- Published: 2 August 2018
- ISBN: 9780241983478
- Imprint: Penguin eBooks
- Format: EBook
- Pages: 288
Bitter Orange
- Published: 2 August 2018
- ISBN: 9780241983478
- Imprint: Penguin eBooks
- Format: EBook
- Pages: 288
A twisty, thorny, darkly atmospheric page turner about loneliness and belonging
Gabriel Tallent, author of My Absolute Darling
Reminds me of JL Carr's A Month in the Country, Daphne Du Maurier's Jamaica Inn, and Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Incredibly atmospheric, vivid, and intriguing. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't reading a forgotten classic.
Emma Healey
A rich, dark pressure cooker of a novel that simmers with slow heat and suppressed tension
Ruth Ware
As haunting as tuberose and delicate as a scalpel
Laline Paull
A sinister story that considers the terrifying lengths people will go to escape their pasts. In the vein of Shirley Jackson's bone-chilling The Haunting of Hill House, Fuller's disturbing novel will entrap readers in its twisty narrative, leaving them to reckon with what is real and what is unreal. An intoxicating, unsettling masterpiece.
Kirkus
It is rare for me to put down a novel and then immediately consider rereading it to see what cleverness I might have missed. This time, though, I am tempted.
Lucy Atkins, Sunday Times
Bitter Orange reads like an assured, old-school, du Maurieresque classic. It's an atmospheric page-turner that speeds us towards a bloody climax of shocks and surprises
Irish Times
This darkly smouldering, desperately sad, superior psychological thriller contains shades of Zoe Heller's Notes On A Scandal
Daily Mail
Rich and compelling. Fuller is an accomplished writer
Observer
Full of complex characters and narrative richness
The Sunday Times Culture
An exquisite and skilfully written novel, which worms its way under your skin while Frances's loneliness seeps off every page
Red
A rich and hypnotic read
Tatler
Fuller is a master at summoning the atmosphere of a heady, hot summer that thrums with tension
Stylist
Loneliness, guilt and atonement are at the heart of the atmospheric Bitter Orange
Good Housekeeping
Multi-layered, lush, twisty and brilliantly clever
The Sunday Mirror
Atmospheric. Rich, clever and very readable.
Amanda Craig, Telegraph
Heady, claustrophobic . . . makes for perfect heatwave reading. Echoes Penelope Lively's Booker-winning Moon Tiger, Anita Brookner's Look At Me, and Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger
Independent
Naturally engaging and elegantly written. Fuller is an amply gifted storyteller
Spectator
With shades of Brideshead and Manderley, Claire Fuller's atmospheric third novel plays a satisfyingly unpredictable game with reader expectations. Prepare to be meticulously unsettled and horribly enthralled
Country Life
A compulsive page-turner. Fuller creates an atmosphere of simmering menace with all the assurance of a latter-day Daphne du Maurier
The Times
Full of dark foreboding. Claire Fuller is a dazzling storyteller
Belfast Telegraph
Dark, beautifully written. It reminds me very much of Ian McEwan's Atonement, with similar slow-build tension and claustrophobic atmosphere
The Pool
A stealthy shocker about thwarted desire. A sinister, slow-burn tale that saves its most heart-wrenching revelation for last
Metro
Cannily releasing clues on the way to an explosive finale . . . The lush setting and remarkable characters make for an immersive mystery
Publishers Weekly
A smart creation from a skilled writer: a heady psychological novel that builds its layers carefully to allow gradual revelations and stomach-churning surprises
Financial Times
Sinister and suspenseful, this gothic novel simmers with guilt, lust and envy
Mail on Sunday
A delicate and disturbing read, alive with love, lust, envy and guilt
S Magazine
Bewitching, otherworldly . . . full of dark foreboding. Claire Fuller is a dazzling storyteller.
Scotsman
Elegant, atmospheric, vivid
The Big Issue
Beautifully written, with echoes of Barbara Vine and Daphne du Maurier
Andrew Taylor, Spectator Books of the Year 2018
Sumptuous and sinister with gothic hints, this is a compelling tale of blurred friendships
Prima
Nothing is quite what it seems in this engrossing, moreish novel about a naïve woman and the hedonistic couple who beguile her
Sunday Times Culture