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The Greatcoat

3.0 of 5 stars 3.00 · rating details · 848 ratings · 211 reviews

A terrifyingly atmospheric ghost story by the Orange-prize-winning Helen Dunmore.

In the summer of 1954, newly wed Isabel Carey arrives in a Yorkshire town with her husband Philip. As a GP he spends much of his time working, while Isabel tries hard to adjust to the realities of married life. Life is not easy: she feels out-of-place and constantly judged by the people around...more

Hardcover, 208 pages

Published February 2nd 2012 by Hammer

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79th out of 152 books — 223 voters

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Feb 09, 2013 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Ivan

Shelves: literary-fiction, ghosts, novella

If we consider The Novella Club's definition that a novella has fewer than 200 pages, then The Greatcoat should certainly be viewed as one. And seen as novella rather than novel, it might be received better by readers for its slender but powerful story. Like James' great novella, Turn of the Screw, The Greatcoat is a ghost story, but it's also a romance, a story of new marriage and passion found not within but elsewhere. Dunmore creates a subtly haunting dreamy atmosphere that permeates the page...more

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Dec 05, 2012 Sam Quixote rated it 2 of 5 stars

SPOILERS

Set in post-war North England, a newly married couple settle into their first flat which is a cold and cramped place below their landlady whose footsteps resound above them as she paces constantly. The main character, Isabel, one night finds a greatcoat as worn by RAF officers in WW2 and, in a desperate bid to keep warm, she puts it on and soon falls asleep. But shortly after she begins wearing it there is a tapping on her window and a mysterious figure appears in the night. She becomes...more SPOILERS

Set in post-war North England, a newly married couple settle into their first flat which is a cold and cramped place below their landlady whose footsteps resound above them as she paces constantly. The main character, Isabel, one night finds a greatcoat as worn by RAF officers in WW2 and, in a desperate bid to keep warm, she puts it on and soon falls asleep. But shortly after she begins wearing it there is a tapping on her window and a mysterious figure appears in the night. She becomes more confused as she realises it's someone she seems to know - or does she?

Hammer Horror have moved into publishing by commissioning horror novels to be written by literary writers, and then adapting them into movies. Sounds like a great idea, no? It is unless you hire writers who can write horror - and Helen Dunmore can't.

The book is quite short at just under 200 pages and can be read quickly as Dunmore can write well but most of the novel could’ve been cut down to little more than a short story. Most of the book is taken up with descriptions of life in post-war Britain with rationing still in force, as well as the trepidations of a young woman thrust into the role of homemaker and wife. Then there are the domestic details such as the nuances of being married to a country doctor's wife (very AJ Cronin) followed by descriptions of walks in the country. Scared yet?

The creepy factor begins once Isabel finds the greatcoat and starts wearing it daily but even then any shred of horror is dispelled with the overfamiliarity of the characters’ interactions almost immediately. The reader meanwhile is left puzzled with what this could mean - unless they've read horror before. Could the weird guy dressed in WW2 gear tapping on a window in the middle of the night talking about "flying out on a mission shortly" despite the war being over for years - could he be a g-g-g-g-ghost? Ding!

Dunmore thinks that having put this element into the story that this qualifies it as horror - except the ghost isn't scary. He's not out to kill or have revenge or anything really he just wants to spend time with Isabel. They drink, they talk, they share bike rides, and, inevitably, they fall in love. What's more frustrating is why Isabel accepts all of this without questioning it - why isn't she asking herself how this man knows her so well, why is he talking about flying missions over Germany, why is she going along with any of this nonsense?

Dunmore's lack of storytelling ability in this regard is why I think the book fails. She can't build tension, or even a strong ghost story, without leaving out elements that point strongly to the reveal at the end. There are no twists or turns - once the RAF man is introduced, it's all over, you know what's going to happen, it's just a matter of turning the pages until it's finished.

I was hoping for an imaginative horror novel and it didn't have to be a ghost story, but as it was, I expected more than was here. Anyone thinking of buying this should note, it's not a horror novel, there just happens to be a ghost in it. If Hammer do film this then it'll be a very dreary movie. It's essentially a love story where the guy happens to be a ghost - you know who would be great for the soundtrack? The Righteous Brothers. Hey,... wait...(less)

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Dec 24, 2012 Book Chick City rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, book-list-2012

Originally posted on www.BookChickCity.com - 5/10 on the blog.

I was really looking forward to reading "The Greatcoat". I was hoping it would be an atmospheric, romantic ghost story, and although very different, written with the same richness and depth as 'The woman in Black' by Susan Hill (my favourite ghost story of all time). Unfortunately, it didn't really deliver.

"The Greatcoat" is a ghost story set in Yorkshire during the Second World War and the 1950s. It's a strange little novella in that...more Originally posted on www.BookChickCity.com - 5/10 on the blog.

