This was a very interesting read. The setting lends itself to a dreamy, ethereal tone throughout the novel and the reliability of each of the three main characters comes into disrepute. The twisting of the plot in its various moments are clever and the undercurrent of horror in the weird sounds and movements of Lyntons are strikingly creepy in places. Definitely highly recommended for anyone seeking a bit of an escape.

A woman coming to the end of her life recounts events that happened 20 years earlier at a rundown country house in Hampshire, England, where she spent an unforgettable summer.

Frances, a shy and slightly awkward 39 year old woman, was her mother's sole carer for many years. Following her mother's death Frances is offered a job assessing the garden architecture at the dilapidated property known as Lyntons. Upon moving to Hampshire for the summer Frances meets a confident, passionate couple, Cara and Peter, who have been employed to assess the house itself. The three have the entire property to themselves and initially Frances feels awkward around Cara and Peter, who seem to have so much more life experience than her. Gradually she relaxes in their company and they strike up a friendship of sorts.

This book is a very slow burner and is more a study of the relationships between the three main characters than the ultimate outcome of the story.

A decent book for long summer days but there wasn't enough suspense in the story for me and I found it to be rather predictable and a little melodramatic at times.

Indulge me, and let me just linger over the cover for a moment – that well-chosen quote from Gabriel Tallent and the perfect image of the fragmented fine china plate, the shrivelled and juiceless oranges, the richness of the colours, and the way it perfectly captures the story (and experience) that lies within.

And oh my goodness, what a wonderful sensory experience it was. The sultry summer, the long languorous days, the stifling atmosphere and that discomfiting feeling of acute claustrophobia, the darkness and near unbearable tension permeating it all, the moments of unbridled and intoxicating joy – the yearning to find out how it all ends, while hoping beyond hope that it never does. The writing in this book is quite breath-taking – the detailed descriptions perfectly capturing the glory of the past and its decay, the dazzling beauty and the rottenness beneath it all.

I loved the book’s structure – the approach of the end of Frances’ life, the memories of that period when she experienced a life totally outside her experience. The characterisation is exceptional – a moving portrait of loneliness and awkwardness, the attraction of the exotic and different, the awakening of something she’d never felt before, that headiness of belonging. And then there are Cara and Peter, magnetic and fascinating, with their tempestuous relationship, their decadence and disregard for convention, the layering of stories around them, the difficulty in identifying any kind of truth amid the mist of fantasy and lies.

While it might be fair to call the narrative slow burning, the book also manages to be an unexpected page-turner, a (very different) psychological thriller – with that constant edginess, the suggestion of darkness, and a feeling that something quite unimaginably horrific is waiting just around the next corner. And when it finally comes… but you must read this wonderful book. Without question, one of my books of the year – I absolutely loved it.

(Note: Review will be copied to Amazon on hardback publication day)

I think this novel must be the perfect summer read. I've enjoyed it immensely amidst Britain's recent heat wave as its themes and setting sync with this feverish weather. It's told from the perspective of elderly Frances who is lying on her deathbed. She recalls a hot summer in 1969 when she worked at a dilapidated English country estate alongside a mysterious couple. An American has purchased this crumbling residence and they've been hired to catalogue and assess any architectural items of worth prior to his arrival. The once grand place has been ravaged from being used by the military during times of war and neglect from a once privileged family who gradually completely died out. Although she was in her late thirties when she took this job, Frances was socially awkward and solitary because she had an isolated life with her mother who she cared for until she died. By contrast, the couple Peter and Cara are rambunctious and outgoing so the bond they form with Frances is unique in this odd removed location. It's a dramatic, creepy tale whose expertly paced narration teases out a lot of mystery and suspense.

I've read a couple of novels recently which meaningfully portray solitary individuals who have severe issues relating to and socializing with other people such as “Convenience Store Woman” and (the somewhat unsuccessful) “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine”. The women in these novels focus on their work and find fulfilment in a routine set of duties. The same is true with Frances who was previously content to pen articles about architecture in obscure journals. She's never had a romantic relationship or even a friend. So it's interesting how her friendship builds with Cara who is outgoing, but unpredictable and unreliable. It seems natural for such contrasting personalities to form a connection as a way of balancing each other out. I really appreciated the way the author sympathetically portrayed this dynamic and the many stumbling blocks they encounter as they variously connect or disconnect with one another.

It feels like novels about eerie English country estates are a well-establish trope in literature and Fuller builds on this wonderfully in her portrayal of the broken down residence of Lyntons. Wandering through the great house there are tantalizingly peculiar traces of the family who lived there for generations with secrets built into the very walls. Uncovering pieces of their story is as intriguing as the unfolding relationship between the trio who has taken on the task of assessing the place. The unsettling haunting location and Cara's propensity for superstition naturally builds a tension where something supernatural might be taking place. It makes the novel wonderfully atmospheric and raises meaningful ideas about the accumulation of so much history as well as considerations about who has the right to inherit the spoils of the past.

