I had expected Girl in the Walls to be a gothic thriller, perhaps with ghostly goings-on in the vein of Sarah Perry or Laura Purcell, and was very pleasantly surprised to discover this is a literary thriller, whose story leaps off the page and demands to be read to its conclusion. While reading, I could easily imagine this book in movie form. Elise is a young orphan, returned to the house she considered her true home, though as another family now lives there, she survives by secreting herself in the walls.Her occupancy does not go wholly unnoticed: Eddie, the younger of two teenage boys, often thinks he sees someone from the corner of his eye. An awkward boy, he wonders if the presence is a figment of his overactive imagination. Until his boisterous older brother confesses that he's noticed things too. I truly don't want to share any more of this fast-paced plot. Suffice to stay that events unfold which spiral out of control and put the lives of all the main protagonists in ...
I was really pleased to discover that Claire North had written a new title. Everything of hers I've read so far has been insightful, intelligent and hugely enjoyable. Sweet Harmony is no exception: though a shorter novella than her standard books, it packs a punch in its exploration of human nature through a slightly dystopian setting in the near future. The plot centers around Harmony: a young woman dissatisfied with her appearance and her life, who chooses to seek assistance from"nanos": a new technology to physically aid and enhance our bodies. The plot shifts between the recent past and the present, in which Harmony is in debt, and unable to continue payments for her nano packages. We learn how Harmony found herself in this situation: her dissatisfaction that her "plain" physical appearance proved a barrier to her career; the abusive relationship which led to a breakdown... It reads like an episode of the TV series, Black Mirror, in which every word and sent...
It may surprise you to know that many of Studio Ghibli's catalogue of films originate from literary sources. Howl's Moving Castle and Arietty are among the adaptations most people are aware of, yet we've discovered that 13 of the studio's 22 feature films find their origins in books. Here is a list of those films which have been adapted from the printed page for anime by the Japanese giant of animation. Grave of the Fireflies This semi-autobiographical short story was written by the by Japanese author Akiyuki Nosaka in 1967 (later published as a novel including other short stories) and was adapted for the big screen by Studio Ghibli in 1988. This is a heartbreaking story, both on the screen and the page, as it is based on the author's experiences before, during, and after the firebombing of Kobe in 1945. Kiki's Delivery Service Kiki's Delivery Service is based on the popular Japanese children's novel, Witches Express Home Delivery (魔女の宅急便 or Majo no Takk...
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