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The Turnglass
The Turnglass | Gareth Rubin
8 posts | 4 read | 4 to read
Stuart Turton meets The Magpie Murders in this immersive and unique story for fans of clever crime fiction. Imagine you're holding a book in your hands. It's not just any book though. It's a tte-bche novel, beloved of nineteenth-century bookmakers. It's a book that is two books: two intertwined stories printed back-to-back. Open the book and the first novella begins. It ends at the middle of the book. Then flip the book over, head to tail, and read the second story in the opposite direction. Both covers are front covers; and it can be read in either direction, or in both directions at once, alternating chapters, to fully immerse the reader in it. 1880s England. On the bleak island of Ray, off the Essex coast, an idealistic young doctor, Simeon Lee, is called from London to treat his cousin, Parson Oliver Hawes, who is dying. Parson Hawes, who lives in the only house on the island - Turnglass House - believes he is being poisoned. And he points the finger at his sister-in-law, Florence. Florence was declared insane after killing Oliver's brother in a jealous rage and is now kept in a glass-walled apartment in Oliver's library. And the secret to how she came to be there is found in Oliver's tte-bche journal, where one side tells a very different story from the other. 1930s California. Celebrated author Oliver Tooke, the son of the state governor, is found dead in his writing hut off the coast of the family residence, Turnglass House. His friend Ken Kourian doesn't believe that Oliver would take his own life. His investigations lead him to the mysterious kidnapping of Oliver's brother when they were children, and the subsequent secret incarceration of his mother, Florence, in an asylum. But to discover the truth, Ken must decipher clues hidden in Oliver's final book, a tte-bche novel - which is about a young doctor called Simeon Lee . . .
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
review
RaeLovesToRead
RaeLovesToRead
The Turnglass | Gareth Rubin
post image
Mehso-so

I should have adored this! Look at the cover! Meta-mysteries are my thing, and this novel of two halves should have been a winner.

Although the concept was excellent, the execution was mediocre.

For some reason, the writing didn't breathe life into the plot. It felt more like a list of stuff that happened and I had to keep re-reading because none of it stuck in my mind.

Excellent ideas, but bland characters and guessable twists.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

julesG My thoughts precisely 6mo
71 likes1 comment
blurb
RaeLovesToRead
RaeLovesToRead
The Turnglass | Gareth Rubin
post image

This one flips!

I've only read one other book that does something similar: Ali Smith's How to be both.

I bought it because of the cover. Who could resist that deliciously baroque-looking manor?

Disclaimer: looks baroque to me, but what do I know about architecture?

dabbe 🤩🤩🤩 The gold SCREAMS Baroque. #goodenoughforme #beautifulcovers 7mo
SaunteringVaguelyDownwards Less fancy and more frustrating is Danielewski's Only Revolutions, where rotating & revolving the book is part of the reading mechanic.
[tagged book]Only Revolutions
7mo
59 likes2 comments
review
OutsmartYourShelf
OutsmartYourShelf
The Turnglass | Gareth Rubin
post image
Mehso-so

England 1880s, Dr Simeon Lee arrives at the house of his cousin, Parson Oliver Hawes. Oliver is ill but believes he is being poisoned & there doesn't seem to be any shortage of suspects: is it the two servants, or is it one of the townsfolk in the neighbouring village, or is it Florence Hawes? Once married to Oliver's brother, James, Florence killed him in a rage over another woman & she now lives behind a glass wall in Turnglass House. (Cont'd)

OutsmartYourShelf How would she get out though to commit the crime?

There are several references to the second half of the story which is set in 1930s California & involves the death of Oliver Tooke & the appearance of a book about a young doctor named Simeon Lee. This book is written as a tête-bêche novel - two intertwined stories where you can read one then the other or read alternate chapters. I didn't realise it when requesting, but this was only one of the 13mo
OutsmartYourShelf two parts to the story so obviously that choice was not open to me, but I didn't enjoy the story enough to read the second part. I found it a bit hard-going for some reason, can't quite put my finger on what I didn't like. Many reviewers seemed to really like it though, so don't let me put you off as it's something different in today's book world. 2.5⭐

My thanks to #NetGalley & publishers, Simon & Schuster UK, for the opportunity to read an ARC. 13mo
OutsmartYourShelf Full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5693801001
Read 1st-2nd Nov 2023 13mo
30 likes3 comments
quote
julesG
julesG
The Turnglass | Gareth Rubin
post image

'You want to look through the books?'

'I do. I'm always fascinated by other people's reading habits.'

'Me too.'

So true!!!

julieclair Yes!!! 1y
Bklover Oh me too! 1y
62 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
julesG
julesG
The Turnglass | Gareth Rubin
post image

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

The first line of the 1930s part of the tagged book is:

Ken Kourian's eyes, pale green like thirsty grass, bent to the coffee-stained page in front of him.

#Gladstonerds #GladstonesLibrary #ReadingRetreat

ShyBookOwl 💜 1y
IndoorDame 💚💚💚 1y
tpixie 💚 1y
78 likes3 comments
blurb
Oryx
Oryx
The Turnglass | Gareth Rubin
post image

Since I have both @julesG 's copy, and the one I decided to buy for myself at the last moment, I can show you all the front and the back at the same time. Or is it the front and the front?

Caroline2 Ohhh 😯 ❤️ 1y
julesG 😍😍😍 They are beauties. Can't wait to read the red part of the story. 1y
squirrelbrain Oooh pretty! 1y
47 likes1 stack add3 comments
review
julesG
julesG
The Turnglass | Gareth Rubin
post image
Pickpick

#ARC #MountARC #NetGalley

Simeon, young doctor in Victorian London, is visiting a distant cousin who's had health problems for a few days. The cousin lives in Turnglass House on a small remote island off the coast of Essex. He's warden to his sister-in-law, who killed her husband in a flash of rage and it was house arrest or Bedlam.

Simeon wants to help the cousin, as well as the imprisoned Florence. But how, when no one wants to tell him ⬇️

julesG ...what happened. And what does this all have to do with the "futuristic" novella Florence pointed him to? Slowly the story unravels and: ends with a cliffhanger, because the ARC was only the first part of the book. ⬇️ 1y
julesG Really liked this first part of the book. The setting of the remote island, the tight-knit group of islanders who won't give away their secrets fearing Simeon might sell them out. The slow reveal of why Florence accidentally murdered her husband, and, more importantly, why and how she ended up being trapped in her rooms. It was all exactly what I had hoped for in this book. Likeable and unlikable characters, a murder with a twist (saw it coming ⬇️ 1y
julesG What I had completely forgotten about was that I would only get to read one part of the book. Fortunately the physical copies were just released and I am looking forward to finishing the story as soon as I get my copy. 1y
squirrelbrain Sounds great! 1y
70 likes1 stack add4 comments
blurb
Magpiegem
Magpiegem
The Turnglass | Gareth Rubin
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I saw this book I n this months Booktime magazine. A mystery across two separate stories where you turn the book over half way through to read the other half and one informs the other… sounds intriguing… possibly gimmicky but intriguing.

24 likes