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Gib mir was, sonst kriegste was
Eight-year-old Wolfe watches as the innocent antics of Halloween and the roaring fires of Guy Fawkes Day take a frightening turn, and girlhood rivalries, whispered affairs, and shameful secrets explode in an act of violence. Reprint. NYT.
260 pages, Paperback
First published April 13, 1992
About the author
Lesley Glaister
41 books399 followersNovelist Lesley Glaister was born in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England. She grew up in Suffolk, moving to Sheffield with her first husband, where she took a degree with the Open University. She was 'discovered' by the novelist Hilary Mantel when she attended a course given by the Arvon Foundation in 1989. Mantel was so impressed by her writing that she recommended her to her own literary agent.
Lesley Glaister's first novel, Honour Thy Father (1990), won both a Somerset Maugham Award and a Betty Trask Award. Her other novels include Trick or Treat (1991), Limestone and Clay (1993), for which she was awarded the Yorkshire Post Book Award (Yorkshire Author of the Year), Partial Eclipse (1994) and The Private Parts of Women (1996), Now You See Me (2001), the story of the unlikely relationship between Lamb, a former patient in a psychiatric ward, and Doggo, a fugitive on the run from the police, As Far as You Can Go (2004), a psychological drama, in which a young couple, Graham and Cassie, travel to a remote part of Australia to take up a caretaking job, only to be drawn into the dark secrets of their mysterious employers. Nina Todd Has Gone (2007) was another complex psychological thriller. Chosen, a dark and suspenseful book about a woman trying to rescue her brother from a cult, was followed by Little Egypt in 2014. This novel - set in the 20's in Northern England and Egypt, won a Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Award. Her next novel, The Squeeze, published 2017, centres on a relationship between a teenage Romanian sex-worker - a victim of trafficking - and a law-abiding, family man from Oslo. It's an unusual and (of course, twisted!) love story. Because not all love is romantic. In 2020 Blasted Things was published. This one is set just after World War 1 and is about the warping after-effects of a global war on society and on individuals. The two main characters, Clementine and Vincent, both damaged in different ways, must find their way in the post-war period. For them this results in a most peculiar kind of relationship and one that can only end in distaster.
Lesley Glaister lives with her husband in Edinburgh with frequent sojourns in Orkney. She has three sons and teaches Creative Writing at the University or St Andrews. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Lesley Glaister's first novel, Honour Thy Father (1990), won both a Somerset Maugham Award and a Betty Trask Award. Her other novels include Trick or Treat (1991), Limestone and Clay (1993), for which she was awarded the Yorkshire Post Book Award (Yorkshire Author of the Year), Partial Eclipse (1994) and The Private Parts of Women (1996), Now You See Me (2001), the story of the unlikely relationship between Lamb, a former patient in a psychiatric ward, and Doggo, a fugitive on the run from the police, As Far as You Can Go (2004), a psychological drama, in which a young couple, Graham and Cassie, travel to a remote part of Australia to take up a caretaking job, only to be drawn into the dark secrets of their mysterious employers. Nina Todd Has Gone (2007) was another complex psychological thriller. Chosen, a dark and suspenseful book about a woman trying to rescue her brother from a cult, was followed by Little Egypt in 2014. This novel - set in the 20's in Northern England and Egypt, won a Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Award. Her next novel, The Squeeze, published 2017, centres on a relationship between a teenage Romanian sex-worker - a victim of trafficking - and a law-abiding, family man from Oslo. It's an unusual and (of course, twisted!) love story. Because not all love is romantic. In 2020 Blasted Things was published. This one is set just after World War 1 and is about the warping after-effects of a global war on society and on individuals. The two main characters, Clementine and Vincent, both damaged in different ways, must find their way in the post-war period. For them this results in a most peculiar kind of relationship and one that can only end in distaster.
Lesley Glaister lives with her husband in Edinburgh with frequent sojourns in Orkney. She has three sons and teaches Creative Writing at the University or St Andrews. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 24, 2023
Das war ein seltsames, makaberes kleines Buch. Wenige, sehr schräge Figuren, auf engem Raum. Alles ist irgendwie unangenehm und mit sehr dunklem britischen Humor durchzogen. Aber irgendetwas daran hat mich unheimlich angezogen... wie die eine Tür, die man eigentlich nicht öffnen will. Und das, obwohl dies kein Horror - sodern ein Gesellschaftsroman ist.
