Uncle Paul

"Beautifully played out to a startling and valid ending... Fremlin is here to stay as a major mistress of insight and suspense." — TheNew York Times
"Fremlin puts a keen edge on the reader's curiosity and keeps it there... the writing is so good throughout." — TheTimes (London) Literary Supplement
"An original entertainment, with unexpected turns and fine touches." — Kirkus
Meg and Isabel were just girls when "Uncle Paul" married their older half-sister, Mildred, and he soon vanished from their lives upon his exposure as a bigamist and a murderer. Fifteen years later, Uncle Paul is about to be released from prison, and all three sisters are seized with dread at the prospect of his return. Their family holiday at the seaside village where Mildred and Uncle Paul once honeymooned becomes the setting for a tense drama of suspicion, betrayal, and revenge.
Author Celia Fremlin received an Edgar Award for her suspenseful debut novel, The Hours Before Dawn. Her second thriller, Uncle Paul, evokes a similar atmosphere of menace as the paranoia of her characters — and readers — combine to form a mood of increasing tension. Rich in psychological insight and dark humor, the elegant, razor-sharp quality of Fremlin's writing provides page-turning excitement.

Celia Fremlin (1914–2009) read classics and philosophy at Oxford's Somerville College. Her WWII experiences with the Mass Observation Project influenced her first book, War Factory, which reflected the attitudes of plant workers at a Wiltshire-based radar equipment factory. Fremlin wrote 16 novels in the course of four decades, in addition to a book of poetry and three volumes of collected stories. Her novel The Hours Before Dawn won the Edgar Award in 1960.