I was really looking forward to reading "The Greatcoat". I was hoping it would be an atmospheric, romantic ghost story, and although very different, written with the same richness and depth as 'The woman in Black' by Susan Hill (my favourite ghost story of all time). Unfortunately, it didn't really deliver.

"The Greatcoat" is a ghost story set in Yorkshire during the Second World War and the 1950s. It's a strange little novella in that to me it didn't have much of an atmosphere at all, which is what I expect from a ghost story. It wasn't eerie or creepy. I did, however, think the author managed to capture the essence of Yorkshire quite well and I could visualise the house and street where Isabel and Phillip lived.

Isabel and Phillip are married and move into a house with a rather grouchy landlady. Phillip is a doctor and is working long hours, leaving Isabel alone for long periods of time. The house is cold and one evening Isabel finds an old greatcoat, which she uses to keep warm, and thus begins the ghost story...

I felt that all the characters were very superficial, especially Isabel. They didn't have any depth to them and I didn't get to know them at all. Isabel's husband Philip and her lover (and ghost) Alec, were also a bit on the flat side and rather uninteresting. I didn't care about them, which made the reading of this novel slightly hard going. The character that did pique my interest was Mrs Atkinson, the landlady.

The romance between Isabel and Alec just didn't capture my imagination or my heart and unfortunately I didn't become emotionally attached to either of them. Half the time I didn't know who Isabel was and so I couldn't fully invest in their relationship.

Isabel's narrative was difficult to follow as it alternates between her true self and someone else entirely. I think I have an idea what the author was getting at, but ambiguity is not to my taste. There's also a fair amount of repetitiveness with Isabel doing and saying the same things again and again. The structure of the story is also irritating as it jumps about far too much, which made it feel disjointed.

Although I didn't particularly enjoy "The Greatcoat" I continued reading with the hope that the ending would make all the preceding pages worth while, but sadly the ending was abrupt and obscure.

VERDICT:

Unfortunately "The Greatcoat" wasn't what I expected, which was disappointing, and the writing style wasn't to my taste. I couldn't connect with the characters or their relationships with each other. However, this is just my personal opinion - you may love it!(less)

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Apr 25, 2013 Gina rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, historical, british

A young doctor's wife begins her married life in a remote English village. War-time rationing is still in effect and early 1950s England is still recovering from the devastating consequences of WWII. Isobel is lonely and isolated with the long hours her husband works in a busy rural practice. To compound the problem her landlady is a strange, unfriendly woman. One night when she is unable to sleep in the cold and drafty flat she searches for an additional blanket in the back of a cupboard. Inste...more

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Mar 09, 2013 K.A. Perkins rated it 4 of 5 stars

Alec and Jimmy prepare for their 27 flying op over WWII Berlin. Alec hands Jimmy a ten-bob note – his winnings from a bet involving three WAAF and a bicycle. He puts it in his locker with a very special letter he has written to his wife and child, because he thinks they'll come back. Alec puts on his lucky gloves, climbs into his aircraft and takes off.

Fast forward to 1952, and Isabel – newly wed to Philip, a hard-working doctor – is trying to make a new home in an old, dreary flat with shared...more Alec and Jimmy prepare for their 27 flying op over WWII Berlin. Alec hands Jimmy a ten-bob note – his winnings from a bet involving three WAAF and a bicycle. He puts it in his locker with a very special letter he has written to his wife and child, because he thinks they'll come back. Alec puts on his lucky gloves, climbs into his aircraft and takes off.

Fast forward to 1952, and Isabel – newly wed to Philip, a hard-working doctor – is trying to make a new home in an old, dreary flat with shared facilities and a forbidding, sinister and downright unfriendly landlady. Lonely, neglected and feeling the cold; Philip is working all hours and is constantly on call, Isabel knows no one (having not even properly met the landlady – Philip handled all that), and considers the other lives she might have lived, whilst retreating further into the life she has chosen.

One night, waking up frozen – again – the bedcovers having 'gathered on Philip's side of the bed, as they always did', she gets up to look for something else to use as a blanket. Rooting around in one of the cupboards of their fully furnished flat, she finds an old RAF greatcoat and spreads it on the bed. A few nights later she wakes from a nightmare to an empty bed – and a tapping noise from the living room window. Thinking it must be her husband having forgotten his key, she pulls the coat around her and rushes to the window. When she pulls the curtains, it is not her husband standing on the other side of the glass, but an RAF officer wearing a greatcoat exactly like the one around her shoulders.

