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Beyond Black

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About this listen

Alison Hart, a medium by trade, tours the dormitory towns of London's orbital ring road with her flint-hearted sidekick, Colette, passing on messages from beloved dead ancestors. But behind her plump, smiling persona hides a desperate woman: she knows the terrors the next life holds but must conceal them from her wide-eyed clients. At the same time she is plagued by spirits from her own past, who infiltrate her body and home, becoming stronger and nastier the more she resists....

©2005 Hilary Mantel (P)2006 Isis Publishing Ltd Classics Dark Humour Genre Fiction Horror Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Satire Suspense Thriller & Suspense Urban Scary Comedy Fiction Funny Witty Mind-bending Heartfelt
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I just loved this book - it's not what I expected from the description which makes it sounds quite grim! Which is not to say it's not grim - Alison has a pretty awful life and her spirit guide is horrible. It's so well written and performed that I found myself thinking about the story between tube rides. If you enjoy stories with finely drawn characters that build to a revelation - this is one to buy.

Really unusual story, brilliantly written

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The performance of this audiobook is one of the best I’ve heard. Really so well done! It’s brilliant writing as well. Brilliant story, wonderfully drawn characters. Really enjoyed it.

Incredible narrator.

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I’ve never read or listened to anything like it. I’m usually really turned off by fantasy and magic realism, and there were aspects of the book that I found harder to get into for that reason. But that’s just what’s on the surface. The whole experience of the book is more akin to looking at an immersive piece of contemporary art; you can see the themes but they are more than you can comprehend. There is so much in here about trauma, and women’s trauma specifically. And it also manages to be razor sharp funny at the same time. Just incredible. What an amazing person we have lost in Hilary Mantel. And as for Anna Bentinck - a truly amazing performance. Witty and sensitive and really well characterised.

Phenomenal

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Having immersed myself in her Wolf Hall trilogy, the power and skill of Hilary's Mantel's work drew me to this novel. I also thought the subject matter would be interesting. Alison Hart is a medium, and communicating with those who have 'passed' is her business. The novel intertwines her relationships with her business partner, Collette, her peers in the same line of work and people who have shaped her past and her present. However, we soon realise it is a very fine line between the living and the dead for Alison, as she seeks to rid herself of the spiritual 'fiends' who continue to leave their imprint on her life.

I found the novel uncomfortable, and even unpleasant at times, Mantel's prose instigated strong and often conflicting emotions towards the characters. Alison's calm, almost submissive approach to the physical and mental damage inflicted on her by her contact with the spirit world, belied an inner turmoil that was painful to experience. This discomfort was heightened by Alison's relationship with her mother, for whom I felt an overwhelming anger. This was not only for the way she treated her daughter, but for her weakness as a person without a shred of self-respect and who would allow others to abuse her own child, treating her as a commodity, and leaving the adult Alison with more questions than answers about her past. Hoping for help and companionship, Alison's relationship with Collette also made for uncomfortable reading at times, with Collette, lost in her world of denial, frequently taking a heartless approach and lacking the emotional substance Alison craved.

The narration by Anna Bentinck generally brought the characters to gruesome life very well, and it is a testament to Mantel's prose that it aroused such outrage, frustration and sympathy. It left me thinking about the characters and the issues raised, long after I finished the book. Would I read it again? I'm not sure I could. It was one of the most uncomfortable books I've ever read. But am I glad I read it? Most certainly, yes.

An Uncomfortable Read

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What a book! The subject matter is not for the faint-hearted - in fact I worry about the mind that can produce such a tale - but I loved every moment and didn’t want it to end. Heartbreaking yet funny. Tragic, dark and moving. All topped off by the stunning narration of Anna Bentinck, who can produce such a variety of voices and accents that you end up thinking there must surely be more than one narrator!

I don’t often recommend books as it’s such a subjective thing, but this is a book to be highly recommended.

Darkly funny

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