The Stopped Heart

Our authors were stunned by the emotive force of this truly unforgettable blend of domestic noir and supernatural fiction.

Tammy Cohen: “This is an uncompromising body-slam of a book, shocking in its emotional intensity and in the price it demands from the reader in return for stripping itself so utterly down to the bone. One character’s storyline probes her tragic past, while the other’s moves inexorably towards a future we already know will be unbearable. You read with your heart in your mouth, needing to know how their stories converge, but, at the same time, afraid to find out. You turn the last page with tears rolling down your face, and a sense of having been in some way changed.”
 
Lisa Jewell: “Simply one of the best books I have ever read. It’s two stories set over one hundred years apart in the same old farmhouse. The real trick with any dual time-frame novel is for each storyline to exert the same pull, and that is most definitely the case here. The stories connect with the help of ghostly whispers, bumps in the night and the translucent threads of loss, horror and evil that shimmer across the decades. Not for the faint-hearted but well worth every moment of fear and discomfort.”
 
C.L. Taylor: “This book sucked me in, held me under and then spat me out, gasping and quaking. I felt traumatised when I finished it, but that was testament to the power of Julie Myerson’s writing and her absolutely superb characterisation. I particularly fell in love with the characters in the past thread, and, as the story progressed, I was increasingly on edge and I wanted to pluck them from the pages and carry them to safety. It’s a dark, harrowing read, but also powerful, compelling and thought-provoking.”