As well as all these engaging elements, this novel primarily centres around the complexity of guilt. From her death bed Frances grapples with issues of culpability as we gradually discover what happened that summer on the estate. But all the characters wrestle in different ways with feelings of guilt from broken promises to neglecting the ones they love to possible murder. A local vicar also carries the burden of a difficult past. Within the estate there grows a large orange tree whose fruit appears sweet, but whose flesh is dry and bitter. It's a moving metaphor for the way people's outward personalities can conceal the waste within. Being in this isolated environment forces all these characters to variously confront their previous actions and consider degrees of blame, forgiveness or repentance. It adds a deeply engaging emotional aspect to this gripping story and it's something the author is particularly adept at portraying as she's done in her previous two excellent novels. But “Bitter Orange” is an entirely new kind of book for Fuller with its riveting tale. The experience is like pulling twisted clinging vines off from some concealed artifact and uncovering the fascinating story it has to tell.

Although this book was beautifully written, it wasn't really my cup of tea. The characters and the setting were richly evocative of the late sixties, the manor house and grounds the characters were care taking were vividly and beautifully described, and the themes of family angst, loneliness and obsessiveness were accurately portrayed. However beautifully descriptive the book was written, I felt the actual story was somewhat lacking. Cara and Peter are the glamorous couple who entice the shy, repressed Frances into their hedonistic lifestyle. It becomes clear that Cara is a fantasist, however, we never really find out which of her stories are true. The same with her stories about her and Peter, we never find out the truth about their relationship. I have to admit I was confused about Frances too, I was never sure how much of the story was all in her head and how much was actually true.. However, it could very well have been my misreading of the story, I tend to like clear cut answers! I know other people have absolutely loved this book and it has some wonderful reviews.

Frances Jellico is asked to stay and report on the architecture at an old house in the summer of 1969 and befriended by the charismatic couple who live below her.
It’s a well-written, claustrophobic novel full of secrets. It’s clear from the start that this is not going to end well!
Full of repressed sexuality and a mixture of the innocence and corruption of a time gone by, its beautifully written. The metaphor of the bitter orange is about the promised sweetness and dark heart of this novel. There are a few twists and turns but this runs on atmosphere and characterisation more than plot.
It didn’t feel altogether original but a beautifully crafted period piece.

Really enjoyed this book. It starts slowly but the suspense builds until the book is almost unbearable to read. The characters feel real and the writing by Claire Fuller is beautiful. Highly recommend.

Excellent story. Wonderful characters and plot line. I really enjoyed it. I would recommend this book.

This book reminded me a little of Sarah Waters' The Paying Guests.

The book moves between Frances in the present-day recounting events from years before at Lyntons - where she spends her time getting to know Peter and Cara who live downstairs. I liked the use of this device - recounting events from the past to "settle the ghosts" for Frances before she herself passes. Frances is a lonely character who doesn't understand normal social interaction and often questions what she is supposed to/expected to do in any given situation. Peter and Cara on the other hand are socially adept and are Frances' first true friends.

This is a slow-burning book that is character-driven; no great thrills and spills here but a well-writen book that unravels beautifully.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Books UK, Fig Tree and Claire Fuller for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Mesmerising and hypnotic, poetic and sensuous, multilayered and intoxicating to read, Bitter Orange is brilliantly constructed, an amazing blend of glorious narrative creating a plot that seems as languid as the days the triad of characters spend together, and as the story advances, the plot thickens and gets incrementally more disturbing, with the final crescendo being absolutely breathtaking.

This was a fantastic one very immersive and held my attention from the get go. Very good writing, too, much like her other two books. Might be one iI have to read again to make head and tail of the twists.

Lonely and socially inept Frances Jellico, single, nearly 40, accepts a job at a decaying and run-down country house, Lyntons, to record the garden architecture for the new owner. There she meets Peter and Cara, who are making an inventory of the contents, and she soon gets caught up in their troubled relationship. It’s obvious from the start that it’s all going to end in tears, but how it does so is played out in this tense and well-paced novel, which I very much enjoyed reading. However, I did find it all a bit over-wrought and melodramatic at times, with an uneasy relationship between what is real and unreal (is the house haunted? Does Frances see apparitions? Is it all in her imagination? These questions are never satisfactorily answered) and thus never totally convincing. The characterisation, however, is on the whole convincing, especially that of the minor characters, although Cara comes across as too much of a fabulist and just too unbalanced for credibility. The narrative is shaped to good effect by Frances on her death-bed looking back over the events, and this framing device works well, allowing Fuller to slowly reveal the events of that summer. The book works quite well as a psychological drama but didn’t feel very original to me. I’ve been in other isolated country houses, observed other fraught relationships played out, watched other disasters unfold. Nevertheless, overall, an engaging and enjoyable read.

