She is an outcast there, until she attracts the attention of one of the popular girls’ boyfriends. Very tall and skinny, with large spectacles, Moira is the complete opposite, or so it seems to her, of her trendy peers. The school in Norfolk is cold and full of unfriendly girls and Moira takes refuge in her intellectual abilities. She cuts herself off deliberately from her devoted parents and they are stunned by the sudden change in their once adoring daughter. Moira’s unforgiving personality makes her turn against her own parents and take up a scholarship far away from the beloved Pembrokeshire coast where she has grown up. Her parents suffered one miscarriage after another until Amy’s birth. Oystercatchers Author Susan Fletcher Edition reprint Publisher Fourth Estate, 2007 ISBN 0007190255, 9780007190256 Length 375 pages Export Citation BiBTeX EndNote RefMan About Google Books. Moira was an only child until she turned 12. This novel is about Moira who tells her story as a narration to Amy, whom she’d resented when she was born. Her prose is poetic, profoundly expressive and captivating. Fletcher’s remarkable writing soon removed any trace of disappointment. I had a “heart sink” moment when I read that. The premise of the story is that Moira’s sister Amy lies in a coma in hospital where she has been in the same vegetative state for years. Fletcher writes with remarkable wisdom and clarity. I can’t judge the first not having read it, but Oystercatchers is a gem. Her first novel was the winner of the 2004 Whitbread First Novel Award.
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