The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep: A Novel Paperback – January 21, 2020

I literally just finished this masterpiece and I am not quite sure how to start this review. The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep is a book for book lovers at its heart. It is full of so many beloved characters of literature, while also letting the new characters of this story room to shine. And while yes this may be a book for book lovers, the true intent of this novel is the theme of family whether it be blood or found. Those kind of stories for me always hit home.So this novel deals a lot with Dickenson and Dickensian themes. H.G. Parry executes it wonderfully. I truly don't think you need to be a Dickenson expert to enjoy this book. She does an excellent job on that front. The research and detail she puts forth is exquisite. For example, I have only read David Copperfield and Oliver Twist and I still felt totally in control while reading.Good heavens did I love all the characters in this book, new and old. I'll really only talk about the new characters because they are what really helped this story soar. So, this story is told primarily from Rob's POV. He is the older brother of Charley. So even though it is told in first person from Rob's perspective, they are both are main characters. There relationship is so dynamic and tumultuous and you truly feel for both of them equally. I'm not going to get into to much detail for spoiler reasons, but this brother relationship hit me deeply in my emotions. On the other hand we have Millie and Lydia and they get side chapters sprinkled throughout the book. When this happens the story switches to a 3rd person POV. It was not jarring for me the switch in style but it may be for others, so that's why I'm letting you all know. Millie was just fantastic. She was my little fire cracker of the story. Everything I adore in my female characters, strong and in charge. While Lydia, who is Rob's girlfriend, is a woman who just wants to help and be supportive but struggles to do so, for reasons. Again the cast is wonderful and brings such life to the pages.Lastly, I will touch briefly on the story only because I think it best to go into this book with as little knowledge as possible. I summed it up nicely up above to. The story from start to finish is intricately well paced. It is mysterious, tense, informative, sad, hopeful, and so much more. I personally was shocked by some of the twists and turns throughout. The plot threads and bread crumps that were sprinkled throughout all coming together during the climax were chefs kiss brilliant.I mean truly this book blew me away, such a home run. I will definitely be talking and thinking about this book for years to come. H.G. Parry has skyrocketed up my list of authors to watch and I for one cannot wait to read more from her. Just WOW!!

I was going to give this book five stars because the ideas behind it, and within it, are great and magical and bound to delight anyone who loves books, especially classics. However, the reason I didn't do the five stars thing was that there are stretches of the book where the characters talk and talk, and have the same or similar conversations over again, leaving the reader feel as though the author doesn't trust them to get the picture without them constantly analysing their personalities.This becomes particularly odd as we get to the climax of the book, which is terrific and has a couple of real twists. But somehow the characters manage to have great long discussions while the world outside is being basically wrecked by the villain. Too often the all too real urgency in the story gets waylaid by the conversations.I know there's a trend for longer books. But for me that means you have to introduce new material to keep the reader enthused: rehashing information, or holding it back for the fourth time, isn't the way to go about it.

An extraordinary book by an author who obviously knows her Dickens. It's richly entertaining as fiction's best-known characters drop into modern day Wellington, New Zealand, but this book is really about the meaning of stories, and who gets to decide that. You do, of course, and probably each reader takes something different from this book (I would have preferred it not be named after Uriah Heep, but he's not someone you can ignore.) It's also about family and truth and the secrets we keep. Charles is an English literature prodigy who lives in the shadow of his older brother, a criminal lawyer who resents Charles' specialness but also loves him. Charles is a "summoner" who can "read" characters out of books and into the world. His powerful enemy represents everything that is dark in life (and in Dickens' world), and you wonder if Charles, who's shy and odd, is up to the task of ridding the world of evil. It's touch and go, but I loved the journey. The author slyly slips in literary analysis and theory now and then, but you don't have to have a Ph.D in English literature (as she does), to love this page-turner. It's a tour de force that can be appreciated on many levels. I've not read anything like it.

I received an obviously used copy when I paid for a new one.

4.5 stars. What a wonderful concept, to be able to make the characters in your favorite books come out of the pages and live in the world. Though, as all who have that ability in this book learn, it’s a big responsibility. Although I was on the verge of becoming hopelessly lost in the ins and outs and implications of this book, I was so charmed by the whole notion that I never got bogged down. Now I have to think which characters I’d most like to see step out of their pages...

Those of us who love fantasy and those of us who love books in general are blessed to meet Robert and Charles Sutherland in Wellington, New Zealand.Theirs is a family and a world that I didn't know I'd been waiting for.my whole reading life .. ... And wait till you read The Unikely Escape of Uriah Heel before you judge that statement as breathless dribble from.A.bookish nerd. It was a book I read in one sitting, crying, chuckling and delighting in it. I only stopped to call my daughter (another bookish nerd) and tell her she needed.to read it. I can think.of.little.left I.can tell you that will not spoil your chance to discover this all on your own. So just read it. Soon.

Brilliant, and also enjoyable. I'm a little wary of best-sellers and widely-lauded books because too often they're a little dreary, or self-consciously literary, or just plain forgetful that the first duty of fiction is to tell a good story. Not in this case.Likeable characters (who don't always like each other, or don't know how much they do); impeccable literary scholarship, families supporting each other, books that change the world. It's a book to fall in love with, and I have already bought another book by this author.

If you liked Jasper Fforde.. this one's for you. A little less hilarious than the Thursday Next novels, it's still an excellent read.

Une histoire très originale, différente de celles de J.Fforde mais toute aussi prenante et amusante. Et qui donne envie de (re)lire Dickens, et tous les autres livres dont les personnages prennent vie dans cette histoire. Un très bon moment de lecture.

Ein wunderbares Buch, das auch gut in der Hand liegt, klare Kaufempfehlung.

I've never read Dickens. I always meant to, but now ... H.G. Parry made Dickens world & characters so alive, so multidimensionals, I fear to read the original works and be disappointed. Her Uriah Heep is vile and apologeticaly vilainous, probably like Dickens' original, but he also adresses the repulsion he evokes in everyone despite himself and it gives him an almost vulnerable layer... enough so that the book's title makes me kinda relieved ;-)Besides Heep, I enjoyed every character in this book - both borrowed and original - and their world of readers and readees. Most of all though, I loved the very imperfect relationship the brothers have. Dysfunctional families that love each other are the best.

Love, love,love this book. Great brother story and wonderful literary characters. Millie is my new heroine.