Author | Sally Beauman |
---|---|
Country | Great Britain |
Language | English |
Genre | Fiction |
Publisher | Time Warner Books |
Publication date | 2005 |
Media type | Print Paperback and Hardback |
Pages | 428 |
ISBN | 0-7515-3687-3 |
OCLC | 62477993 |
The Landscape of Love (The Sisters Mortland in the US edition) is a novel published by British author Sally Beauman. It tells the tale of the Mortland girls – beautiful, but cold, Julia; remote and aloof Finn; and young ‘different’ Maisie – who come with their mother, Stella, to live in their grandfather's home, a huge and ancient ruin of an abbey. [1]
In the summer of 1967, the family friends Dan, Nick and Lucas arrive for a visit. Dan is Finn's boyfriend; Nick is a young doctor; and Lucas is a non-conformist fame-hungry artist and disregards others.
Lucas is painting the girls' portraits. When he works on Maisie, she entertains him with tales of the family's past. However, when Maisie tells of having her fortune told years ago, he scoffs and so she doesn't tell him what she saw in the fortune teller's crystal ball.
As the family begins to prepare to travel to Gramps's childhood home for their annual visit, their place is enveloped in a brooding sense of impending doom. Maisie (who wanders at night) spies Finn returning home very early in the morning, naked under her dress. Maisie worries that Dan's heart will be broken if Finn has been with Lucas, as she suspects.
Before the family leaves on their trip, Stella and her father work on their plan to ask Gramps's wealthy twin brother for a loan to repair the crumbling Abbey. Maisie slips away, spying Lucas furtively leaving for Cambridge on Julia's bike. She wonders if he has stolen it. Maisie then overhears a passionate argument between Dan and Finn, followed by an equally passionate embrace. The house is filled with fear, distrust and despair. Maisie doesn't know what is wrong with her family but decides she must take action to help them.
As usual Gramps's brother rebuffs the family's request for a loan, spurred on by his wife Violet ‘the Viper’. However, Maisie acquires money through surprising means. During this transaction she learns that her family fears she will turn out like her deceased father. She does not understand, what does it mean?
The story skips more than twenty years later to 1989, and, rather than being a continuation of Maisie’s tale, it is Dan who is narrating.
The sense of impending doom turns to suspenseful mystery as Dan reflects back on a tragedy that occurred during the summer of 1967 involving the Mortland family. Lucas is now a celebrated artist planning to show his 1967 portrait, The Sisters Mortland, at a retrospective. Dan is horrified at the thought of stirring up the family tragedy and sorrow. At this, it is learnt that Maisie was the cause of the tragedy, as she had jumped out of a window. It is also learnt by the reader, that Maisie was possibly autistic, though it is not explained clearly.
Dan's life is also something of a tragedy. His job as a producer of commercials ends, his father dies, and he exists in a drug-blurred depression. The current focus of his life is the tragic puzzle of the Mortland event that occurred during that long past summer.
Where did it all go wrong? Why did it happen? And how did he lose the love of his life?
The Boy Friend is a musical by Sandy Wilson. The musical's original 1954 London production ran for 2,078 performances, making it briefly the third-longest running musical in West End or Broadway history until these were all surpassed by Salad Days. The Boy Friend marked Julie Andrews' American stage debut.
Virginia Lilian Emmeline Compton-Mackenzie, CBE, known professionally as Fay Compton, was an English actress. She appeared in several films, and made many broadcasts, but was best known for her stage performances. She was known for her versatility, and appeared in Shakespeare, drawing room comedy, pantomime, modern drama, and classics such as Ibsen and Chekhov. In addition to performing in Britain, Compton appeared several times in the US, and toured Australia and New Zealand in a variety of stage plays.
"Star-crossed" or "star-crossed lovers" is a phrase describing a pair of lovers who, for some external reason, cannot be together. The term also has other meanings, but originally means that the pairing is being "thwarted by a malign star" or that the stars are working against the relationship. Astrological in origin, the phrase stems from the belief that the positions of the stars ruled over people's fates, and is best known from the play Romeo and Juliet by the Elizabethan playwright William Shakespeare. Such pairings are often said to be doomed from the start.
"The Dead" is the final short story in the 1914 collection Dubliners by James Joyce. It is by far the longest story in the collection and, at 15,952 words, is almost long enough to be described as a novella. The story deals with themes of love and loss, as well as raising questions about the nature of the Irish identity.