July 30, 2012
Nobody does creepy unease and British-to-the-core like Lesley Glaister. If you can get your hands on this little number, you'll be treated to a tightly woven story that has surprises and revelations, both pleasant and not. There is malevolence here, but sweetness too -- a mixture that is a hallmark of Glaister's novels. I've read this several times and always enjoy it.
November 4, 2017
All Nell's life, Olive has lived next door but one..... & all her life, Nell has hated her.
Olive once sparkled indecently, she turned heads & was beautiful...now she is a fat, old spinster, childless & senile, nursed by the lackey she calls a lodger...
Nell has a son, her pleasure & her shame, but now she lives alone with only her dead husband to talk to...
...then Wolfe, a lonely eight-year-old boy moves into the house between them. He invites them both to his bonfire party, then finds himself in the middle of an old conflict, with grudges bared & burning with a fury he could never have imagined....
I thoroughly enjoyed this book- just when you thought you knew what was coming next, something else happened....& the ending was not what I expected!
Olive once sparkled indecently, she turned heads & was beautiful...now she is a fat, old spinster, childless & senile, nursed by the lackey she calls a lodger...
Nell has a son, her pleasure & her shame, but now she lives alone with only her dead husband to talk to...
...then Wolfe, a lonely eight-year-old boy moves into the house between them. He invites them both to his bonfire party, then finds himself in the middle of an old conflict, with grudges bared & burning with a fury he could never have imagined....
I thoroughly enjoyed this book- just when you thought you knew what was coming next, something else happened....& the ending was not what I expected!
October 22, 2021
Awful and quite pointless. Characters include cheaters, pedos and murderers. Not an enjoyable read.
August 30, 2021
The book mentionned the breasts of one of the female characters so much I thought it was written by a man. Interesting read but it didn't quite manage to hold my attention until the end.
January 14, 2023
I have Lesley Glaister's Limestone and Clay in my top thirty books but have not read any of her work other than that for at least twenty years. I stumbled on Trick or Treat in a charity shop for a few pence and I'm glad I did. It served to remind me what a wonderful writer she is and how in the past I have enjoyed all her novels. It think will also inspire me to go back and revisit her entire catalogue.
Trick or Treat tells of the lives, past and present, of the occupants of three consecutive houses on a street in a northern town (probably Sheffield).
It is beautifully written, the characters are well defined, as are their past and present situations, their aspiration and fears. The elderly, living on each side of a young heavily pregnant mother with three children and a partner who is absent most of the time, spend much of the time reliving their past lives while the young family are struggling to survive in the current day.
It is a wonderful study of folk in generally and especially of the old, their fears, their fading memories and their vivid recollections, not to mention their secrets from the past.
A great read.
Trick or Treat tells of the lives, past and present, of the occupants of three consecutive houses on a street in a northern town (probably Sheffield).
It is beautifully written, the characters are well defined, as are their past and present situations, their aspiration and fears. The elderly, living on each side of a young heavily pregnant mother with three children and a partner who is absent most of the time, spend much of the time reliving their past lives while the young family are struggling to survive in the current day.
It is a wonderful study of folk in generally and especially of the old, their fears, their fading memories and their vivid recollections, not to mention their secrets from the past.
A great read.
April 27, 2012
I'm not quite sure how to describe this intriguing story. It's curiously gripping whilst also being an easy read. I was a little disappointed it ended as it did I would have liked it to go further. It left me feeling that the characters had alot more to them then we knew.
October 29, 2015
Story takes place in the UK it involves three "families" and the events that unfold between Halloween and Guy Fawkes day. Surprise ending, and I enjoyed the book, especially the characters of Wolfe and Arthur.
December 21, 2023
Olive und Nell sind zwei komplett gegensätzliche Frauen mit einer gemeinsamen Vergangenheit, in der es immer wieder zu Spannungen kam. Dass zwischen ihren beiden Häusern ein unbewohntes steht, ist sicherlich besser. So ist es zumindest für Nell nicht täglich die direkte Konfrontation. Olive dagegen zieht sich immer mehr in ihre eigene Welt zurück, was für ihren Ehemann Arthur immer schwerer mit anzusehen ist. Aber ich habe sowieso den Eindruck bekommen, als ob sie sich nie so in Konkurrenz zu Nell gesehen hat. Wenn überhaupt, haben sie Nells fast schon krankhafter Ehrgeiz eher amüsiert.
