
The Start of Everything
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Sheila Burminham
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Stephen Hoye
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By:
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Emily Winslow
In this stunning psychological thriller for readers of Tana French, Kate Atkinson, and Donna Tartt, Emily Winslow has crafted a literary prism told through the eyes of her many intricately drawn characters. Masterly and mesmerizing, The Start of Everything will captivate until the very last minute.
"If you don’t want to see me again, say so. But it’s not right to say nothing. It’s not right to go silent. You know what to do."
Cambridge, England: Outside the city, the badly decomposed body of a teenage girl has washed up in the flooded fens. Detective Inspector Chloe Frohmann and her partner, Morris Keene, must work quickly to identify the victim before the press takes off with the salacious story. Across the hallowed paths and storied squares of Cambridge University, the detectives follow scant clues toward the identity of the dead girl. Eventually, their search leads them to Deeping House, an imposing country manor where, over the course of one Christmas holiday, three families, two nannies, and one young writer were snowed in together. Chloe Frohmann begins to unravel a tangled web of passions and secrets, of long-buried crimes and freshly committed horrors. But in order to reveal the truth - about misaddressed letters, a devastating affair, and a murdered teenager - she may have to betray her partner.
©2021 Emily Winslow (P)2012 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
This is a wonderfully complicated, intricate, exploration of individuals, motherhood, families, and nannies, all set in the academic world of Cambridge.
I loved all the twists and turns. There is more than a murder to unravel in this book. The different narrators all give testimony sometimes, credible, other times, unreliable or inaccurate. I found Matild, the girl who suffers from Asperger or some other related disorder, compelling as she blindly blunders right into danger. There was also, drama and pathos in her quest to reunite the letter and make some connection of her own. Ultimmately Chloe is the most informed and clear sighted. It all comes together, in jigsaw pieces to it's final and surprising revelations.
I can not recommend this book highly enough to mystery and contemporary fiction readers alike. It is superbly written, fraught with tension and a finely wrought portrait of fully realized characters.
I look forward to seeing more from this writer!
Very much like Tana French and Kate Atkinson
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tricky and clever
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all female voices sound the same
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horrible narration
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I enjoy quirky characters to a degree but the main character's severe aversion to other people touching her or her belongings or invading her personal space over and over was wearing... it didn't allow the relationships between the characters to fully develop.
Too many loose ends; her father dies and then what? She tapes his door closed and starts living in a hovel, bathing in a restroom?
I really tried to prise the hidden gems some other readers were able to elicit from the book, to no avail.
Not my cup of tea
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The ending
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I’m glad I read a review first
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difficult to follow. lots of rewinding.
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it was okay
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interesting - lots of intertwined lives
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