Her Fearful Symmetry
First edition cover
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| Author | Audrey Niffenegger |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | Bianca Amato |
| Cover artist |
Chris Frazer Smith Charlotte Rea Captureworx Millennium Images |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Horror |
| Publisher | Random House |
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Publication date
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2009 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 304 pp (first edition) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 317923485 |
Her Fearful Symmetry is a literary horror novel by American writer Audrey Niffenegger.
The book was published on 1 October 2009 and is set in London's Highgate Cemetery where, during research for the book, Niffenegger acted as a tour guide.
The novel's title is inspired by "The Tyger", a poem by the English poet William Blake, which begins "Tyger! Tyger! burning bright / In the forests of the night, / What immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?".
Considering the setting of the novel, some critics have also pointed out a potential verbal pun in the novel's title, since in received pronunciation "symmetry" and "cemetery" are almost homophonous. There is also a physical symmetry in two of the main characters - identical twins with mirrored internal organs.
Elspeth, the aunt of two young identical twins (Julia and Valentina), dies of leukemia, leaving them her apartment which is located beside Highgate cemetery in London. The twins are Americans, having lived in Illinois with their mother, Edwina, who is Elspeth's twin sister. Edwina and Elspeth have not spoken for many years. The reason for the rift between them is a secret and is not explained to the girls. The girls have always done everything together with Julia being the more dominant twin. They move to London and take up residence in the flat. Valentina has asthma and has a heart valve that hasn't been properly formed, making her slightly ill.
Robert, Elspeth's lover, lives in the apartment below and Martin, a man whose wife, Marijke, has left him because of his obsessive compulsive disorder lives in the apartment above. Robert works as a tour guide in the cemetery as a way of learning more for his thesis on the cemetery. Valentina begins falling in love with Robert. Robert also falls in love with her mainly due to her similarity to Elspeth.
Julia befriends Martin and secretly begins giving him Anafranil (a pill for OCD), pretending that it is a vitamin. Martin is aware that she is giving him the medication, but he lets her think he doesn't know.
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