Mrs. Fytton's Country Life

by Mavis Cheek

Angela Fytton -- wonderwife and supermother -- has been unceremoniously dumped by her husband. Like many a good wife before her, she has been replaced for a younger model. Now, divorced but determined, she rediscovers the iron in her soul and decides to fight. She moves to the country, leaving her entirely selfish teenage children with their father and his sweet new bride, and waits. One day, she knows, her husband will return. Meanwhile, she yields herself up to the notion that country life is pure and good and country people are next to angels -- and finds that this is very far from the truth....

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, British Literature

332 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Born in Wimbledon, now part of London, Mavis left school at 16 to do office work with Editions Alecto, a Kensington publishing company. She later moved to the firm's gallery in Albemarle Street, where she met artists such as David Hockney, Allen Jones, Patrick Caulfield and Gillian Ayres. In 1969 she married a "childhood sweetheart", Chris Cheek, a physicist, whom she had met at a meeting of the Young Communist League in New Malden, but they separated three years later. Later she lived for eleven years with the artist Basil Beattie. She returned to education in 1976, doing a two-year arts course at Hillcroft College, a further education college for women.

Although Cheek had planned to take a degree course, she turned instead to fiction writing while her daughter, Bella Beattie, was a child. She moved from London to Aldbourne in the Wiltshire countryside in 2003, but as she explained to a newspaper, "Life in the city was a comparative breeze. Life in the country is tough, a little bit dangerous and not for wimps."

Cheek has been involved with the Marlborough LitFest, and also teaches creative writing. This has included voluntary work at Holloway and Erlstoke prisons. As she described in an article: "What I see [at Erlstoke] is reflected in my own experience. Bright, overlooked, unconfident men who are suddenly given the opportunity to learn grow wings, and dare to fail. It helps to be able to tell them that I, too, was once designated thick by a very silly [education] system. My prisoners have written some brilliant stuff, and perhaps it gives them back some self-esteem."

Reviews

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant Brit lit—the manners of the English countryside exposed and altogether messy. Very funny. Ideal for the lawn chair or beach blanket.

[Ivy Samuel · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you see me suddenly and inexplicably make a wide detour there's a good chance it's because I've spied Mavis Cheek and want to avoid an encounter.

[Nayana Renukumar · Rating 1 out of 5]

If we go by Bacon's taste/swallow/ chew and digest criteria, 'Mrs. Fytton' belongs to the 'to be tasted and spat out' category.

Nevertheless I managed to hold on to the story in the anxiety to see how Mrs. Fytton would brave the rejection of her husband and begin her independent albeit solitary life in the countryside.

Unfortunately, the anti-climax lay precisely there. Mrs. Fytton ends up as the mistress of her former husband; after her long wait for him, she was ready to settle for anything that came her way.

While there are few hilarious moments in the narrative, there isn't much for keepsake.

[Sasha Turchyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. Hated it. Entertaining for most of it but a totally unresolved ending. Cheek writes well which is good but there just wasn't much there? I am still confused with what happens at the end!

[Paddy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is my first Mavis Cheek. Does she always write so irritatingly? I'll glance at another and hope for a greener pasture.

[Cindy Mitlo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laugh out loud funny!

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious - I was in stitches and really enjoyed the book. Maybe it was the right book at the right time for me. Really recommend this for a well-written, light and satisfying read.

[Jean St.Amand · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amenable Women is one of my favourite books but I had to skim most of this one. The only parts I really enjoyed were when Andrew and Claire were making life a miserable hell for their father and his mistress-turned-2nd wife.

[Cathy Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joyful, well-written, character driven fiction. Angela has the perfect life, the perfect marriage. Until she doesn’t. So she takes herself off to live in the countryside and plot how to get her husband back.
Every character in this book is a delight. From Angela, her somewhat spineless husband, his saccharine second wife and Angela’s two horrendous teenage children, through to the cast of country neighbours who see Angela through what can only be described as an epic mid-life crisis.
The tone throughout is beautifully tongue-in-cheek and the story arc is set up perfectly.

[Sophie Foster · Rating 1 out of 5]

Got desperate for pool-side reading - taken from a hotel library

[Anita · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a well worn theme - that of the woman whose husband dumps her for a younger model, thus sending the discarded wife on a quest to change her life. However this wife had a long term plan when she married this particular man, and she doesn't intend to give up on it for a trivial reason like his leaving her for another woman. Aware her teenage children will refuse to move into the country twenty miles from the nearest wine bar and designer boutique [is that still a word I am allowed to use? probably not] she calculates her husband and his new woman will be stuck with them and thus have their domestic bliss ruined. Then of course he'll throw in the towel and beg her to go back to him.

