Notes: not one to read if you're feeling a bit raw on the subject of widowhood, aging, nursing homes, etc. (Also not one if you don't like books whereNotes: not one to read if you're feeling a bit raw on the subject of widowhood, aging, nursing homes, etc. (Also not one if you don't like books where 'nothing happens', but that's clearer from the synopsis.)
This is excellently written, enjoyable, and incredibly bleak (even by the standards of midcentury women's fiction). It would sit well with Persephone Books output. Some great characters and turns of phrase, but ultimately fairly slight.
Does this sort of thing still happen? Are there little out-of-the-way Premier Inns were OAPs eke out their pension because it's the cheapest way to live? I wonder when it stopped (probably when hotels all went corporate and relatively expensive?)...more
Selma Andersson is Scottish (with Swedish heritage - exotic!) and comes to stay at the Abbey. There are high jinks and the usual excitements with dancSelma Andersson is Scottish (with Swedish heritage - exotic!) and comes to stay at the Abbey. There are high jinks and the usual excitements with dancing, music, jewels and announcements of babies confusing named for numerous existing characters. This will be a particular joy for fans of the Chalet School who enjoy long conversations about whether someone is or is not old enough to be officially engaged. (No doctors, here, though.)
This was a hard one to rate. It delivers exactly what you're looking for if you decide to read an Abbey Girls book (though there is less dancing and Abbey in this one than some, but before the rot sets in of the 'plot' being people visiting each other's titled estates to meet new babies). But, on the other hand, though I love them, you cannot say this is a great novel. ...more
A strange, hallucinatory fever-dream. Did any of it actually happen? In this Sarah Perry novel, some of the people are definitely (?) mentally unwell,A strange, hallucinatory fever-dream. Did any of it actually happen? In this Sarah Perry novel, some of the people are definitely (?) mentally unwell, which fits her usual What If Mental Illness But Really Happening style.
I found it mesmering and hugely compelling and enjoyed it very much. However, if you are not enjoying it after the first few pages, I would suggest ditching it - the style doesn't change, "nothing happens" and there isn't any huge denouement, really....more
Somehow this made the perfect Christmas re-read, though I realised about halfway through I had entirely conflated the plot of this and Black Hearts inSomehow this made the perfect Christmas re-read, though I realised about halfway through I had entirely conflated the plot of this and Black Hearts in Battersea. Perhaps I originally had an omnibus edition?...more
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