The Hearing Trumpet

Leonora is one of my favourite artists; thus, I strongly suspected I would also love her writing. This novel is set in an isolated retirement village, complete with eccentric inhabitants, surreal architecture and a tongue-in-cheek back story structured in the style of an old-fashioned gothic novel.

Marian Letherby, a geriatric Nancy Drew, must unravel a series of mysteries and murder plots before time runs out, not just for her, but for the world itself (cue unexpectedly apocalyptic ending).

I loved that this book focuses on characters in their twilight years but was written with a mischief and playfulness usually associated… show more.

Carrington’s surrealist masterpiece is a bit lighter than her other well-known novel, Down Below.

She tells the tale of someone not often seen, much less celebrated, in literature - the crone. At age 92, Marion Leatherby is given the gift of a hearing trumpet by her dear friend Carmella. It is only then she can hear that her family is planning on sending her to an institution.

Carrington’s fondness for the tarot (she even painted her own deck) can be found in the archetypal characters Leatherby encounters at the institution including the Abbess, the Snow Queen, and the Queen Bee… show more.

Leonora Carrington was a surrealist painter and writer (I love her paintings—am surprised they are very much like the style in which I paint) who ran away from her European origins and lived out her life in Mexico. The Hearing Trumpet is about a spunky 92-year-old woman who is put into an institution for senile women. Carrington’s imagination is wonderful weird and wild (she even rewrites the creation myth); she creates fabulous dream-like episodes. Her sense of humor is delightfully, wickedly dark. The Hearing Trumpet is a joyful and rebellious take on women growing old. It is a dark story… show more.

Leonora Carrington is one of those amazing, other-worldly, individuals whose life story you can’t quite believe. After an aristocratic upbringing in England, she joined the surrealists in Paris, ran off with Max Ernst, was later sectioned, escaped an asylum, studied Kabbalah, and helped found the women’s liberation movement in Mexico. She is mostly known for her painting but does not receive the recognition she deserves. Her novel The Hearing Trumpet starts off slightly surreal, then takes a hard left turn and becomes increasingly more surreal. I won’t say more for fear of spoiling it, but it’s a beguiling and funny… show more.