Herring Girl - Softcover

"Takes us where we're not yet comfortable but dying to go: beyond normal. The novel interweaves lives, past and present, in a saga that will make you scoff at the absurdity, sigh at the humanity, and sink into your chair to have an occasional sob...You'll be hooked." - gender-focus.com "This powerfully atmospheric novel absolutely enthralled me...As the book moved between past and present, then turned from Armistead Maupin into Agatha Christie, I was utterly gripped. It's brilliantly plotted, beautifully written, full of memorable characters and steeped in so much local flavour you can almost taste the kippers." - Daily Mail "Fascinating..it is not necessary to believe in reincarnation to enjoy Taylor's story. She writes with such verve and conviction that it is easy to suspend disbelief and enjoy every moment of this gripping tale." Book Oxygen "Fascinating... A beautiful, skilled book and a thoroughly riveting read" - Northern Soul magazine "Part historical saga, part psychological mystery, Debbie Taylor's book is a gripping story about how the past can never truly be lost. Extensively researched, even the more far-fetching coincidence's in Ben's life are given plausibility and her characters are lively and captivating." - We Love this Book "A great read." - Weightwatchers' Magazine "The resolution of the mystery is satisfying, as are the very real connections between the characters past and present. A great book for historical fiction readers." - Kirkus Reviews "An engaging and detailed historical mystery." - Publishers Weekly "Wonderful. Conjures up the past with such visceral intensity that you feel as if you are there." Sarah Dunant, author of The Birth of Venus "A vividly imaginative, sensuous and atmospheric novel." Helen Dunmore, author of The Siege "This powerfully atmospheric novel absolutely enthralled me...As the book moved between past and present, then turned from Armistead Maupin into Agatha Christie, I was utterly gripped. It's brilliantly plotted, beautifully written, full of memorable characters and steeped in so much local flavour you can almost taste the kippers." - "Daily Mail" "Fascinating..it is not necessary to believe in reincarnation to enjoy Taylor's story. She writes with such verve and conviction that it is easy to suspend disbelief and enjoy every moment of this gripping tale." "Book Oxygen" "Fascinating... A beautiful, skilled book and a thoroughly riveting read" - " Northern Soul magazine" "Part historical saga, part psychological mystery, Debbie Taylor's book is a gripping story about how the past can never truly be lost. Extensively researched, even the more far-fetching coincidence's in Ben's life are given plausibility and her characters are lively and captivating." - "We Love this Book" "A great read." - "Weightwatchers' Magazine" "The resolution of the mystery is satisfying, as are the very real connections between the characters past and present. A great book for historical fiction readers." - "Kirkus Reviews" "An engaging and detailed historical mystery." - "Publishers Weekly" "Wonderful. Conjures up the past with such visceral intensity that you feel as if you are there." Sarah Dunant, author of "The Birth of Venus" "A vividly imaginative, sensuous and atmospheric novel." Helen Dunmore, author of "The Siege" "Part historical saga, part psychological mystery, Debbie Taylor's book is a gripping story about how the past can never truly be lost. Extensively researched, even the more far-fetching coincidence's in Ben's life are given plausibility and her characters are lively and captivating." - "We Love this Book""A great read." - "Weightwatchers' Magazine""The resolution of the mystery is satisfying, as are the very real connections between the characters past and present. A great book for historical fiction readers." - "Kirkus Reviews""An engaging and detailed historical mystery." - "Publishers Weekly""Wonderful. Conjures up the past with such visceral intensity that you feel as if you are there." Sarah Dunant, author of "The Birth of Venus""A vividly imaginative, sensuous and atmospheric novel." Helen Dunmore, author of "The Siege" "The resolution of the mystery is satisfying, as are the very real connections between the characters past and present. A great book for historical fiction readers." - "Kirkus Reviews""An engaging and detailed historical mystery." - "Publishers Weekly""Wonderful. Conjures up the past with such visceral intensity that you feel as if you are there." Sarah Dunant, author of "The Birth of Venus""A vividly imaginative, sensuous and atmospheric novel." Helen Dunmore, author of "The Siege" "Wonderful. Conjures up the past with such visceral intensity that you feel as if you are there." Sarah Dunant, author of "The Birth of Venus""A vividly imaginative, sensuous and atmospheric novel." Helen Dunmore, author of "The Siege"

Twelve-year-old Ben has always felt that he was born into the wrong body. When Mary, his therapist, suggests hypnosis as a way to help him understand why he doesn't identify as a boy, Ben finds himself the unlikely conduit for a herring girl called Annie, who lived over a century earlier in the same fishing port. Under the spell of hypnosis, Annie comes alive through Ben, and with her the startling story of her life, and her mysterious death. As the events surrounding Annie's final days start to emerge - her secret affair with young fisherman Sam; the violent jealousy of his rival Tom; the pregnancy fears of her best friend Flo; the abject paranoia of her brother Jimmy - both Ben and Mary find themselves embroiled in a puzzling saga from the past. And if - as psychoanalytic research suggests - souls tend to reincarnate in groups repeat-edly down the centuries, it could be that those close to Ben today were involved in the dramas of 1898, and a murderer could still be among them, waiting to strike again. Moving back and forth in time between 1898 and the present day, Herring Girl is an extraordinarily ambitious novel which evokes a long-vanished world and reveals how the secrets of our past hidden lives are never too far away.