Wolfe steht mit seiner Familie im wahrsten Sinn des Wortes dazwischen. Sie ziehen in das leerstehende Haus zwischen Nell und Olive ein und mit seiner offenen Art schafft es Wolfe, dass sich ihm die Türen öffnen. Er freundet sich mit Arthur an und arbeitet gemeinsam mit ihm in dessen Schrebergarten. Auch Olive beginnt, den Jungen in ihr Herz zu schließen, denn er verurteilt sie nicht.
Nell dagegen beobachtet die Vorgänge argwöhnisch. Die neue Familie stört sie, weil sie nicht in ihr perfektes Bild passt und sich nicht an die Regeln halten, die ihr so wichtig sind. Anfangs war mir nicht klar, wie sehr die kleinen und großen Zwänge Nells Tagesablauf bestimmen, aber die Autorin enthüllt die Tragweite von Nells Verhalten immer mehr und ich habe ein immer besseres Bild von den Vorgängen in ihrem Haus bekommen, sowohl in der Vergangenheit,als auch in der Gegenwart.
Als die Bewohner der drei Häuser durch Wolfes Einladung aufeinander treffen, eskaliert die Situation und alles, was jahrelang im Verborgenen gebrodelt hat, tritt an die Oberfläche.
Lesley Glaister hat es geschafft, auf nur wenigen Seiten eine dicht gepackte Geschichte zu schreiben. Sie beschreibt ihre Charaktere bis ins kleinste Detail und erzeugt eine fast schon unheimliche Spannung, die mit jeder Seite steigt. Das Ende war für mich schon fast eine Erleichterung, weil sich während der Erzählung viele Möglichkeiten aufgetan haben, wie die Geschichte ausgehen könnte und ich gehofft habe, dass sie zumindest für Wolfe gut ausgeht, weil ich ihn in mein Herz geschlossen hatte.
Wolfe steht mit seiner Familie im wahrsten Sinn des Wortes dazwischen. Sie ziehen in das leerstehende Haus zwischen Nell und Olive ein und mit seiner offenen Art schafft es Wolfe, dass sich ihm die Türen öffnen. Er freundet sich mit Arthur an und arbeitet gemeinsam mit ihm in dessen Schrebergarten. Auch Olive beginnt, den Jungen in ihr Herz zu schließen, denn er verurteilt sie nicht.
Nell dagegen beobachtet die Vorgänge argwöhnisch. Die neue Familie stört sie, weil sie nicht in ihr perfektes Bild passt und sich nicht an die Regeln halten, die ihr so wichtig sind. Anfangs war mir nicht klar, wie sehr die kleinen und großen Zwänge Nells Tagesablauf bestimmen, aber die Autorin enthüllt die Tragweite von Nells Verhalten immer mehr und ich habe ein immer besseres Bild von den Vorgängen in ihrem Haus bekommen, sowohl in der Vergangenheit,als auch in der Gegenwart.
Als die Bewohner der drei Häuser durch Wolfes Einladung aufeinander treffen, eskaliert die Situation und alles, was jahrelang im Verborgenen gebrodelt hat, tritt an die Oberfläche.
Lesley Glaister hat es geschafft, auf nur wenigen Seiten eine dicht gepackte Geschichte zu schreiben. Sie beschreibt ihre Charaktere bis ins kleinste Detail und erzeugt eine fast schon unheimliche Spannung, die mit jeder Seite steigt. Das Ende war für mich schon fast eine Erleichterung, weil sich während der Erzählung viele Möglichkeiten aufgetan haben, wie die Geschichte ausgehen könnte und ich gehofft habe, dass sie zumindest für Wolfe gut ausgeht, weil ich ihn in mein Herz geschlossen hatte.