The suspense and sense of isolation and desperation builds. Who is the man? What does the landlady know? Why does she seem to delight in the fact that the greatcoat is on Isabel and Philip's bed – and why does she seem concerned that Philip would mind? 'The Greatcoat' is a superbly crafted, yet gentle ghost story. Compelling, melancholy and almost dreamily chilling as Isabel is drawn further and further in to Alec's tragic past. A past that repeats, and repeats, and repeats.

The characters are well-drawn and believable with a great deal of depth; the pace is timed perfectly as the reader is pulled further and further into the fog of Alec and Isabel's worlds. The book was recommended to me by one of my closest friends – as ever her taste is impeccable and I am very happy to pass her recommendation on.
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Jan 15, 2013 Valerie Derbyshire rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed reading this book and felt that the word used by The Times on the quote featured on the front cover of this edition; "elegant" was exactly the right word to employ in describing it. This is an elegant story, deftly constructed with - as you would expect from an author of Dunmore's calibre - good use of language, excellently realised characters and a strong plot which leads you forward and into the story. It is NOT - as The Times also claim - a "flesh-creeper" and nor is it reall...more I really enjoyed reading this book and felt that the word used by The Times on the quote featured on the front cover of this edition; "elegant" was exactly the right word to employ in describing it. This is an elegant story, deftly constructed with - as you would expect from an author of Dunmore's calibre - good use of language, excellently realised characters and a strong plot which leads you forward and into the story. It is NOT - as The Times also claim - a "flesh-creeper" and nor is it really comparable to "The Woman in Black" as they also state. I did not find this story "creepy" at all (and I'm a complete wuss when it comes to ghost stories), although there is plenty of atmosphere evoked from the flat East Riding landscape and the desolate abandoned airfields. It also lacks the malevolence of The Woman in Black. There is no evil inherent in this story at all. Indeed, if anything, it is more a tale which affirms the durability of the human spirit and love. Yes, it is tragic - so many lives cut short and then so easily forgotten in the human race's rush to replace those which were lost; but it is still, essentially, a love story.

Some reviewers have commented that they found that Dunmore was forcing the action forward. I noted this too in the scene where Isabel first finds The Greatcoat. Here, the scene seemed a little too laboured and overwrought for my taste. I didn't really pick up on it elsewhere though. Indeed, there is a paragraph where Alec considers the experiences he has gained in the air: "either you came back or you didn't, and if you did you came back with new, sharp, hot fragments of knowledge. It all had to fit together. It had to be remembered instant by instant. He had to hold it all in his mind, so that it wasn't even like thinking any more, it was all there without him having to think about it." (pp 151-2) and it struck me that it was a similar experience whilst reading the book - fragments of knowledge were being drip fed to you, but with such a light hand that somehow you just knew what was coming and what had been without realising how you had initially aquired this knowledge from the preceding pages. I also didn't find the story in any way unbelieveable - which is perhaps surprising considering the material; but, as I have said, the characters (even the ghost) are strongly realised and so vivid to the reader that, as Yann Martel once wrote of the perfect characters, they practically have a pulse and need a birth certificate (again, even the ghost!)

In short, this is a great ghost/love story. Like all Dunmore's novels, reading it is an emotional experience and one well worth investing in. (less)

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Oct 18, 2012 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars

There is something so elemental about a ghost story, something that speaks to one’s deepest fears and desires, that a reader can’t help being drawn in. The Greatcoat, by Helen Dunmore, is exactly that kind of a ghost story. I couldn’t put it down from the moment I read the first page (okay, I had one night of sleep in between) and finished it in two days. This is a simple, well-written story about a ghost, manifested through a Royal Air Force standard issue coat, who links himself to the life of...more There is something so elemental about a ghost story, something that speaks to one’s deepest fears and desires, that a reader can’t help being drawn in. The Greatcoat, by Helen Dunmore, is exactly that kind of a ghost story. I couldn’t put it down from the moment I read the first page (okay, I had one night of sleep in between) and finished it in two days. This is a simple, well-written story about a ghost, manifested through a Royal Air Force standard issue coat, who links himself to the life of newlywed Isabel Carey in post-war Britain.

Isabel, who has just wed Philip Carey, struggles to fit into the mould of a respectable, middle-class, country doctor’s wife and navigate through all that a new marriage brings. When ex-RAF pilot Alec comes knocking on her window, Isabel finds him to be a welcome presence, as she gives in to another’s memories. What really manifests through their relationship is the reality of the deeply buried trauma of a country that couldn’t really mourn its huge loss of life during the second world war and rushed instead to bury its dead and rebuild. But, can history be so easily forgotten?

Isabel’s own haunted past is remembered through the presence of Alec as she struggles with her own history, identity and sense of belonging. Alec is a ghost of the past, clinging desperately to any sense of life that he can, trapped in a nether world by one of his personal effects and an overpowering sense of loss. As I was drawn in to Isabel and Alec’s world the story became less about other beings and more about the past’s inability to ever remain silent.
This rich, evocative offering by Dunmore will titillate all your senses and keep you hooked, as much as bring you into shadowy life of post-war Britain, trying to maintain a stiff upper lip after surviving so much death, destruction and loss.

