Her Fearful Symmetry
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  • Published: 2 August 2010
  • ISBN: 9780099524175
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 496
  • RRP: $24.99

Her Fearful Symmetry

Formats & editions
Paperback
2 Dec 2025
EBook
1 May 2010
Audiobook
1 Oct 2009
Paperback
2 Aug 2010
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The brilliant new novel from the author of the massive international bestseller, The Time Traveler's Wife.

When Elspeth Noblin dies she leaves her beautiful flat overlooking Highgate Cemetery to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina Poole, on the condition that their mother is never allowed to cross the threshold. But until the solicitor's letter falls through the door of their suburban American home, either Julia nor Valentina knew their aunt existed. The twins hope that in London their own, separate, lives can finally begin but they have no idea that they've been summoned into a tangle of fraying lives, from the obsessive-compulsive crossword setter who lives above them to their aunt's mysterious and elusive lover who lives below them and works in the cemetery itself.

As the twins unravel the secrets of their aunt, who doesn't seem quite ready to leave her flat, even after death, Niffenegger weaves together a delicious and deadly ghost story about love, loss and identity.
  • Published: 2 August 2010
  • ISBN: 9780099524175
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 496
  • RRP: $24.99
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About the author

Audrey Niffenegger

Audrey Niffenegger is a visual artist and writer who lives mostly in Chicago and occasionally in London. She has published six books, including the novels The Time Traveler's Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry. She helped to found the Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts. Her art has been exhibited by Printworks Gallery in Chicago since 1986. She is a Professor in the Fiction Department of Columbia College. Her recent projects include a ballet, Raven Girl, in collaboration with Wayne McGregor for the Royal Opera House Ballet.

Also by Audrey Niffenegger

The Time Traveler's Wife
Bizarre Romance
Classic Penguin: Cover to Cover
Awake in the Dream World
Ghostly
The Night Bookmobile
See all

Praise for Her Fearful Symmetry

What is really satisfying about this novel, like The Time Traveler's Wife, is its depiction of relationships: the process of grief, the transforming power of love

Daily Telegraph

An original, outrageous, and thoroughly enjoyable ghost story

Independent

A rich, involving novel

The Times

It's been worth the wait... Niffenegger's books are fabulously left field, striking an unlikely balance between romance and fantasy. A brilliantly beautiful book

Glamour

The novel's representation of London rings completely true... The universe of Her Fearful Symmetry is solid and familiar...

John O'Connell, The Times

A ghostly love story and a lovely ghost story

Tatler

There may be ghosts, but it's the human stories that glitter

Elle

Dark and delicious

Tom Adair, Scotsman

A one-off pleasure

Fanny Blake, Woman & Home

Chillingly good

Eithne Farry, Marie Claire
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