Sin, like Josephine Hart's third novel The Stillest Day, is an explicitly cautionary tale. Ruth Ashbridge is, from childhood, obsessively jealous of her orphaned cousin Elizabeth. At first, her envy leads her into only minor misbehaviour--adopting her smile, stealing her jewellery and silk underwear. Yet these small thefts quickly escalate into major transgressions as Ruth sets about stealing Elizabeth's husband and her happiness.
The confessional nature of Hart's first-person narrative suits the outpouring of hatred and envy. Ruth's position is succinctly summed up: "Like Satan before the Fall, I came to hate the very nature of goodness, to fear its power." However, her emotion is occasionally overemphasised and the descriptions of her overwrought, resulting in Ruth sounding unintentionally comic. She says of her own marriage to Dominick: "We were balanced. His love. My coldness."
With Sin, Josephine Hart aims to create a modern biblical parable. In order to foreground the didactic content of her novel, Hart keeps characterisation to a minimum, shunning the complex psychology and narrative tension of her first novel Damage. In Hart's world, sin--succumbing to an impulse in complete disregard of its consequences--leads inescapably to tragedy. Through that tragedy, the heroine will learn too late the true value of goodness. --Vanessa Cook
Genre: Romance
The confessional nature of Hart's first-person narrative suits the outpouring of hatred and envy. Ruth's position is succinctly summed up: "Like Satan before the Fall, I came to hate the very nature of goodness, to fear its power." However, her emotion is occasionally overemphasised and the descriptions of her overwrought, resulting in Ruth sounding unintentionally comic. She says of her own marriage to Dominick: "We were balanced. His love. My coldness."
With Sin, Josephine Hart aims to create a modern biblical parable. In order to foreground the didactic content of her novel, Hart keeps characterisation to a minimum, shunning the complex psychology and narrative tension of her first novel Damage. In Hart's world, sin--succumbing to an impulse in complete disregard of its consequences--leads inescapably to tragedy. Through that tragedy, the heroine will learn too late the true value of goodness. --Vanessa Cook
Genre: Romance
Used availability for Josephine Hart's Sin
See all available used copies of this book at: Abebooks UK or Abebooks US
Hardback Editions
April 1996 : Hardback
| Title: Sin Author(s): Josephine Hart ISBN: 0-517-11664-2 / 978-0-517-11664-7 (USA edition) Publisher: Random House Value Publishing Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
April 1994 : Hardback
| Title: Sin Author(s): Josephine Hart ISBN: 0-517-11628-6 / 978-0-517-11628-9 (USA edition) Publisher: Random House Value Publishing Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
September 1993 : Hardback
| Title: Sin Author(s): Josephine Hart ISBN: 0-7451-1959-X / 978-0-7451-1959-5 (UK edition) Publisher: Chivers Large print (Chivers, Windsor, Paragon & C Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
February 1993 : Hardback
| Title: Sin (Thorndike Press Large Print Basic Series) Author(s): Josephine Hart ISBN: 1-56054-609-3 / 9781560546092 (USA edition) Publisher: Thorndike Pr Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
September 1992 : Hardback
| Title: Sin Author(s): Josephine Hart ISBN: 0-7011-4773-3 / 978-0-7011-4773-0 (UK edition) Publisher: Chatto & Windus Availability: Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
August 1992 : Hardback
| Title: Sin Author(s): JOSEPHINE Hart ISBN: 0-394-22315-2 / 978-0-394-22315-5 (USA edition) Publisher: Knopf Canada Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
August 1992 : Hardback
| Title: Sin Author(s): Josephine Hart ISBN: 0-679-41673-0 / 978-0-679-41673-9 (USA edition) Publisher: Knopf Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
January 1992 : Hardback
| Title: Sin Author(s): Josephine Hart Publisher: Chatto & Windus Availability: Amazon More details... |
January 1992 : Hardback
| Title: Sin Author(s): Josephine Hart Publisher: Chatto and Windus Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
Paperback Editions
December 2011 : Paperback
| Title: Sin (Virago Modern Classics) Author(s): Josephine Hart ISBN: 1-84408-717-4 / 9781844087174 (UK edition) Publisher: Virago Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
August 2010 : Paperback
| Title: Sin Author(s): Josephine Hart ISBN: 1-4532-0004-5 / 978-1-4532-0004-9 Publisher: Open Road Media Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
May 1996 : Paperback
| Title: Sin Author(s): Josephine Hart ISBN: 0-09-959221-5 / 978-0-09-959221-1 (UK edition) Publisher: Vintage Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
June 1994 : Paperback
| Title: Sin Author(s): Josephine Hart ISBN: 0-7451-1970-0 / 978-0-7451-1970-0 (UK edition) Publisher: Chivers Large print (Chivers, Windsor, Paragon & C Availability: Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
October 1993 : Paperback
| Title: Sin Author(s): Josephine Hart ISBN: 0-09-925381-X / 978-0-09-925381-5 (UK edition) Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd Availability: Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
July 1993 : Mass Market Paperback
| Title: Sin Author(s): Josephine Hart ISBN: 0-8041-1097-2 / 978-0-8041-1097-6 (USA edition) Publisher: Ivy Books Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
1993 : Paperback
| Title: Sin Author(s): Josephine Hart Publisher: Ivy Books Availability: Amazon More details... |
January 1992 : Paperback
| Title: Sin Author(s): Josephine Hart Publisher: Knopf Availability: Amazon More details... |
1970 : Paperback
| Title: Sin Author(s): Josephine Hart Publisher: Arrow Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
Paperback
| Title: Sin (Marie Claire Edition) Author(s): Josephine Hart ISBN: 0-09-959651-2 / 978-0-09-959651-6 (UK edition) Publisher: Vintage Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
Audio Editions
October 1997 : Audio Cassette
| Title: Sin Author(s): Josephine Hart ISBN: 0-7871-1397-2 / 978-0-7871-1397-1 (USA edition) Publisher: Audio Literature Availability: Amazon Amazon CA More details... |
Other Editions
December 2011 : Kindle edition
| Title: Sin (Virago Modern Classics) Author(s): Josephine Hart Publisher: Hachette Digital Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
July 2010 : Kindle edition
| Title: Sin Author(s): Josephine Hart Publisher: Open Road Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
January 1992 : Unknown
| Title: Sin Author(s): Josephine Hart Publisher: Knopf Availability: Amazon More details... |
January 1992 : Unknown
| Title: SIN : A NOVEL Author(s): JOSEPHINE HART Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Availability: Amazon More details... |
1992 : Unknown
| Title: SIN. Author(s): Josephine. Hart Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, Availability: Amazon More details... |
1992 : Pamphlet
| Title: Sin. Author(s): Josephine. HART Publisher: NY: Knopf, Availability: Amazon More details... |
1992 : Unknown
| Title: SIN : A NOVEL Author(s): JOSEPHINE HART Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Availability: Amazon More details... |
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