I don't think its fair to compare this book to 'The Turn of the Screw' or 'The Woman in Black' although it is of the same genre.
Yes, it's a ghost story and is full of the techniques that create a good ghost story, titillating all the senses. What I liked about it was that it makes the reader question the link between the ghost and the haunted. There were many abstractions that made me wonder what was going through Isabel Carey (the haunted one's) mind and even the end is left open, in my opinion. Its more of a novella than a novel and should be read as such - ideally in one, long go. I was in the mood for a good ghost story and Helen Dunmore delivered. (less)

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Sep 29, 2012 Sara rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: NO ONE

Recommended to Sara by: I saw it in a bookshop and picked it up on impulse. A bad impulse.

If you are wondering, I didn't read this book quickly because it was good or gripping or had me racing to the end because of anticipation and sheer horror. No, I finished it quickly because the writing was so simplistic I slipped through it in a rush and reached the end thinking.

"Really...is that....it?"

It didn't feel like the ending of a book, it felt like the ending of a chapter. This beautiful quote-

"The most elegant flesh-creeper since The Woman in Black"

from the Times really misled me. So d...more

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May 23, 2012 Kate Dunn rated it 2 of 5 stars

I LOVE Helen Dunmore, she has been a profound influence on my writing life and is one of my top literary heroines - I think I have read just about everything she has written, with A Spell of Winter being an unassailable favourite.
I found The Greatcoat a little disappointing. the central device, where the heroine puts on a great coat she has found in the back of a wardrobe and is transported into the arms of a soldier from the Second World War, is brilliantly conceived and cleverly executed, so t...more

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Apr 04, 2012 Ian Kirkpatrick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Dunmore has a fascinating style. She writes quite obliquely and doesn’t over-explain. The reader has to let the story wash over them, confident that the meaning will evolve. It’s an act of faith.

Set in the fifties this is a story of a young woman’s possession by a World War Two airman, although Dunmore doesn’t let her tale take obvious routes or arrive at an expected outcome. Although this is her first published ghost story she has an innate understanding of what the story needs in order to work...more

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Mar 12, 2012 Chelsea rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, horror, adult

I am hovering somewhere between five or four stars but have decided to make it five purely because of the ending. I didn't know what to expect when I started to read this but I was pleasantly surprised. This story is set in the 1950s and Isabel and her husband Philip have just moved into a small flat. They are newly weds and Isabel is finding it hard to adjust to the realities of married life. On a cold night she finds a greatcoat the belonged to a RAF pilot. She spreads it on the bed and falls...more

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Jan 30, 2012 Marleen rated it 4 of 5 stars

The year is 1954 and although the war has been over for 9 years Britain is still a bleak place with the remnants of abandoned military bases dotted in the landscape, rationing determining what people can get their hands on and daily comforts being few and far between.
Isabel Carey has recently married Philip who is a GP and together they’ve moved to a Yorkshire town where he starts his medical practice. While Philip is happy with his new career and surroundings, Isabel can’t seem to settle. She f...more The year is 1954 and although the war has been over for 9 years Britain is still a bleak place with the remnants of abandoned military bases dotted in the landscape, rationing determining what people can get their hands on and daily comforts being few and far between.
Isabel Carey has recently married Philip who is a GP and together they’ve moved to a Yorkshire town where he starts his medical practice. While Philip is happy with his new career and surroundings, Isabel can’t seem to settle. She feels like everybody she meets in the town is judging her and can’t stand the apartment they’re renting, which is impossible to keep warm, or her landlady who lives on the floor above them and seems to spend all her time pacing from the door to the window and back again. This noise keeps Isabel awake at night and makes her uncomfortable.
One night, while Philip is out working, Isabel can’t shake the cold and searches the house for something to keep her warm. When she finds an old greatcoat at the back of a cupboard she takes it down and finds that it keeps her deliciously warm and allows her to sleep. That sleep though is filled with very vivid dreams. When a knock on her front window wakes her up she is scared when she sees a young handsome Air Force pilot staring at her through the window. She quickly closes her curtains but when she opens them again for a second look the man has gone.
It isn’t long before the pilot is knocking on her window again and mouthing her name. This time curiosity wins out over fear and Isabel lets him into her house. To her amazement Isabel discovers that although she has never met this man named Alec before, he seems to know her. And somehow Isabel develops memories about him and his relationship to her as they spend time together. Memories that are vivid and very realistic, although she knows that they can’t be hers.
Soon Isabel finds herself in a passionate affair with Alec while uncertain as to what is real and what isn’t. Because her affair with Alec seems to be taking place during the war rather than in the present while there are manifestations of his visits in her life with Philip.
And all the time her landlady continues her walking from the front door to the window and back again.

