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Maggie O'Farrell

This Must Be the Place Hardcover – 1 June 2016

by Maggie O'Farrell (Author)

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG READER AWARDS.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SALTIRE SOCIETY FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BGE IRISH BOOK AWARDS NOVEL OF THE YEAR.

A top-ten bestseller, THIS MUST BE THE PLACE by Maggie O'Farrell crosses time zones and continents to reveal an extraordinary portrait of a marriage.

'A complex, riveting novel of love and hope that grips at the heart' The Sunday Times

A reclusive ex-film star living in the wilds of Ireland, Claudette Wells is a woman whose first instinct, when a stranger approaches her home, is to reach for her shotgun. Why is she so fiercely protective of her family, and what made her walk out of her cinematic career when she had the whole world at her feet?

Her husband Daniel, reeling from a discovery about a woman he last saw twenty years ago, is about to make an exit of his own. It is a journey that will send him off-course, far away from the life he and Claudette have made together. Will their love for one another be enough to bring Daniel back home?

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Product details

Publisher : Tinder Press; 1st edition (1 June 2016)
Language : English
Hardcover : 352 pages
ISBN-10 : 0755358805
ISBN-13 : 978-0755358809
Dimensions : 16.2 x 4.3 x 24.1 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 407,756 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 25,672 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
- 37,204 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- 170,617 in Religion & Spirituality (Books)

Customer Reviews:
908 ratings

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Review

A tour de force, a complex and nuanced story leaping effortlessly across multiple time frames... THIS MUST BE THE PLACE is that rare literary beast, both technically dazzling and deeply moving. It has all the structural and temporal playfulness of a Kate Atkinson novel while retaining the hallmark emotional insight for which O'Farrell has become renowned. It is her best novel to date, a book that surely confirms her as one of the UK's most assured, accomplished and inventive storytellers ― Observer

A symphony of stories and voices... absolutely gripping... A rare talent to enthral... It will leave you bereft and wanting more ― Sunday Times

Inventive, moving and hilarious. I loved it -- Rachel Joyce

Beautifully executed; a graceful, insightful exploration of a relationship in all its wonders and woes ― Mail on Sunday

Switching seamlessly between decades, destinations and voices, it's complex in scale, but is carried off with dazzling grace. A rich, engrossing feast of a novel to lose yourself in ― Sunday Mirror

A magnificent novel that is perceptive, profound and page-turning in equal measures. There are few things I look forward to like a Maggie O'Farrell novel and she never disappoints -- Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of The Last Act of Love

There is tragedy in the novel, but also sharp comedy, and O'Farrell, skilful as ever, plays with the novel form... In this rewarding and humane novel, O'Farrell brings alive the destructive effects of petty betrayals that affect everyone every day ― Sunday Express

For all that it whizzed about across times zones and continents, it is seamless and each character is fantastic at the next ― Metro

A new Maggie O'Farrell book is always a cause for celebration, but her seventh is so brilliant that you'll want to unfurl flags and put up bunting in her honour... Wonderfully written and absolutely addictive ― Psychologies Magazine

I haven't read a Maggie O'Farrell novel I didn't love and This Must Be The Place might be her finest work yet... A beautiful, ambitious triumph ― Red Magazine

Review

Praise for Maggie O'Farrell: Here is an author whose depth and insight hover just below the surface of an apparently effortless lightness...There is a deliciousness to this novel, a warmth and readability that render it unputdownable and will surely make it a hit. She's done it again - Guardian

Addictive... told with real humanity, warmth and infectious love - Observer

Consolidates her reputation as a writer who depicts relationships with piercing acuity in haunting, intense prose. O'Farrell is a deliciously insightful writer, observing the dynamics of relationships and astutely filleting them to the bone. Her sharp but humane eye dissects every form of human interaction - Independent on Sunday

Evocative, articulate and joyously readable, does not disappoint. An author at the top of her game - Sunday Express

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5 star		56%
4 star		23%
3 star		13%
2 star		5%
1 star		3%

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John Ellis

Changed

Reviewed in Australia on 14 January 2018

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I read a sample ( 1st Chapter), before purchasing this book. The wit and humour of the first 1-2 chapters seemed to disappear and be replaced by mundane descriptions of characters, places and events. The writer seemed to change her style, hence I was quite disappointed, as the remainder of the book offered very little.

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jane ramus

Interesting book

Reviewed in Australia on 30 December 2017

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This book is all about relationships between husband and wife,father and children. I enjoyed his life story . Great read

One person found this helpful

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Southernkies

Stunningly acute emotional journeys

Reviewed in Australia on 15 February 2017

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Quite simply one of the best reads in a very very long time. Not since "The Little Friend" have I been so transfixed by a set of characters so well drawn and filled out.