November 1, 2017
Une petite ville anglaise tout ce qu'il y a de plus banale et tranquille, où l'on s'attarde sur trois de ses maisons, voisines : la maison de Petra enceinte jusqu'aux yeux qui vit au jour le jour avec ses 3 enfants et son compagnon, prise en sandwich entre celle de Nell, une amère maniaque de la propreté qui déteste son fils et cause avec son défunt mari, et celle d'Olive et Arthur, vivant chacun différemment leur vieil âge.
Les personnages sont attachants et natures, ce qui donne lieu à quelques scènes sympathiques. Et plus on progresse, plus ces gens lèvent le voile sur ce qu'ils cachent. Là où on pourra être déçu, c'est que l'auteure s'est seulement contenter de frôler ces retournements de situation et n'a pris aucun risque, ce qui est bien dommage.
Une lecture sympa mais pas mémorable. Ceux qui aiment la littérature classique apprécieront.
Les personnages sont attachants et natures, ce qui donne lieu à quelques scènes sympathiques. Et plus on progresse, plus ces gens lèvent le voile sur ce qu'ils cachent. Là où on pourra être déçu, c'est que l'auteure s'est seulement contenter de frôler ces retournements de situation et n'a pris aucun risque, ce qui est bien dommage.
Une lecture sympa mais pas mémorable. Ceux qui aiment la littérature classique apprécieront.
February 14, 2024
I truly did not like this novel. The characters are just reprehensible, thinly constructed, and irritatingly self-involved across the board. Supposedly a “novel of psychological suspense,” this was a chore to get through. It almost read a bit like King’s “Needful Things,” without the catalystic spark of that novel, with old “friends” and new neighbors all folding in silly ways. From a character having conversations with a photo (much worse than it sounds),to a somewhat psychotic person who speaks about himself in the third person, to subplots about swingers and deadbeat fathers, this just left a sour taste in my mouth. By the end, I just kept asking myself why didn’t I DNF this novel? Not a treat - just a trick.
October 29, 2022
This story centres in three houses and the lives of those neighbours.
One houses Arthur, a meek, mild mannered man, married to the morbidly obese yet volatile Olive.
The next belongs to Petra, a pregnant lady, her three children and sometime boyfriend.
The last is where lives Nell and her only son who has recently come out of prison and who wants to live back with his mam.
The tale involves how all these people with issues and secret skeletons interact and try to live side by side.
A fascinating observational novel and a slice of British life of three disparate, but by proximity intertwined families.
One houses Arthur, a meek, mild mannered man, married to the morbidly obese yet volatile Olive.
The next belongs to Petra, a pregnant lady, her three children and sometime boyfriend.
The last is where lives Nell and her only son who has recently come out of prison and who wants to live back with his mam.
The tale involves how all these people with issues and secret skeletons interact and try to live side by side.
A fascinating observational novel and a slice of British life of three disparate, but by proximity intertwined families.
October 21, 2024
On a typical Northern street, Glaister invites us to peer through the windows and minds of three houses.
Olive and Arthur, an elderly couple. Olive needs caring for and Arthur does his best.
Petra, Tom, Buffy, Bobby and Wolfe. They're new neighbours and came from a commune.
Last but not least are Nell and her son Raymond. He's been in prison for many years and has come home.
In true Glaister style, we slowly discover the dark secrets of the characters.
An absolute corker of a book.
Olive and Arthur, an elderly couple. Olive needs caring for and Arthur does his best.
Petra, Tom, Buffy, Bobby and Wolfe. They're new neighbours and came from a commune.
Last but not least are Nell and her son Raymond. He's been in prison for many years and has come home.
In true Glaister style, we slowly discover the dark secrets of the characters.
An absolute corker of a book.
July 10, 2026
Yet another good book by Lesley Glaister. I may have virtually read them all now. Sinister and ominous but also inluding characters with good and moral traits making it, therefore, not a depressing read. Some of the characters even had an element of quirky humour. Glaister spins a good tale and you never quite know what the end outcomes may be.
September 3, 2020
Superb. Very taut prose.
September 10, 2025
incredible. the story is told so well
July 29, 2014
"excellent read with rich complex characters who bring plenty of baggage with them" "Somehow Glaister makes “warm and cosy” (tea and toast, tins of toffee and chocolate limes, allotment gardening, parkin and candlewick bedspreads) feel slightly sinister." full review at:http://stevek1889.blogspot.co.uk/2014...
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews