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CandleMoth | 
 enlarge | Author: R.j. Ellory
Publisher: Orion
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy New: £1.13
You Save: £6.86 (86%)
New (9) Used (30) Collectible (2) from £0.01
Rating:  28 reviews
Sales Rank: 139401
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 5.7 x 1.2
ISBN: 0752856669
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780752856667
ASIN: 0752856669
Publication Date: July 17, 2003
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Ships from the U.K. by First Class Royal Mail.
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Roger John Ellory's Candlemoth makes a decent but not entirely successful stab at being several novels. It is a protest against the death penalty and about inhuman treatment of prisoners that dramatises both issues by showing us Daniel, who has been railroaded to the electric chair over the brutal murder of his best friend. Inevitably though, Daniel is so passive and battered by his situation that the book can show us little except his pain. Offstage, it is a thriller about the process whereby he was framed and might be acquitted, but Ellory de-emphasises this aspect of the plot in favour of Daniel's suffering. Much of the book is taken up in a memoir of the 60s, when Daniel and his best friend Nathan had a relationship that crossed racial boundaries in a south torn by conflict and when they went on the run to avoid being drafted into an unjust war. The book is vivid in its sense of the time, but again there is a sense of Daniel as someone who never really lives his own life--even in love and friendship he is the person to whom emotions and events happen. --Roz Kaveney
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| Customer Reviews: Read 23 more reviews...
 Fabulous! July 12, 2008
Lincs Reader (Lincolnshire, England)
This is RJ Ellory's first novel, published in 2004. After reading both A Quiet Belief In Angels and A Simple Act of Violence, I just knew I had to go and read his back catalogue.
Dealing with the story of two friends in 1960s and 70s southern America, I was gripped all the way through. Daniel is on death row, found guilty of murdering Nathan his best friend. Daniel is white and Nathan was black. The story starts with Daniel awaiting his execution and is related back to the reader when Daniel tells his story to Father Rousseau whilst in his cell.
The reader accompanies Daniel and Nathan on their journey through life, from meeting as 8 years old, having their first girlfriends, dodging the Vietnam draft whilst experiencing racism and hate along the way.
Roger Ellory is masterful in creating full developed, believeable characters and setting a scene so that you are transported there.
The momentum is really built up towards the end of the book, I raced through to the end, holding my breath along the way.
I also loved the story of Eve Chantry, the old woman in the town who the boys thought was a witch, yet turned out to be a great friend and influence on Daniel.
 Un-Put-Down-Able! June 4, 2008
Frances Foot (UK)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Generally, I read at bedtime, because it lulls me off to sleep. Not this book; I read it in two sessions!
I had previously enjoyed very much, R J Ellory's 'Quiet Belief in Angels', which made me want more - otherwise, I probably would not ever have read this book, as I would not normally read thrillers. I was prepared to be disappointed (as 'Angels' was a tough act to follow), but this, his first novel, was equally beautifully written, with believable characters and almost poetic prose. Stunning.
Another triumph from Ellory June 4, 2008
Mrs. C. A. DAVIS (Cheshire UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I too read Candlemoth after loving A Quiet Belief in Angels and was equally captivated. In his review of 11 April, Peter Steward encapsulates the story far more eloquently that I ever could and I agree wholeheartedly with him. Such is Ellory's impact upon me that, since finishing AQB, I've only ever read his books. If you've not experienced it yet, Ghostheart is stunning and I've still got A Quiet Vendetta and City of Lies to look forward to. Ellory's life enhancing, life affirming stories will stay with you long after you've lived them .. .. superb, brilliant, heartfelt and spellbinding.
Brilliant!! May 12, 2008
A Reader (London)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought Candlemoth off the back of reading Quiet Belief In Angels, which was easily my favourite book so far this year. Being his first novel, I wasn't expecting it to be as good as Quiet Belief as most writer's get better with each book but Candlemoth was just as good which only made me appreciate this author even more. This is not an author who is succeeding on experience and years of working with a professional editor but an author who is truly gifted!! Candlemoth was another deep and involving book that got me hooked from the very first page. It captures the atmosphere of 1960's-1970's America perfectly and there is a real sense of uncomfortable racial tension in the air - something that is thick and heavy but isn't fully understood by 2 teenagers. Ellory's storytelling is absolutely superb. It is engrossing ad emotive and i just couldn't put this book down. Again, there was something beautiful and poetic about the writing style that made me want to read certain parts of the book and certain sentences again and again to really appreciate their significance!! Another book that I would anyone of any age or gender to read!!
An amazing book May 7, 2008
Mrs. Lynn Leishman (Glasgow, Scotland)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I don't normally write reviews but I wrote one for A Quiet Belief in Angels (the first book of RJ Ellory's that I read) because I loved it so much. Absolutely the great American novel. But then I read Candlemoth which is his first novel and it is equally as good if not better. The friendship between Daniel & Nathan is extraordinary and consumes the reader. I love Ellory's anti death penalty stance and the descriptions of the terrible conditions on death row. I cried I got angry and then I cried some more and the ending is positively nail biting. R J Ellory is a great great writer and I will not stop until I have read all his books. Can't wait for his next book to come out.
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