Where do I start trying to explain what I thought about this book? Even now, several days after finishing I keep finding different things to think about. About the characters and what happened to them both during the summer of '69 at Lyntons and afterwards.
Lyntons has fallen into a bit of disrepair. It was used and abused by soldiers in the war and has never really recovered from that. Now the last in line has died, the house has been sold to a rich American who has employed Frances and Peter to assess the house and contents for him. Frances comes from a very sheltered background, having nursed her sick mother for years prior to her recent death. Conversely Peter, along with Cara are polar opposites. They appear to have seen and done it all and have many tales to tell, as Frances discovers as she gets to know them. But it soon becomes apparent that all is not as it seems for the glamorous couple as Cara's tales become more and more outlandish. But as both Peter and Cara are Frances' first, and apparently only ever, friends, she laps ups every word and is more than willing to just go along with things, even as their behaviour starts to spiral more and more out of control.
Fast forward several years and present day events hint at something that went very wrong that Summer. Something that Frances has kept to herself for many years. Told on her deathbed, her time nearly up, will Frances unburden her soul before it is taken, and will the truth finally bring comfort to her confessor.
This was a deliciously character driven story that wove itself around and about, spiralling around itself until all finally imploded. On one hand, we has Frances who has been repressed through her life due to an overbearing mother who she eventually ended up nursing before her death. On the other, we have Peter and Cara, a misfit couple who obviously have some secret they are keeping. As the book goes on, telling the story of what happened that Summer, we also get to know more of each of their pasts. It soon transpires that maybe someone is being a bit economical with the truth of which they speak but whether that is by design or some kind of madness takes longer to unravel.
It's a story of loneliness, of obsession, of freedom. It could also, at a push, be considered Frances' coming of age tale. It's definitely her awakening. At times, she is so desperate to fit in, to keep the friends she has only just made, that she does make some questionable decisions which belie her apparent core values, but she gets too sucked into the life she wants that her common sense just fades away. Even her voyeurism makes her struggle and feel guilty but she is in too deep, finding herself powerless to resist. Her naivety shows through in spades throughout the book; misreading certain situations, accepting things that she really shouldn't. But, at the same time, she also has this maturity that contradicts things somewhat. Peter and Cara's relationship forms the crux of the book but is only explained fully towards the end. Much of what you learn about them is from Cara and she is a bit unreliable with her stories. Peter is also complex in his own way and for very different reasons. Throw three such characters together and what you get is one complicated, convoluted roller coaster of a ride that you really need to buckle up for.
There is so much more I could say about this book, there is probably more than I haven't even thought of yet. It's a haunting tale, cautionary and atmospheric in nature. A story of passion and discovery. Obviously full of secrets and lies... But it is so much more than that, delivering shock after shock, some real, others notsomuch, all delivered with such passion and emotion that tugged at my heart throughout my reading it and beyond...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

This is the psychological study of three people living in a dilapidated English house in the summer of 1969 although if you weren't told the year it feels more like the 1940s. Frances is the main character and we are brought into the story through her eyes, both as an old woman in a nursing home in the present, and as an inhabitant of this house. Frances is a bit odd, having no friends and not knowing how to make friends at the age of 39. She's spent most of life looking after her mother until she dies. Her mother is a critical woman who is always telling Fran how fat she is getting and pinching her.

After her mother dies, Fran accepts a commission to explore the architecture of the gardens and bridge of Lyntons. It is there that she meets Cara and Peter who befriend her. This friendship allows Frances to gradually free herself and feel accepted for who she is. We also find out about Cara's complicated past and the nature of her relationship with Peter.

There are no big revelations here but the gradual unfolding of lives and the consequences of the entanglements that shape these characters lives. An engrossing read.

The long hot summer of 1969; when man first stepped on the moon; when Frances Jellico went to Lyntons house to survey the garden furniture; when she met charismatic Peter and neurotic Cora; when her life changed forever.
This is a brilliant atmospheric read which reminded me in parts of The Great Gatsby. To say too much will spoil the story but as the title suggests, what looks good on the outside can hide a bitter secret inside.

Not really my cup of tea. Very slow and a little confusing to read at times. I can see why others might enjoy it, I just prefer books a bit more thrilling.

