Her Fearful Symmetry

I always get a little excited when I read a blog about books, and my friend Alice's latest blog has re-kindled my need to share and shout out about some of the books I have read and been meaning to write about!

I have always had a big interest in History, Victorian times especially. I based my final year University projects on Tracey Chevaliers books 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' and 'Falling Angels'.

Girl with a Pearl Earring was picked up on a whim from Oxfam, I ended up loving it, and Falling Angels even more so. After the success of my Pearl Earring project I decided to base my next project on another Chevalier novel before even reading it! After reading the blurbs of the others I knew without a doubt Falling Angels was my one. Set in gritty Victorian Britain I loved it, and it inspired some of my best work yet.

However this is not the book I want to rave about, Whilst researching Falling Angels I took a trip to London's Highgate Cemetery, and a lovely chat to a lady named Gene. Through her I discovered another writer had also set a novel here. Audrey Niffenegger's 'Her Fearful Symmetry'. I still haven't read her first novel 'The Time Travellers Wife' but have heard it is fantastic. When I told people I was reading 'Her Fearful Symmetry' a few people commented that they hadn't liked it as much as her other novel, I however loved it!

The London setting instantly appealed, and following all the research I had done on the Cemetery for my project I was intrigued to also read about it in a fictional novel. Because I could picture the setting so clearly I might be quite biased, but I think I would have loved the book regardless. It is very different from anything else I have read, and the characters are wonderful. The book follows twins Julia and Valentina as they move into a London apartment they inherited off their Aunt, who doesn't seem quite ready to leave her flat....  the ghostliness of the book certainly appealed to me. The way the twins unravel their Aunts secrets, connect with and change the lives of their quirky neighbours, and ultimately discover themselves makes unforgettable reading. I would recommend it to everyone after a bit of ghostly fiction with a twist!

"A ghostly love story, and a lovely ghost story" - Tatler

xxx