This is a fascinating ghost story. The reader has no more of an idea as to what is really happening and what is supernatural than Isabel does. As Isabel slowly pieces together who Alec is and why he is visiting her, so does the reader, and when it seems that all the questions are answered and the haunting has been brought to a peaceful end there is still one more disaster to avert.
In many ways this was as much a love story as a ghost story. Although the way in which the ghost takes over Isabel’s life and memories is spooky, it is never heartstoppingly scary because at no point is there the impression that the ghost has anything but love for the woman he’s visiting. On the other hand, the reader is only too aware that consorting with one who should have departed can’t lead to anything good and can only hope that Isabel will figure that out too, before it is too late.

Helen Dunmore has written a beautiful and haunting story which draws the reader in to England in the late 1950’s. Her descriptions make the greyness of the surroundings and the harshness of life at the time come to life and her characters are realistic.
The thing I appreciated most in this book though is that the author didn’t try to give logical explanations for everything that happens in the story. Some things remain unexplained or uncertain, leaving the reader with much to wonder and fantasise about after the last page has been read.

This book is published by Hammer, better known for its horror movies, through Random house and there will be more original ghost stories to follow. If this book sets the standard, then this is one publishing innovation to look forward to and embrace.
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Feb 07, 2013 Aidan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

I came to this story with high hopes, possibly because the reviews on the dust jacket are so promising. Any book that draws comparison with Susan Hill's The Woman in Black is at least worthy of a look and I was interested in its post-war, ration book England setting.

Sadly though I think those juicy endorsements led me to expect something the book never intended to deliver. This is not a spine-chilling read, nor is its secret as poignant and heartbreaking as that in The Woman in Black. Instead it...more

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Feb 24, 2012 Beadyjan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical

Set in the 1950s in the years following the end of WW2 this novella is a poignant ghost story.

Newlyweds Isabel and her husband Philip a gp move into their first home together a rather grim little flat with an unfriendly landlady and Isabel struggles to adapt to married life, finding the constraints of the small apartment don't permit her to become the housewife she dreamt about, and her husbands long hours constantly on call out leave her felling isolated and unfulfilled.

Searching through the c...more

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Apr 07, 2013 L rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed this book but I was not as gripped by the story as much as I had hoped I would be. I am left with a few unanswered questions, I'm not sure if I drifted off during the story or if there are indeed some holes in the plot.

Even so, I don't regret listening to the story; the author brings post war Britain to life in an amazing way and my historical knowledge feels very much enriched. Isabel's daily life highlights the struggles of coping with postwar shortages and rationing while illustrati...more

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Sep 24, 2012 Devon Forrester rated it 4 of 5 stars

I bought this book on a whim, as I don't usually read Ghost Stories, however the wonderful cover and storyline piqued my interest, as it seemed a bit different to the normal ghost story cliche.
Thankfully, judging this book by its cover didnt disappoint, and the book grabbed me the second I started reading.
The story follows the life of Isabelle, a young woman who has just settled down with her new husband in a sleepy, rural village in England. Their new home however, is rather draughty, causing I...more

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Dec 07, 2012 Mark rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction

This oddly affecting World War II ghost story left me feeling it would make a better movie than a book, which is something I almost never conclude.

The Greatcoat centers on a young couple who are settling in to an English village after World War II. He is the town's new doctor. She is his wife, and she is restless and put off by her imperious landlady and a feeling of not fitting in and not knowing what she wants to be.

Then the wife discovers, shoved into the back of a cupboard, an RAF greatcoat....more

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Dec 03, 2012 Jenny rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had no preconceptions of this book, it was a Book Club choice and I had heard nothing about it.

Whilst I did read it quickly (it is short) and skipped through the pages with some enjoyment of the unfurling story, I did have some issues with the plot and the characters.

Did not really warm to Isabel - she was all too accepting of what she saw as her lot as a new wife in a strange place in a time of shortage. And I was a little unconvinced about how easily Isabel slipped unquestioningly into the a...more

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Jan 19, 2013 M rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've had it with hyperbole. I found this book to be neither 'elegant', nor worthy of comparison to 'The Woman in Black'. I found it pedestrian, and dull. When the author sees fit to explain the book in her notes at the end, you know you're in trouble. In the afterword, the author talks about building the 'fear and tension' - what fear and tension? I've felt more fear and tension in an episode of 'Homeland' (before it got all weird). Actually, there's more fear and tension in my kitchen when I'm...more

