On Hampstead Heath, Marika Cobbold
On Hampstead Heath, Marika Cobbold
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On Hampstead Heath
A delightfully sharp and witty comedy of errors

Author: Marika Cobbold

Narrator: Adenrele Ojo, Tracy-Ann Oberman

Unabridged: 6 hr 13 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Arcadia Books

Published: 10/27/2022

Synopsis

Thorn Marsh was raised in a house of whispers, of meaningful glances and half- finished sentences. Now she's a journalist with a passion for truth, more devoted to her work at the London Journal than she ever was to her ex-husband.

When the newspaper is bought by media giant The Goring Group, who value sales figures over fact-checking, Thorn openly questions their methods, and promptly finds herself moved from the news desk to the midweek supplement, reporting heart-warming stories for their new segment, The Bright Side, a job to which she is spectacularly unsuited.

On a final warning and with no heart-warming news in sight, a desperate Thorn fabricates a good-news story of her own. The story, centred on an angelic apparition on Hampstead Heath, goes viral. Caught between her principles and her ambitions, Thorn goes in search of the truth behind her creation, only to find the answers locked away in the unconscious mind of a stranger.

Marika Cobbold returns with her eighth novel, On Hampstead Heath. Sharp, poignant, and infused with dark humour, On Hampstead Heath is an homage to storytelling and to truth; to the tales we tell ourselves, and the stories that save us.

"A mystery and an elegy for the death of old-fashioned journalism, it's a book that will warm your heart" The Observer

"Splendid . . . Funny, poignant, perceptive and plenty of sharp elbows along the way" Val McDermid

(P) 2022 Quercus Editions Ltd

About Marika Cobbold

Marika Cobbold was born with newspaper ink flowing through her veins. She used to visit her father and grandfather at their offices at the Gothenburg-Post, the Swedish broadsheet her grandfather had rescued from oblivion decades earlier.At home, when Marika wasn't reading, she listened as the grown-ups around her discussed the issues of the day, and to the stories told by her mother and great aunt, who was a writer.She left Sweden for England when she was nineteen, with vague plans of studying law, but eventually what her grandfather called "the family curse" caught up with her, and some years later she wrote her first novel, Guppies For Tea. She has been writing ever since.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Kate on December 10, 2022

The last time I read anything by Marika Cobbold was "Guppies for Tea" which had made it onto the BBC's Top 100 Reads (back in the very early noughties). I couldn't now tell you anything about the book but looking at notes I gave it 5 stars so it must have been enjoyable. I was lucky enough to get On......more

Goodreads review by Lucia on January 03, 2021

Finally managed to snatch the time in the lull between Christmas and return to work. Not my usual choice but I'd happily read anything else by Marika Cobbold, really engaged with the characters, especially the main one.......more

Goodreads review by Tripfiction on April 26, 2021

Novel set around Hampstead Heath Our You Tube review: [URL not allowed]-ryCj44 This is a rather ingenious story. Rose (actually known as Thorn, get it?) is a woman focussed on her journalism career at the London Journal, to the exclusion of virtually everything else. Her husband leaves her for thi......more

Goodreads review by Beth on June 08, 2022

Although several of the pivotal scenes in this book take place on Hampstead Heath, the title and setting are something of a red herring. Somewhat, but not entirely - because what other location in London contrasts as neatly (with its relative wildness and prettiness) with the concrete jungle of the......more

Quotes

On Hampstead Heath is a deliciously romantic comedy of misunderstandings and misbehaviour - I loved it author of SMALL PLEASURES

With On Hampstead Heath, Marika Cobbold has rebooted the Hampstead Novel for the 21st century. A delightful novel

A heart-warming and at times hilarious tale about truth and honesty in this treacherous age of social media

A brilliant and brave take on fake news and its fallout

Clever and funny with a splinter of melancholy running through it. It's a superb read author of THE SMALLEST MAN

Few writers balance darkness and light as well as Cobbold i paper

On Hampstead Heath was so refreshing and unexpectedly needed, like feeling the sun on your face in winter. Funny, astute, and aching in all the right ways, I was utterly charmed. author of A THOUSAND PAPER BIRDS

Marika Cobbold's look on life is unique

On Hampstead Heath is exactly what is needed at this time. A romantic story tempered with a sharp wit and written with knowledge and love of place in which it's set

An absolute little gem of a book, On Hampstead Heath is entertaining, thought-provoking and extremely witty The Book Magnet

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