| "She writes like an angel." Carol Shields |
From the internationally acclaimed author of The White Bone and The Romantic, a haunting and suspenseful novel of abduction and obsessive love Nine-year-old Rachel Fox has the face of an angel, a heart-stopping luminosity that strikes all who meet her. Her single mother, Celia, working at a video store by day and a piano bar by night, is not always around to shield her daughter from the attention—both benign and sinister—that her beauty draws. Attention from model agencies, for example, or from Ron, a small-appliance repairman who, having seen Rachel once, is driven to see her again and again.
When a summer blackout plunges the city into darkness and confusion, Rachel is taken from her home. A full-scale search begins, but days pass with no solid clues, only a phone call Celia receives from a woman whose voice she has heard before but cannot place. And as Celia fights her terror and Rachel starts to trust in her abductor's kindness, the only other person who knows where she is wavers between loyalty to the captor and saving the child. Will Rachel be found before her abductor's urge to protect and cherish turns to something altogether less innocent?
Tapping into the fear that lies just below the surface of contemporary city life, Barbara Gowdy draws on her trademark empathy and precision to create a portrait of love at its most consuming and ambiguous and to uncover the volatile point at which desire gives way to the unthinkable.
When a summer blackout plunges the city into darkness and confusion, Rachel is taken from her home. A full-scale search begins, but days pass with no solid clues, only a phone call Celia receives from a woman whose voice she has heard before but cannot place. And as Celia fights her terror and Rachel starts to trust in her abductor's kindness, the only other person who knows where she is wavers between loyalty to the captor and saving the child. Will Rachel be found before her abductor's urge to protect and cherish turns to something altogether less innocent?
Tapping into the fear that lies just below the surface of contemporary city life, Barbara Gowdy draws on her trademark empathy and precision to create a portrait of love at its most consuming and ambiguous and to uncover the volatile point at which desire gives way to the unthinkable.
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Used availability for Barbara Gowdy's Helpless
See all available used copies of this book at: Abebooks UK or Abebooks US
Hardback Editions
January 2008 : Hardback
| Title: Helpless (Charnwood Large Print) Author(s): Barbara Gowdy ISBN: 1-84782-044-1 / 9781847820440 (UK edition) Publisher: Ulverscroft Large Print Books Ltd Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
June 2007 : Hardback
| Title: Helpless Author(s): Barbara Gowdy ISBN: 0-316-02784-7 / 978-0-316-02784-7 (USA edition) Publisher: Little, Brown & Company Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
March 2007 : Hardback
| Title: Helpless Author(s): Barbara Gowdy ISBN: 0-00-200846-7 / 978-0-00-200846-4 (UK edition) Publisher: HarperCollins Canada Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
March 2007 : Hardback
| Title: Helpless Author(s): Barbara Gowdy ISBN: 0-8050-8288-3 / 978-0-8050-8288-3 (USA edition) Publisher: Metropolitan Books Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
Paperback Editions
May 2008 : Paperback
| Title: Helpless Author(s): Barbara Gowdy ISBN: 0-349-12030-7 / 978-0-349-12030-0 (UK edition) Publisher: Abacus Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
April 2008 : Paperback
| Title: Helpless: A Novel Author(s): Barbara Gowdy ISBN: 0-312-42766-2 / 978-0-312-42766-5 (USA edition) Publisher: Picador Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
March 2008 : Paperback
| Title: Helpless Author(s): Barbara Gowdy ISBN: 0-00-200892-0 / 978-0-00-200892-1 (UK edition) Publisher: Harper Perennial Canada Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
June 2007 : Paperback
| Title: Helpless Author(s): Barbara Gowdy ISBN: 0-316-02744-8 / 978-0-316-02744-1 (USA edition) Publisher: Little, Brown Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
Audio Editions
October 2008 : Audio Cassette
| Title: Helpless Author(s): Barbara Gowdy ISBN: 1-55468-334-3 / 9781554683345 (USA edition) Publisher: HarperCollins Canada / Fiction Availability: Amazon Amazon CA More details... |
December 2007 : Audio CD
| Title: Helpless Author(s): Barbara Gowdy ISBN: 1-55468-141-3 / 9781554681419 (USA edition) Publisher: Canada Audio Availability: Amazon Amazon CA More details... |
November 2007 : Audio CD
| Title: Helpless Author(s): Barbara Gowdy ISBN: 1-55468-140-5 / 9781554681402 (USA edition) Publisher: Canada Audio Availability: Amazon Amazon CA More details... |
October 2007 : Audio Cassette
| Title: Helpless Author(s): Barbara Gowdy ISBN: 1-55468-142-1 / 9781554681426 (USA edition) Publisher: HarperCollins Canada / Non-Fiction Availability: Amazon Amazon CA More details... |
October 2007 : Audio CD
| Title: Helpless Author(s): Barbara Gowdy ISBN: 0-7531-2844-6 / 978-0-7531-2844-2 (UK edition) Publisher: ISIS Publishing Availability: Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
October 2007 : Audio Cassette
| Title: Helpless Author(s): Barbara Gowdy ISBN: 0-7531-2843-8 / 978-0-7531-2843-5 (UK edition) Publisher: ISIS Publishing Availability: Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
Other Editions
April 2010 : Kindle edition
| Title: Helpless: A Novel Author(s): Barbara Gowdy Publisher: Metropolitan Books Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
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