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Sep 03, 2012 Richard rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Very good period story set in early 50's when women appear to have slipped back to "housewives" and became members of sewing clubs, exchanged recipes and listened to the radio. Isabel the main character is transposed to a new situation as a local doctor's wife, in a village where she knows no-one other than her husband who is "married" to his work. During the war she remembers a local air base and her new location has a deserted one of its own which along with a greatcoat found when looking for...more

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Apr 06, 2013 Debbie Robson rated it 4 of 5 stars

For me The Greatcoat grabbed me from the dust jacket. It had three very interesting elements. It was a ghost story (not a cheap horror sort of ghost story, I could tell), the ghost was from WWII and the novel itself was set in that interesting decade the 1950s. Straightaway in the Prologue the reader is hooked. Three short sentences delineate the ghost’s world and how can you put a book down after that?
In Chapter one it’s 1952 in England and I particularly love how deftly, again, Dunmore sets th...more

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Feb 06, 2013 Deb rated it 4 of 5 stars

Oh boy. There are loads of bummed readers reviewing this on amazon.com. Huh. I found this title through a good mention in The New Yorker...I think. It sounded great! Once it was in my hands I started getting apprehensive that it's creep factor might be higher than I am comfortable with. Wrong-o! It's really a gentle war aftermath story, with desperation, longing and poignancy. I suppose it could be a romance. I am nearly always drawn to stories of this time and place, and this was done well with...more

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Dec 30, 2012 Ashley James rated it 2 of 5 stars

By no means is this a horror, it is a love story set in the 50s with a ghost in it. I was recommended it by a lady in Waterstones she said it went down well in her reading group and bought this on impulse without asking many questions. Please take note the reviews of everyone state this is not a horror and no scares happen at all. I did finish the book but if it was much longer I would of struggled as I only really enjoy reading horrors. Its not a bad book, infact it is well written but its in t...more

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Sep 10, 2012 Carole Tyrrell rated it 2 of 5 stars

This is published under the new Hammer imprint and is Helen Dunmore’s first foray into ghost stories.
To me it read more like a romantic fantasy with time travel involved and a very slight brush with the supernatural. Helen Dunmore is a fine writer and I enjoyed her book set in Leningrad during the time of the siege but ‘The Greatcoat’ felt slight. Its length works against it as it is more like a novella.
Set in 1952 in a small Yorkshire town, Dunmore deftly evokes that grey period after the 2nd W...more This is published under the new Hammer imprint and is Helen Dunmore’s first foray into ghost stories.
To me it read more like a romantic fantasy with time travel involved and a very slight brush with the supernatural. Helen Dunmore is a fine writer and I enjoyed her book set in Leningrad during the time of the siege but ‘The Greatcoat’ felt slight. Its length works against it as it is more like a novella.
Set in 1952 in a small Yorkshire town, Dunmore deftly evokes that grey period after the 2nd World War in which it seemed that rationing would go one forever. Newly married Isabel and her GP husband Philip have moved into rented rooms. Philip doesn’t want her to work and is keen to make her happy. But Isabel distrusts their landlady and is soon bored with domesticity and the daily round of shopping and gossip. Increasingly the landlady takes on a sinister aspect as she paces up and down the floor above their rooms. Meanwhile on one of Isabel’s visits into town she starts to explore the nearby abandoned and derelict airfield which is destined to play a much bigger part in her life.
The rooms are cold and while rifling in a cupboard for a blanket, Isabel finds an RAF greatcoat instead pushed to the back. She pulls it out and puts it on the marital bed. It isn’t long before she hears a tapping at the window when she’s alone and looking up sees a young RAF pilot looking in at her. He seems to know her name and she lets him in. Too late Isabel realises that the coat may have been put into the cupboard for her to find and that its discovery has set events from the past in motion again as she and the young pilot, Alec, embark on a doomed love affair. An affair which the landlady seems to have been involved in…….
Brought up on Robert Aickman and M R James I have high expectations of a ghost story. The literary ghost story can be achieved and achieved well as with Sarah Waters’ The Little Stranger’ and Henry James’ ‘The Turn of the Screw’. But it didn’t work so well here as it seemed such a slight tale which could have been so much more. It never really came to life for me although the detritus of the airfield and the young married couple trying to find their place in the world and together was well portrayed. A reviewer on amazon described it as more of short story rather than a novel and I did agree to some extent.
It was ultimately disappointing.
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Mar 10, 2012 Suzie Grogan rated it 2 of 5 stars

I have to agree with a number of other reviewers on here - this short novel would have been a better short story.

