Awards

• Winner of Desmond Elliott Prize 2012.

Overview

Judith and her father don't have much - their house is full of dusty relics, reminders of the mother she's never known. But Judith sees the world with the clear Eyes of Faith, and where others might see rubbish, Judith sees possibility. Bullied at school, she finds solace in making a model of the Promised Land - little people made from pipe cleaners, a sliver of moon, luminous stars and a mirror sea - a world of wonder that Judith calls The Land of Decoration. Perhaps, she thinks, if she makes it snow indoors (using shaving foam and cotton wool and cellophane) there will be no school on Monday...Sure enough, when Judith opens her curtains the next day, the world beyond her window has turned white. She has performed her first miracle. And that's when her troubles begin. With its intensely taut storytelling and gorgeous prose, The Land of Decoration is a heartbreaking story of good and evil, belief and doubt. Its author, Grace McCleen, is a blazing new talent in contemporary literature.

Full Product Details

Author:   Grace McCleen
Publisher:   Vintage
Imprint:   Chatto & Windus
Dimensions:   Width: 15.30cm , Height: 2.10cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.402kg
ISBN:  

9780701186821

ISBN 10:   0701186828
Pages:   304
Publication Date:   01 March 2012
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Reviews

Kate writes: Our March Book of the Month is a debut novel set in the Welsh valleys in the mid-eighties. We meet Judith, whose father is a member of a feundamentalist sect. Judith is the only member of the family who embraces his religious fanaticism with equal fervor. In anticipation of Armageddon, Judith makes models of the promised 'Land of Decoration'. The models she makes are an escape from reality where she is faced not only with a vicious school bully; but also the consequences of her father's decision to keep working when the union at his factory goes on strike. This a delightfully eccentric and truly wonderful novel about faith & childhood imagination.  

<p> This extraordinary tale of one little girl's End Times grabbed me by the throat. The Land of Decoration is part social observation and part crazy mysticism, held together by a brutally real story of parent-child love. --Emma Donoghue, author of Room

Author Information

Grace McCleen lives in London. The Land of Decoration is her first novel.

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