of those around her makes us care about her all the more. This is a novel which explores a variety of themes such as motherhood, life force, choice, faith and personal morals. DEAR LUCY is a rewarding and compulsive novel, written in a beautiful, at times poetic style. I fell in love with Lucy on the first page, and am still thinking about what's happening to her now, even after the last page has been turned.
In DEAR LUCY, Julie Sarkissian has accomplished what many veteran novelists never achieve: a startlingly original work that is also profound and wise in the vagaries of the heart. What an amazing debut.
Julie Sarkissian has written the most original and stunning debut novels I have read in a long time. DEAR LUCY is one of those rare delights that you cannot put down, and once you do, you can't forget.
An ambitious debut expresses different versions of maternal need through three female voices . . . Sarkissian describes desperation on one side and deceived otherworldliness on the other as Lucy's interior landscape is revealed as a struggle for comprehension, memory and expression, lit with shafts of insight and fantasy . . . A daring mix of thriller, whimsy and intense emotional portraiture.