There would still have been flaws in the plotting however. Why doesn't Isabel question what is happening to her? What really is the significance of the landlady's heavy footsteps overhead other than a standard spooky 'device' tagged on rather incongruously? By the end of the book - I won't give anything away - you are only mildly interested in what is happening and although something...more

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Feb 27, 2012 Smitha rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: ethereal, vampire-otherworldly

Started it with great hopes as it was a contender for some literary prize or the other. It was promising in its first one third, later on my interest fickled and I couldn't wait to finish it to start something interesting. The story deals with a young bored housewife, whose country doctor husband is always away on calls, and who discovers a great coat in a dark cupboard corner in her rented house. She uses it to cover herself during wintry nights, and encounters the owner and falls for him. (vie ...more

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Dec 02, 2012 Nick Phillips rated it 5 of 5 stars

I write this review as an unashamed Helen Dunmore fan, though having said that I do not give five stars lightly and have not given five stars to all of her novels but I do feel that here it is justified.

The Greatcoat is marketed as a horror story and even carries the Hammer logo on the spine, a logo that still carries a lot of memories of fantastic though low budget horror films for those of my generation. It is a ghost story in the tradition of classics by MR James, Henry James, Charles Dicken...more I write this review as an unashamed Helen Dunmore fan, though having said that I do not give five stars lightly and have not given five stars to all of her novels but I do feel that here it is justified.

The Greatcoat is marketed as a horror story and even carries the Hammer logo on the spine, a logo that still carries a lot of memories of fantastic though low budget horror films for those of my generation. It is a ghost story in the tradition of classics by MR James, Henry James, Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins and at times is reminiscent of the spookier side of James Herbert but it is not a horror story in the traditional sense. If there is a horror element to the novel it does not come from the ghosts in 1952 but from the reality of war in the 1940s. No physical horror can outstrip the looks of despair and resignation on the faces of Alec and his crew as their 27th mission approaches, no psychological torture is worse for the crew than the continually cancelled ops forcing them to wait and wait for the order to go. In this Dunmore is revisiting the territory of what is probably her most 'horrific' novel, The Siege with the claustrophobic settings and descriptions of the deprivations and hardships suffered in the Russian winter by the citizens of Leningrad during the Second World War.

There have been comparisons drawn in other reviews between The Greatcoat and Susan Hill's The Woman in Black and I can understand why there may be a thematic link drawn between the two, however the main problem that I have always had with The Woman in Black is that within the context of its time it doesn't work as a horror story because the doom of World War One is just around the corner. With that novel I find every time something supposedly horrific happens to a character I want to shout at them 'Oh man up, you'll be dying in the trenches in a few years, how will you cope there if you're frightened of a face at a window?' By setting The Greatcoat seven years after the end of the war Dunmore has avoided this problem of context by showing that actually after living through the war Isabel is not going to be phased by the appearance of a ghost. Initially she is welcoming of the visits by Alec and even towards the end you get the feeling that she is more irritated by him than scared of his ghostliness.

Dunmore has said that Isabel is a person who could be haunted because of the life she had lived up to that point and I think that this is the truest sense in which The Greatcoat is a ghost story. It makes no difference whether Alec is a ghost or whether he is still alive and meeting Isabel for real in 1952, Isabel is always going to be haunted by the war and by her missing parents. It was this haunting that made her rush into a marriage with Philip, a relationship that has far more potential to do lasting harm than the relationship with the dead Alec. This situation is reminiscent of that facing Simone in Dunmore's earlier work Your Blue Eyed Boy where the haunting by ghosts from her past is real rather than supernatural but a haunting nonetheless.

The Greatcoat is a great book and Dunmore has achieved more in terms of developing character, drawing location and establishing motivation in a short novella than many other writers can achieve in far longer works. One of her best.(less)

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Mar 08, 2012 Blair rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ghostly-and-magical, historical, read-on-kindle, 2012-release

As you all know, I love a ghost story, and The Greatcoat started off as a very good example of the genre - perfect for those times when you want a book you can instantly get stuck into and devour in one sitting. It centres on Isabel, a young woman who has recently married and moved to an unfamiliar Yorkshire town with her husband Philip, a doctor. Struggling with the boredom and loneliness of her new role as a housewife, Isabel is repeatedly drawn to an abandoned airfield just outside the town....more As you all know, I love a ghost story, and The Greatcoat started off as a very good example of the genre - perfect for those times when you want a book you can instantly get stuck into and devour in one sitting. It centres on Isabel, a young woman who has recently married and moved to an unfamiliar Yorkshire town with her husband Philip, a doctor. Struggling with the boredom and loneliness of her new role as a housewife, Isabel is repeatedly drawn to an abandoned airfield just outside the town. Then she finds an old RAF greatcoat at the back of a cupboard, and on the same night, a mysterious - but strangely fascinating - man knocks on the kitchen window while Philip is sleeping. So begins a very strange affair and a series of haunting events which seem to have no rational explanation. Dunmore's writing is excellent throughout, creating a cold, tense atmosphere and making you sympathise with Isabel. I was sucked into the story and all set to give the book a four-star review. But then... then I came to the ending, and it's safe to say I was left frustrated and confused.

