The writing is pretty compelling, just like her other writing. Creepy both in the supernatural sense and in the creepy pervert sense, really. Slowly it becomes more and more creepy and mystical and strange, from something that was more like realism. At first glance it's quite different to her other writing, but slowly you can see themes in it that come up over and over again in her writing. Joanne Harris' second novel probably could have done with more editing before it was re-released, it's true.

edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more. Sleep, Pale Sister combines the ethereal beauty of a Pre-Raphaelite painting with a chilling high gothic tale and is a testament to Harris's brimming cornucopia of talents. And when Effie begins to discover the murderous depths of Henry's hypocrisy, her latent passion will rise to the surface. Passive, docile, and asexual, the woman he projects onto Effie is far from the woman she really is. But Henry, volatile and repressed, is in love with an ideal.

When puritanical artist Henry Chester sees delicate child beauty Effie, he makes her his favorite model and, before long, his bride. Originally published in 1994 - and never before available in the United States - Sleep, Pale Sister is a hypnotically atmospheric story set in nineteenth century London. Before the sweet delight of Chocolat, before the heady concoction that is Blackberry Wine, and before the tart pleasures of Five Quarters of the Orange, bestselling author Joanne Harris wrote Sleep, Pale Sister - a gothic tourde-force that recalls the powerfully dark sensibility of her novel Holy Fools.

Sleep, Pale Sister by Joanne Harris