I was never convinced this plan would work, nor that the husband was the paragon his poor wife believed him to be and didn't deserve her anyway. Besides the writing was , well, annoying. Ms Cheek starts a theme and goes off at a tangent with random connected thoughts, anecdotes and observations which made it a challenge to stay on track. Not a page turner but mildly amusing

[Michael Joe Armijo · Rating 1 out of 5]

A fine laugh--in parts--but it depends on who you are...

This book was recommended to me by someone who has divorced. She was clearly in the same position as Mrs. Fytton (the main character) in a lot of ways. Therefore, I can understand how many middle-aged women who are divorcee's would LOVE this book.
I am, however, a single man...and felt it a bit of a "yawn" and a "snore".
So...different strokes for different folks is all I can say. I did read it all the way through (with some 'I wish this would end' feelings along the way). I did find the writer had a nice style...but I would have liked a bit more story and a lot less characters.

[Gwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I almost didn't read this book because of a comment made on one of the reviews, the first one that popped up, actually. I proceeded and found it to be enjoyable. Some twenty-six years ago I found myself divorced and in my early 50's. The writer very eloquently expresses some of the emotions one goes through and manages to find humor in it. It was encouraging to know that I wasn't the only one to have some of those whacky desires. It was a fun read and light-hearted, yet interesting.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Superwoman feminist loses husband and moves to the west country (Somerset) where she begins constructing the perfect "ye olde country life" - herbs, chickens, ale-making. Joanna Trollope meets Cold Comfort Farm. Many good laughs and a lot of insights. Some incredibly self-centered teenagers. A resolution to ponder.

[Summreen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started really good, moved at a quick pace, loved the protagonost. When the country part of it started though, i knew that it was going to be another web of people's lives and predicting confusion, stopped reading this book.
I like Cheeks writing style and her humour in books, think it got buried under the many characters in this book however.

[Julie Christensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book about a betrayed woman who moves to the English countryside to figure out her life. The writing was intelligent and meaty, so I was surprised and disappointed by the ending, which wrapped up a complex storyline with a simplistic, unrealistic solution.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took a while to get into this book.
Once you get the hang of the British writing style, it's quite funny and has a good lesson about having a happy marriage. Or at least for Mrs. Fytton, finding happiness in life non-conventional ways.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great fun... just what I was in the mood to read. Not a spoiler: the ending didn't sit well with me, but the rest of the book was quite funny.

[Jomie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Smart and hilarious.

[Nina Vandewater]

Good, very British; not my perfect cup of tea actually!

[Ellen Stafford · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book didn't flow well for me for some reason. I enjoyed it but I wasn't gripped by it and some of the characters I felt weren't strong enough.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A favourite author of mine, yet I felt let down by this book. The romanticised view of the countryside that Angela had before she moved there seemed unreal, especially for an educated woman. The other characters seemed stereotypical, which added to the story trying to be clever-clever with all the bits from Maria Brydges’s book, and the chapter headings. The ending was a letdown, especially for the feminist that Angela was supposed to be, though the way she let Ian get away with doing nothing during their marriage doesn’t strike me as supporting the sisterhood.
I loved Andrew and Claire, though again their ending seemed unlikely too.
P.s. as a local, the fact that Ian crossed the Clifton Suspension Bridge to get to the Tintern road (P292) I found surprisingly; personally I’d have crossed the old Severn Bridge instead, as the former doesn’t take you to Wales and onto Tintern, while the latter most definitely does!

[Debby · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was looking for some light reading and this book looked promising ,but I very easily got bored with the long descriptions of past women lives ,and the ending is put on hastily just to finish off .The story had potential ,but became very tedious with side tracks .Read I did ,skipping some parts to come to a disappointing ending ,especially when the main character starts out quite different .Can not even recommend for light reading .

[Michael Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though well-written most of the way through, the story is a little too long in being told and the ending is sort of surreal. There is little to suggest why the narrator maintains her point of view vis-a-vis the ex-husband after all she does not get back from her attention to him. Was not totally happy with the 'resolution'.

[Melanie Harvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always a delight to read Mavis Cheek. How well she represents females. A clear eyed but humorous approach to both our qualities and failings. She has the gimlet eye of Austen when it comes to spotting and skewering middle class pretensions. This book is a delight and Mavis Cheek should be treasured!

[Alexandria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a product of its time, but I did enjoy reading about Mrs. Fytton's moving to this lovely place in the countryside and rebuilding her life, all of which happily coincided with my doing something very similar (a move to my own long-dreamed-of place). In that sense, a part of me was living the story along with Mrs. Fytton. Overall, I enjoyed the read.

[Sue Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a lovely story. One woman's realisation that things could be different and urban life was stifling her, as was her marriage and her less than understanding self involved adult children. Reawakening of who she really is and how she can live differently.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightfully funny romp through an English village.

[Vanessa Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A warm hug of a book.

[Karen Hanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed it despite a tricky start. But glad l persevered. Any women who have experienced married life will relate to something in here ;-D