One person found this helpful

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elisa

Five Stars

Reviewed in Australia on 2 September 2016

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An engrossing and well written story

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Jayney

... I need to express right now how much I love it. I sobbed my way through After You’d ...

Reviewed in Australia on 17 June 2016

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I’m not quite finished This Must Be the Place (15% to go on my Kindle) but I need to express right now how much I love it. I sobbed my way through After You’d Gone some years ago, and I’ve enjoyed all of Maggie O’Farrell’s books, but this one is fabulous. It reaffirms that Maggie O’Farrell is a very talent writer.

The language is evocative but it’s not over-written and the characters are complex yet credible. Some of her descriptions of grief and loss are so powerful, it’s as if you can taste it.

Note that the book isn’t written chronologically, and each chapter explores part of a different character’s story. I enjoyed the structure, but you need to pay attention.

I cannot wait to read the next 15% and read it again in future.

Thank you Maggie O’Farrell for this wonderful book.

One person found this helpful

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an unadulterated pleasure to read

Reviewed in Australia on 10 October 2016

“She wasn’t going to look at him again, no, she wasn’t….. Then she did look and the same sensations hit again, like a row of dominoes toppling into each other: the towering sense of recognition, the disbelief that she doesn’t somehow know him, the ridiculousness that they do not know each other, the impossibility of them not seeing each other again”

This Must Be The Place is the seventh novel by British author, Maggie O’Farrell. Claudette Wells is Daniel Sullivan’s second wife. Even after several years of living together in a remote corner of Donegal, and fathering two children with her, he still finds it hard to believe that this eccentric, occasionally crazy, reclusive and beautiful ex-film star ever agreed to marry him. Later, he will remember this, and wonder what possessed him to put all that at risk. But now, a chance snippet of a radio broadcast, heard on the way to the train, sets him on a path to his past.

Daniel heads off to New York, to his (not at all beloved) father’s 90th birthday party, makes an unplanned detour to California see the son and daughter from whom he has been kept for nine years by a vindictive ex-wife, then detours again to Sussex. What he learns there has such a profound effect on him, it threatens to derail the best thing in his life.

O’Farrell has done it again! This extended family, this cast of characters, they pull the reader in. She draws each of them so well, with all their flaws and foibles, that the reader cannot help but find them appealing, hoping that things will turn out okay for them, laughing with them when they do and shedding a tear or two when they don’t.

The story is told by many different characters: the perspective of some is given numerous times; others share their perceptions only once; conveniently, each chapter is clearly marked with the character and the time period; as well as contributing to the main story, these alternate views give vignettes of other, associated lives; most are conventional first-person or third-person narratives, but there is a second-person one, one with footnotes, a transcript of an interview, and even an auction catalogue with images; the chapter headings are phrases lifted from the text therein, producing a tiny resonance when they are read in context.

O’Farrell’s descriptive prose is wonderfully evocative: “An amount of time later – he isn’t sure exactly how much – Daniel is walking in through the gates of the cemetery. He comes here at least once a day. It gives him an aim, a kind of routine. He makes his way along the gravelled path, letting his eye rest on the hundreds and hundreds of gravestones, watching the way they pull themselves into diagonal columns as he passes, then unpeel themselves, then line up again. An endless process of arrangement and disarrangement” is one example.

“He thinks of his grief over his sister as an entity that is horribly and painfully attached to him, the way a jellyfish might adhere to your skin or a goitre or an abscess. He pictures it as viscid, amorphous, spiked, hideous to behold. He finds it unbelievable that no one else can see it. Don’t mind that, he would say, it’s just my grief. Please ignore it and carry on with what you were saying” is another example.

Fans of O’Farrell’s earlier novels will not be disappointed. Readers new to her work are sure to seek out her backlist. Yet another O’Farrell novel that is an unadulterated pleasure to read.

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Graham Eason

Close but no cigar

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 November 2017

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I bought this on the strength of the Amazon rating, which perhaps just goes to show the devil is in the detail. It's not a bad book but it reveals its mechanics - of plot and characterisation - rather than simply transporting you. At least for me that is because the characters are not believable or very likeable and the plot clangs along and changes gear suddenly. Overall, you're left wondering 'do I really care?' The problem seems to be the jumps in time and character between chapters, which makes it hard to engage with the story and characters.
This is a shame really as M O'F is a beautiful writer, evoking place and mood, but at least for this book it seems to be at the expense of story and character. This is the only book of hers that I've read and, from reviews, seasoned fans suggest it is out of character, so perhaps worth persevering.
The idea is interesting - tracing the arc of a marriage - but the execution and characterisation don't work for me. It might make a better film or mini series.

