A Cupboard Full of Coats (Paperback)
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A Cupboard Full of Coats (Paperback)

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£12.99
Paperback 272 Pages
Published: 21/09/2011
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'Deeply moving, wonderfully written… A study of grief and remorse.' The Times

 

'He just knocked, that was all, knocked at the front door and waited...'

Fourteen years ago, Jinx’s mother was brutally murdered in their East London home. Since then, her life – and relationships – have been poisoned with guilt.The sudden arrival of Lemon, an old friend of her mother’s, changes everything. He wants to revisit the events leading to that terrible night, forcing Jinx to finally confront her past.   Fuelled by Lemon’s sumptuous cooking and intoxicating story-telling, together they strip away the layers of the past to lay bare a family drama full of jealousy and tragic betrayal. But Lemon has secrets of his own to share. And as Jinx’s life threatens to fall apart for a second time, she finally begins to believe that redemption might be within her grasp.   Blending true East London spirit with a heady Caribbean spice, A Cupboard Full of Coats is a novel of breathtaking elegance that has become a beloved modern classic.

Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize * Shortlisted for the Writers’ Guild Awards * Shortlisted for the Waverton Good Read Award * Nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 

 

Publisher: Oneworld Publications
ISBN: 9781851688388
Number of pages: 272
Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm


MEDIA REVIEWS

'Deeply moving, wonderfully written... A study of grief and remorse.' - The Times

'In this potent mystery... Edwards makes us greedy for the full story.'  - New York Times

'Yvvette Edwards unique and uncompromising debut is stoked with violence and passion, rich with voices form East London and the West Indies.' - Booker Prize judges

'A pleasure to revisit. A Cupboard Full of Coats is literary perfection. Beyond glorious.' - Eva Verde, author of In Bloom

'A gut-wrenching and gorgeously lyrical debut... Engrossing and human to the core, Edwards's novel wrings the heart in the most tender of ways.' - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

'A Cupboard Full of Coats is high drama, full of breathtaking tension, and, at times, brought to mind the works of Arthur Miller and August Wilson, both of whom knew a thing or two about secrets spilled across a kitchen table.' - Attica Locke, author of Black Water Rising

'An impressive debut… A writer to watch.' - Independent

'Redolent of Monica Ali and Zadie Smith, Yvvette Edwards' bold debut is a searing story of family, jealousy, and tragic betrayal… Rich with voices from East London and the West Indies, Edward's narrative is delivered with a unique and uncompromising bite that announces a new talent in British fiction.' - Fantastic Fiction

'A piercing and engaging narrative...reminiscent of Toni Morrison and Barbara Kingsolver, who similarly explore hidden and revealed secrets.' - Booklist

'Lyrical and haunting.' - Toronto Star

'A novel that pulses with rhythm, texture, language, and a story that keeps you locked to its pages. Brutally honest, expertly woven, and utterly mesmerizing. I loved this book.' - Naseem Rakha, author of the international bestseller The Crying Tree

'A truly stunning work of contemporary literary fiction that packs an emotional punch and keeps readers guessing to the end, A Cupboard Full of Coats is already being compared by critics to the novels of the master, Ruth Rendell.' - African American Literature Book Club

'A fierce book, painfully honest and beautifully written… Impressive.' - The Book Bag

'Beyond the luminous prose and fully dimensional characters, Edwards explores difficult issues of race, beauty, gender, objectification and how they coalesce to create the identity we present to the world as well as ourselves.' - Book Club Classics

'One to watch.' - Daily Mail

'Expertly woven and perfectly paced, A Cupboard Full of Coats is both a heartbreaking family drama and a riveting mystery, with a cast of characters who linger in the mind and the heart long after the last page has been turned.' - BookBrowse

'An elegantly structured story of guilt and redemption…emotionally raw and brutally honest… Impressive in its psychological complexity, this is one of the best novels I've read this year.' - Publishing Perspectives

'An impressive debut, particularly notable for its pellucid prose.' - Kirkus Reviews

'Fans of British psychological thrillers, à la Ruth Rendell, will adore this lyrical debut.' - Redbook

'Yvvette Edwards' A Cupboard Full of Coats is a trauma narrative with a surface patina of Junot Diaz.' - Propeller Magazine

'I can't stop talking about this gut-wrenching tale of forbidden love.' - Essence

'It is carefully structured and the human relationships brutally real.' - We Love This Book

'A slow-burning heartbreaker of a story. . . [written] with elegant restraint and a sensitivity uncommon in debut novels.' - Shelf Awareness

'Rich in emotion but resolutely unsentimental, the story is unspooled with judgement and skill.' - Literary Review

'Expert plotting, a flair for the dramatic and an ability to create characters both vividly idiosyncratic and classically archetypal.' - The Journal Sentinel

'The heroine is Jinx and this is her story… It is a very fine first novel, with Edwards keeping her characters interesting, the plot full of guesswork and her story well told. And it is certainly better than some of the others mentioned above.' - The Modern Novel

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“You wont put this down until you've finished it!”

This was an amazing read. From the start you become engrossed in to a beautifully woven journey. I have read many books about "real-life", or from the perspective of young people, or about family life,... More

Paperback edition
Helpful? Upvote 52

“Same situation, different view points”

Years after a horrendous situation, the main players reveal their roles. Each of course have extremely different perceptions, consequences and motives. This is a well written great story, which has prompted a wide... More

Paperback edition
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“A great read”

I really enjoyed this book. The author is a great storyteller. I am also a Hackney girl and so in addition to taking me into the sitting rooms of her characters where I felt their feelings and sympathised with their... More

Paperback edition
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