(view spoiler)

I would nevertheless still recommend this book if short, atmospheric, spooky stories with a historical setting are your kind of thing. I really liked Dunmore's style and found the characters well-rounded and believable. Just don't expect the ending to answer any questions you might have about how all of this came to happen!(less)

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Feb 17, 2013 Susannah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

This is another novel from Hammer Studios new publishing imprint. Dunmore writes a ghost story set in England both during World War II, and seven years after it. This is more of an atmospheric ghost story, rather than horror novel. Designed more to unsettle than to terrify. There are no overt horror scenes, apart from the reality of the horrors of war, of which World War II provided plenty. Alec, the ghost who owns the greatcoat of the title, haunts Isabel, a newly married woman who has just mov...more

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May 01, 2013 Fiona rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

The Greatcoat is set in postwar Britain, in a Yorkshire town and its abandoned airbase. The story centers around a newly married young woman who is finding it hard to adjust to life as a country doctor's wife. She finds an old RAF greatcoat in the cupboard of their rented rooms and puts it on their bed in an attempt to stay warm. The greatcoat is a kind of talisman which brings back a young RAF pilot.

Helen Dunmore is an excellent writer and I found the story to be very well written and quite ha...more

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About Helen Dunmore

I was born in December 1952, in Yorkshire, the second of four children. My father was the eldest of twelve, and this extended family has no doubt had a strong influence on my life, as have my own children. In a large family you hear a great many stories. You also come to understand very early that stories hold quite different meanings for different listeners, and can be recast from many viewpoints...more I was born in December 1952, in Yorkshire, the second of four children. My father was the eldest of twelve, and this extended family has no doubt had a strong influence on my life, as have my own children. In a large family you hear a great many stories. You also come to understand very early that stories hold quite different meanings for different listeners, and can be recast from many viewpoints.

Poetry was very important to me from childhood. I began by listening to and learning by heart all kinds of rhymes and hymns and ballads, and then went on to make up my own poems, using the forms I’d heard. Writing these down came a little later.

I studied English at the University of York, and after graduation taught English as a foreign language in Finland.

At around this time I began to write the poems which formed my first poetry collection, The Apple Fall, and to publish these in magazines. I also completed two novels; fortunately neither survives, and it was more than ten years before I wrote another novel.

During this time I published several collections of poems, and wrote some of the short stories which were later collected in Love of Fat Men. I began to travel a great deal within the UK and around the world, for poetry tours and writing residences. This experience of working in many different countries and cultures has been very important to my work. I reviewed poetry for Stand and Poetry Review and later for The Observer, and subsequently reviewed fiction for The Observer, The Times and The Guardian. My critical work includes introductions to the poems of Emily Brontë, the short stories of D H Lawrence and F Scott Fitzgerald, a study of Virginia Woolf’s relationships with women and Introductions to the Folio Society's edition of Anna Karenina and to the new Penguin Classics edition of Tolstoy's My Confession.

During the 1980s and early 1990s I taught poetry and creative writing, tutored residential writing courses for the Arvon Foundation and took part in the Poetry Society's Writer in Schools scheme, as well as giving readings and workshops in schools, hospitals, prisons and every other kind of place where a poem could conceivably be welcome. I also taught at the University of Glamorgan, the University of Bristol's Continuing Education Department and for the Open College of the Arts.

In the late 1980s I began to publish short stories, and these were the beginning of a breakthrough into fiction. What I had learned of prose technique through the short story gave me the impetus to start writing novels. My first novel for children was Going to Egypt, published in 1992, and my first novel for adults was Zennor in Darkness, published in 1993, which won the McKitterick Prize. This was also my first researched novel, set in the First World War and dealing with the period when D H Lawrence and his wife Frieda lived in Zennor in Cornwall, and came under suspicion as German spies.

My third novel, A Spell of Winter, won the inaugural Orange Prize for Fiction in 1996, and since then I have published a number of novels, short story collections and books for children. Full details of all these books are available on this website. The last of The Ingo Quartet, The Crossing of Ingo, was published in paperback in Spring 2009.

My seventh novel, The Siege (2001) was shortlisted both for the Whitbread Novel Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction. This was another researched novel, which grew from a lifelong love of Russian history, culture and literature. It is is set in Leningrad during the first year of the siege of the city by German forces, which lasted for 880 days from the fall of Mga on 30th August 1941. The Siege has been translated into Russian by Tatyana Averchina, and extracts have been broadcast on radio in St Petersburg. House of Orphans was published in 2006, and in 2008 Counting the Stars. Its central characters are the Roman poet Catullus, who lived during the last years of the Republic, (less)

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