Mouse de Bruin is under siege. Without a voice since the age of six, she is trying to work things out about the world.
She and her mother have moved into a rented Pennine farmhouse in which reminders of the man who lived there previously, William Crosby, lie all around her. Fighting to hold the outside world at bay, Mouse becomes increasingly drawn to William, a man who seems to have been haunted by secrets.
As Mouse’s investigations lead her towards some of the people who knew him, she unearths a collection of letters about William’s experience as a young officer in the chaotic final weeks of the war. But why, as Mouse begins to uncover the mysteries of William’s past life, is she so keen to eliminate all traces of her own?
Editorial Reviews
Review
Two lives, two ages, two secrets cleverly and touchingly braided together by a writer of true merit and humanity — Jim Crace
Striking … Betrayals and the truths behind them are at the heart of this powerful book ―
Guardian Published On: 2013-06-29
Moving and beautifully crafted — David Evans ―
Financial Times Published On: 2013-06-08
A masterpiece in characterisation … superbly realised … an evolving and beautifully written novel, and a well-paced one, with the home truths about the young girl near the start of her life, and the complex old man looking back on his, gradually swimming into focus. Such is our emotional investment in both them that we long for a meeting that we know can never happen. All Paul Wilson’s novels to date have been highly acclaimed, and Mouse and The Cossacks continues his high standard for intelligent and affecting work — Alastair Mabbott ―
Herald Published On: 2013-06-08
Paul Wilson deftly draws the reader through a landscape of loss and loneliness towards unspeakable events buried in the past. An absorbing story about guilt and forgiveness — Alison Moore, Booker shortlisted author of The Lighthouse
Praise for
The Visiting Angel: ‘Paul Wilson deserves his place on the top table with McEwan, Barnes and the like ― Bookmunch
A fascinating and compassionate novel ―
The Times
A deeply impressive novel . . . at once surprising, thematically rich and often very moving ―
Observer
Stunning, shattering and moving ―
Daily Mirror
4 stars ―
The Lady Published On: 2013-06-21
Book Description
‘The first thing you have to know about me is that I have no voice.’ This is the story of a curious girl, and the threads of a life she’s determined to unravel.
About the Author
Paul Wilson is a winner of the Portico Prize for Literature for Do White Whales Sing at the Edge of the World? His previous novel, The Visiting Angel, was shortlisted for the 2011-12 Portico Fiction Prize. He has worked in a range of social care settings and is Vice Chairman of the British Association for Supported Employment. He lives in Lancashire.
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