4.5 stars

Frances as an elderly woman is narrating her story to a priest on her deathbed. The story concentrates on the summer of 1969 when she is a frumpy, plump middle-aged woman who has never had many friends and fewer lovers. Her mother’s death has freed her from a life of servitude of being an unpaid carer to a demanding woman. She gets a job surveying the garden architecture of a stately home, Lyntons. With the permission of her employer, she starts camping in an attic bedroom in this mansion. She is not alone, on the floor below her are Peter and Cara, an attractive couple who are reporting on the main house and contents.

Cara is a woman who loves to toy with people and finds it entertaining to pretend to be Italian and fool every new person she meets. She is young, beautiful and not just a little bit wild. She is volatile and manipulative but can also be charming. Cara is also a wonderful storyteller but sees the truth as something that is optional or inconvenient.

Peter is a tall, handsome and an incorrigible flirt. Frances is attracted to him and he encourages it, perhaps unwittingly.

There is also Victor, the local clergyman from the church who’s back gate adjoined Lyntons estate. He is the one who sees the three from the outside in and provides an objective eye on the whole situation. I think he is my favourite characters out of the four, probably because he is the only one who is entirely sane.

As the narrative progresses Frances is drawn into the decadence and debauchery and is manipulated by both Cara and Peter in their own way.

There is an underlying feel of subtle menace, or that things are not going to end well for any of them. How it plays out is not revealed until the end though, and there are a couple of wonderful twists right at the end and the ending is wonderfully satisfying.

 The time frame of this book is interesting, 1969 which has been called the summer of love. Frances changes over the course of this book. She starts, corseted and constrained but by the end of the book is running around half naked in kimono.

 I am not sure how reliable France’s narration was. Fairly accurate probably but the account she gives of the events at the climax, can it really be trusted? There are also a few fantasies which are slipped in to suggest that something may have happened between her and Peter. She never says so directly, only hints.

I really enjoyed this book, there is something a little unsettling and a subtle sense of dread which is very cleverly done.

Not an unfamiliar scenario. Frumpy and nearly forty, Frances has spent the last couple of decades nursing her mother, a bitter woman whose joy in life was extinguished when her husband left her and she fell into a slow decline. Freed at last, Frances takes on a commission to catalogue the gardens of a grand but dilapidated country house, sharing accommodation with the worldly and slightly louche Peter and Cara. Frances is entranced and, for the first time in her life, she seems to have made some friends, people who seem to find her interesting and attractive. Early hints point to the couple not being quite as they appear but naive, sheltered Frances is slow on the uptake.

The greatest achievements of this book to my mind are the tense, stifling atmosphere, the sense of foreboding, perfect pacing ramping up the uncovering of lies and evasions to a dramatic, but not particularly unexpected, conclusion. Some lovely description of the house and surroundings. I thought the character of Frances well drawn, too, awkward and lacking in confidence at first, gradually becoming more reckless and abandoned, the whole defining episode in her life contemplated from her death bed many years on. Not a ground-breaking story but very well executed and I’d recommend it.

I loved Claire Fuller's previous novel 'Swimming Lessons' and 'Bitter Orange' doesn't disappoint. The author comes up with original plots each time and her characterisation, including that of the house in which this story is set, is spot on.

Frances is approaching 40 when after many years of sickness, her mother dies. When she is offered the opportunity of researching the architecture of Lyntons, a deserted English country house, Frances is delighted. She arrives to be greeted by a couple: Peter and his younger girlfriend, Cara, also tasked with writing a report detailing the contents of the house for its new American owner. But Peter and Cara have other ideas and Frances becomes a willing participant.

The story is told in flashback when Frances is dying in hospital and visited by an old friend from the past, Claire Fuller brings a sense of fear and drama throughout the narrative. The reader senses that there will be a nasty ending but nevertheless it comes as a shock when it happens. I highly recommend Bitter Orange and many thanks to Net Galley and Tin House for the opportunity to read and review it.

Bitter Orange is a captivating tale of repression and loneliness. Atmospheric and moody, the plot twists and turns, taking us on the journey with Frances as Cara and Peter draw her into their world. The house itself almost becomes a character in its own right, with its buried secrets and its creaks and breaths. The prose is a descriptive delight--so much so that I read the book in a single sitting, unable to put it down. The only slight reservation I had was the lack of clear demarcation between past and present. One bled into the other, and I assume that was an intentional literary device. However, for me, it was a distraction. Each time, it took me a paragraph or two to re-establish where I was in the timeline, pulling me out of the narrative. A simple scene break would have been less jolting, as that is what the eye is used to seeing in such cases. But that is a very minor gripe in what is, in all other respects, a gripping, intelligent, and deep novel. This book gets a strong 4.5 stars from me, and I recommend it to anyone who likes their literary fiction with a dose of atmospheric mystery.