'Sleep Pale Sister' by Joanne Harris is a gothic novel set in Victorian England, telling the story of a painter, Henry Chester, who marries his favorite model, Effie. The book explores themes of lust, drugs, madness, revenge, and murder, with a narrative that is described as dreamlike and murky. The plot unfolds through the perspectives of various characters, revealing dark secrets, obsessions, and a chilling high gothic tale.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings include pedophilia, rape, child abuse, substance abuse, and themes of mental illness.
Has Romance?
There are romantic elements, but they often manifest in unhealthy and obsessive ways.
From The Publisher:
Before the sweet delight of Chocolat, before the heady concoction that is Blackberry Wine, and before the tart pleasures of Five Quarters of the Orange, bestselling author Joanne Harris wrote Sleep, Pale Sister - a gothic tourde-force that recalls the powerfully dark sensibility of her novel Holy Fools.
Originally published in 1994 - and never before available in the United States - Sleep, Pale Sister is a hypnotically atmospheric story set in nineteenth century London. When puritanical artist Henry Chester sees delicate child beauty Effie, he makes her his favorite model and, before long, his bride. But Henry, volatile and repressed, is in love with an ideal. Passive, docile, and asexual, the woman he projects onto Effie is far from the woman she really is. And when Effie begins to discover the murderous depths of Henry's hypocrisy, her latent passion will rise to the surface.
Sleep, Pale Sister combines the ethereal beauty of a Pre-Raphaelite painting with a chilling high gothic tale and is a testament to Harris's brimming cornucopia of talents.
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About the Author:
Joanne Harris's Whitbread-shortlisted Chocolat was made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. She is the author of many other bestselling novels, including Lollipop Shoes, Peaches for Monsieur le Curé, and The Strawberry Thief, all also featuring Vianne Rocher. She has also written acclaimed novels in such diverse genres as fantasy based on Norse myth (Runemarks, Runelight, The Gospel of Loki), and the Malbry cycle of dark psychological thrillers (Gentlemen & Players, Blueeyedboy, and Different Class). Born in Barnsley, of an English father and a French mother, she spent fifteen years as a teacher before (somewhat reluctantly) becoming a full-time writer. In 2013, she was awarded an MBE. She lives in Yorkshire, plays bass and flute in a band first formed when she was sixteen, and works in a shed in her garden.
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