21 people found this helpful

hextol

trying a bit too hard to be meaningful and failing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 June 2018

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this book is a very mixed bag of the good snd some pretty poor sections

I like the way she writes and loved 'the vanishing act of Esme Lennox but found this much harder work. The story line is quite thin and cutting it up and imposing time changes and different narrative voices does not disguise this well enough. Neither Claudette or daniel are intrinsically likeable or, more fatally, believable, characters and I found it difficult to sustain a sufficient level of interest in either of them which means that the outcome of their marriage is a bit of a non-starter as a hook and two of the minor players had interesting tales to be told that were left hanging in the air. We did hear a bit about what happened to Claudette's first partner but there were still inanswered qustions and the middle-aged woman on the road trip with Daniel had a fascinating tale which ccould easily have been expanded upon
overall it just felt that she was trying too hard to make something meaningful and significant out of a very ordinary tale

7 people found this helpful

M. Mahauthaman

An excellent read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 November 2017

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This Must Be the Place is the first book I read by Maggie O'Farrell, and I enjoyed it so much I've been systematically reading everything she's written ever since.

The writing style takes a little getting used to, as the narrative moves between characters and time periods quite frequently, and in some cases the style of writing changes altogether when this happens. It can be distressing for the reader; just when you get deeply drawn into one character's plight, you are suddenly transported to a completely (seemingly) unrelated person 10 year prior. This isn't a criticism though; each storyline is compelling in its own way, and while you may be briefly frustrated at wanting to know what happens next to character X, you'll quickly find yourself being equally invested in the life of character Y. This is a testament to how deep each of the main characters are, and their tales all ultimately tie together and contribute to the central theme of Daniel and Claudette's marriage.

Maggie O'Farrell's writing style is certainly one of the more unique that I have come across recently. She is very adept at capturing emotion which lets us emphasize with the characters, and giving depth to her whole cast so that even larger-than-life figures like Claudette are completely humanised and endearing, and peripheral characters like Ari have distinct personalities despite relatively little word-count focused on them. More notably though, while O'Farrell employs some 'twists' in the story, they are heavily forecast and sometimes bluntly stated long before they occur, so when they do happen we focus on the characters responding and dealing with them, rather than experiencing the shock impact ourselves. I've noticed this is employed in several of her books, and it's a very effective technique.

This is one of the few books in my adult life I've read more than once, and the story, writing, characters were all just as engaging and heart-wrenching on repeated readings. Cannot recommend enough.

10 people found this helpful

Sarah-Lou

Maggie O'Farrell writes beautifully. You cannot help be be swept along by ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 March 2018

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Maggie O'Farrell writes beautifully. You cannot help be be swept along by her use of language and wonderful description. This Must Be The Place is the story of Daniel and Claudette's marriage and life before marriage, both flawed characters in their own ways. Daniel is an American linguist who meets Claudette, a reclusive film star in the depths of the Irish countryside. Between them they have five children and two failed marriages. The novel jumps through timelines from past to present, back again and to the time in between, yet it all flows coherently. There are multiple narrators throughout- none thoroughly trustworthy! We find out why Claudette withdrew from the world at the height of her fame, leading many to believe she had died, and why Daniel carries so much guilt around a girlfriend he had in his student days. As a reader you feel a true witness to what made these people what they are and the reasons behind their actions.

7 people found this helpful

Jenny H

Deep love and missed opportunities

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 March 2018

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I really enjoyed this book, a story of deep love and (sometimes missed) opportunities to put things right. It has real characters, with all their faults and foibles. A dramatic story of relationships, marriages and break-ups over three generations, expertly weaving a complex story into a believable and engrossing whole. Yes, it sweeps across continents and back and forth in time, but I found this intriguing rather than confusing. She brings a real sense of place to this novel, especially her depiction of the remote setting of the house in Donegal. I love the way that key phrases from each chapter are used as chapter headings. You start looking out for the phrase within the chapter. "Oh, there it is!" Scenes such as a drunk Daniel crashing about in a local thrift shop trying to find mementos of his mother are both moving and amusing. Anyone who can describe an untidy but loving family home as looking like 'a cross between a garage sale and the bottom of a bird cage' gets my vote! Have not ready any others by Maggie O'Farrell but will do so now.

6 people found this helpful

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