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Title details for Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein - Available

Study for Obedience

by Sarah Bernstein
Sarah Bernstein
Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
2 of 2 copies available
LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023 NAMED AS ONE OF GRANTA MAGAZINE'S BEST OF YOUNG BRITISH NOVELISTS 2023 A powerful, compressed masterwork for fans of Shirley Jackson and Claire-Louise Bennett A woman moves from the place of her birth to a remote northern country to be housekeeper to her brother, whose wife has just left him. The youngest child of many siblings - more than she cares to remember - from earliest childhood she has attended to their every desire, smoothed away the slightest discomfort with perfect obedience, with the highest degree of devotion. The country, it transpires, is the country of their family's ancestors, an obscure though reviled people. Soon after she arrives, a series of unfortunate events occurs - collective bovine hysteria; the demise of a ewe and her nearly-born lamb; a local dog's phantom pregnancy; the containment of domestic fowl; a potato blight. She notices that the local suspicion about incomers in general seems to be directed particularly in her case. What is clear is that she is being accused of wrongdoing, but in a language she cannot understand and so cannot address. And however diligently and silently she toils in service of the community, still she feels their hostility growing, pressing at the edges of her brother's property...

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    October 5, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781803511061
      • File size: 114773 KB
      • Duration: 03:59:06

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Sarah Bernstein performs her critically acclaimed novel in which an unnamed narrator moves to an unnamed northern country to become her brother's housekeeper after his wife leaves him. While her brother is figuring out his affairs, the woman attempts to make friends with the townspeople. But after a series of strange events--a dog's phantom pregnancy, diseased potatoes, the death of a ewe and her lamb--she discovers that her neighbors blame her for all of the bizarre happenings. Bernstein imbues her narration with the sense of otherworldliness that the woman feels as she tries to settle into her new home. Bernstein's performance echoes the uneasiness of the story, making listeners feel as unsettled and anxious as its protagonist. K.D.W. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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