Susan Johnston OBE is an English actress. She is known for portraying Sheila Grant in the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside (1982–1990), Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy The Royle Family, Grace Foley in the BBC drama Waking the Dead (2000–2011), Gloria Price in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street (2012–2014) and Miss Denker in the ITV drama Downton Abbey (2014–2015). She won the 2000 British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actress and was nominated for the 2000 BAFTA TV Award for Best Comedy Performance for The Royle Family.
Sally Vanessa Beauman was an English journalist and writer, author of eight widely translated and best-selling novels.
Rebecca's Tale is a 2001 novel by British author Sally Beauman. The book is a sequel to the Daphne du Maurier novel Rebecca and is officially approved by the Du Maurier estate. It continues the original plot and is also roughly consistent with the 1993 sequel Mrs de Winter by Susan Hill.
Diana Marilyn Quick is an English actress.
River City is a Scottish television soap opera that was first broadcast on BBC One Scotland on 24 September 2002. River City follows the lives of the people who live and work in the fictional district of Shieldinch. In November 2017, a short crossover episode of the show was made for Children in Need and featured several of the show's characters meeting characters from Scottish sitcom Scot Squad. In March 2020, production of River City was halted due to the COVID–19 pandemic, and filming recommenced in August 2020. In place of new episodes, a select number of "classic" episodes were aired. In February 2022, it was announced the cast were back filming another series. In March of the same year the show returned to its original broadcast pattern of two half-hour episodes a week.
John Paul McQueen is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera, Hollyoaks, played by James Sutton. The character debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 6 September 2006; his storylines have significantly revolved around his sexuality, evolving from the initial denial of his homosexuality, to the pursuit and relations with best friend Craig Dean, the storyline gained a fan-base and garnered them "supercouple status". The storylines received acclaim from LGBT rights charity Stonewall. John Paul later has a relationship with a priest, Kieron Hobbs. In 2008, Sutton quit the serial and his character received a "sunset ending" with Craig, which was promised for fans by executive producer Bryan Kirkwood.
Teresa Jo Ann Bernadette "Terry" Finn is an American actress best known for creating the role of Gussie Carnegie in the original Broadway cast of the Stephen Sondheim/Hal Prince/George Furth musical comedy Merrily We Roll Along and its Original Cast Album.
Nathan Wylde is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Lyndon Ogbourne. He made his first on-screen appearance on 17 February 2009 and his last on 26 November 2010.
Maisie Foster is a fictional character from the British soap opera Emmerdale, played by Alice Coulthard. The character was introduced by series producer Anita Turner and first appeared in 2009. It was announced on 30 June 2010 that Alice Coulthard had quit the show and her character would be written out later in the year.
Finn O'Connor is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks. Upon his introduction as part of the O'Connor family, the character was portrayed by Connor Wilkinson. The family were introduced during a "shake-up" of the show by new series producer Paul Marquess. Writers then placed Finn in an issue-led story exploring underage sex and teenage pregnancy with Amber Sharpe. The character was written out of the series in 2011.
Ben Davies is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera, Hollyoaks, played by Marcus Patric. He first appeared in August 2000, and after departing from the main show in 2005, made further appearances in spin-offs, Hollyoaks: Let Loose and Hollyoaks: In the City, which followed his relationship with Lisa Hunter
Elly Conway is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Jodi Anasta. She was originally played by Kendell Nunn from her first appearance on 13 December 2001, until her departure in May 2002. Neighbours marked Nunn's first television role. The character was introduced as Susan Kennedy's teenage niece, giving her instant connections within the show. Nunn said Elly had "a lot of attitude", while she was also billed as being rebellious and spirited. Elly did not like living in Ramsay Street, but she eventually befriends her neighbour Michelle Scully. A notable storyline for the character focused on her relationship with her estranged father Ian Conway. When she gets in contact with Ian, he leads her to believe that Susan's husband Karl Kennedy is actually her real father.
Ben Is Back is a 2018 American drama film written and directed by Peter Hedges, and starring Julia Roberts, Lucas Hedges and Courtney B. Vance. The plot follows a mother who tries to help her addict son after he returns home from rehab.
StarBeam is a superhero animated streaming television series created for Netflix by Loris Lunsford and Jason Netter. The show follows Zoey, a young girl who is a superhero.