Gillespie and I: A Novel

From the Orange Prize-nominated author of The Observations comes an absorbing, atmospheric exploration of one young woman’s friendship with a volatile artist and her place in the controversy that consumes him. Jane Harris’s Gillespie and I presents a strongly voiced female protagonist evocative of Moll Flanders and Becky Sharp, who offers a keen sensibility, deeply felt observations, and poignant remembrances of the world of a young artist in turn-of-the-century Glasgow in this fantastic work of historical fiction. London’s Sunday Times calls Gillespie and I “a literary novel where the storytelling is as skilful as the writing is fine.” Fans of The Piano Teacher and The Thirteenth Tale will find it irresistible and unforgettable.
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From the award-winning author of The Observations comes a beautifully conjured and wickedly sharp tale of art and deception in nineteenth-century Scotland.

As she sits in her Bloomsbury home with her two pet birds for company, elderly Harriet Baxter recounts the story of her friendship with Ned Gillespie—a talented artist whose life came to a tragic end before he ever achieved the fame and recognition that Harriet maintains he deserved.

In 1888, young Harriet arrives in Glasgow during the International Exhibition. After a chance encounter with Ned, she befriends the Gillespie family and soon becomes a fixture in their lives. But when tragedy strikes, culminating in a notorious criminal trial, the certainty of Harriet’s new world rapidly spirals into suspicion and despair.

Infused with rich period detail, shot through with sly humor, and featuring a memorable cast of characters, Gillespie and I is an absorbing, atmospheric tale of one young woman’s friendship with a volatile artist and her place in the controversy that consumes him—a tour de force from one of the emerging names of modern fiction.

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“It is rare to read a literary novel where the storytelling is as skilful as the writing is fine, but in Gillespie and I, Harris has pulled off the only too rare double whammy—a Booker-worthy novel that I want to read again.” - Sunday Times (London)

“Harris follows up her smashing debut with another biting, character-driven satire.” - Booklist

“Even for readers who think they’ve seen everything, GILLESPIE AND I is almost certain to be surprising. . . . A masterwork of subtlety and penetrating psychological insight. . . . But few hints will prepare most readers for what is to come.” - Shelf Awareness

“To detail even minor aspects of the plot twists in GILLESPIE AND I would necessitate an additional crime: You’d want to kill me. So delectably well has Harris constructed this psychological thriller that even the slightest hint of what’s to come would spoil things.” - Chicago Tribune

“To say anything more would be to give away the plot, which is too delectable to spoil.” - Washington Post

“This is a compelling, suspenseful and highly enjoyable novel—but what stands out is the way in which this narrative provokes us to think again about what we imagine, and what we hope for, and about the burdens that those hopes and imaginings impose upon those around us.” - The Times (London)

“A wonderfully compelling read.” - Daily Mail (London)

“Clever and entertaining. . . . Harris plays with the reader’s expectations and perspectives brilliantly, and to reveal too much more of the plot would be criminal. . . . Multi-layered, dotted with dry black humour and underpinned by a haunting sense of loneliness, this skilfully plotted psychological mystery leaves a few threads dangling, all of them leading back to an old woman living in London in 1933.” - The Independent

“Elegant novel of love, loss and redemption. . . . Harris writes sensitively and in rich detail. . . . A fine evocation of a lost era, and without a false note.” - Kirkus Reviews

“Haunting. . . . Harris succeeds with nuanced characters. . . . The reader will be so thoroughly entrenched in the carefully arranged details and the courtroom’s gripping drama that there will be no turning back.” - Publishers Weekly