'A suburban matron, harassed by wartime domestic problems - her husband is overseas - finds herself implicated in the murder of her young daughter'...
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reviews
Feb 11, 2011
Jackie
rated it: 
Slightly above average. More suspense than mystery. Well written.
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Jul 16, 2008
This novel is not mystery but suspense, somewhat like those by Patricia Highsmith and her ilk; within the first dozen pages, a corpse is accidentally produced, and so the ball gets rolling. Unlike Highsmith’s books, however, in which the typical protagonist is an anxiety-ridden, marginally employed man, The Blank Wall stars an otherwise respectable housewife, Lucia, who’s running the house while her husband serves in World War II. Lucia applies her well-honed problem-solving skills to each intra
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Apr 26, 2011
Jon
rated it:
A suspense novel written by a now-nearly-forgotten writer who was greatly admired by both Alfred Hitchcock and Raymond Chandler. I look over the Goodreads reviews and find that most people were interested by the same thing I was--the "dated" quality of the main character's preoccupations and motives. As a thriller it is only average, if that; but as a window on how a real upper-middle-class housewife during WWII might handle the sudden disruption of her carefully maintained world, it i
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Jan 25, 2009
Ali
rated it: 
This Persephone book no. 42 was first published in 1942 – and is set just outside of New York. A middle aged women – Lucia gets herself horribly mixed up with the concealment of a death while trying to protect her 17 year old daughter’s reputation. I enjoyed this little suspense novel, although there were elements of the plot that I was unconvinced were realistic – of course the novel was written in a different time, and people may have acted in ways which to our modern thinking seems bizarre. F
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Jul 31, 2009
Jen
rated it: 
I loved it. I think Louise has got me completely hooked on the Persephone books now.
Lucia is an upper-middle class mother trying to raise two teenage children during WWII, while her husbands serves in the Pacific. Things become complicated when she covers up an accidental murder to protect her father and daughter and then gets involved with trying to placate blackmailers.
It's one of those books that make you squirm, because the people are so real, and so very very stupid, More...
Lucia is an upper-middle class mother trying to raise two teenage children during WWII, while her husbands serves in the Pacific. Things become complicated when she covers up an accidental murder to protect her father and daughter and then gets involved with trying to placate blackmailers.
It's one of those books that make you squirm, because the people are so real, and so very very stupid, More...
Jun 18, 2009
Starfish
rated it:
Wow. This book is fantastic. The introduction mentions that it's been made into a movie, but I'm not sure any movie could recreate the main character's interior adequately -- she's such a real person, and her fears and feelings are so accurately portrayed with the minimum of fuss, that you're much more drawn into her world and much more fearful than you would be if the heroine was someone more youthful, more capable -- it's just grand. Unfortunately, I felt the ending let it down a bit, although
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Mar 30, 2011
Fleur
rated it:
Lucia Holley, is a wife and mother, living with her daughter, her son, and her father, while her husband serves in the navy during WWII.
Lucia’s daughter, Bee, is a worry to her. She has become involved with an older man who her mother thinks is quite unsuitable, and Lucia is determined to put a stop to the relationship.
Her efforts though lead to a whole series of events – murder, blackmail, fraud - that threaten to destroy the very things that Lucia is trying to protect. More...
Lucia’s daughter, Bee, is a worry to her. She has become involved with an older man who her mother thinks is quite unsuitable, and Lucia is determined to put a stop to the relationship.
Her efforts though lead to a whole series of events – murder, blackmail, fraud - that threaten to destroy the very things that Lucia is trying to protect. More...
Jul 10, 2011
Paula
rated it:
A 1950s American housewife becomes involved in murder and blackmail and tries to hide the shady shenanigans from her family. So well written that you really feel Lucia's terror and desperation and appreciate the claustrophobic life of a woman in this era.
Jan 18, 2012
Sue
rated it:
Just when you think things can't get any worse .................
Excellent Persephone as always.
Excellent Persephone as always.
Feb 22, 2012
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