The Confusion Room

The Minack Chronicles #19

by Derek Tangye

"I will begin exploring the Confusion Room today." So declares Derek Tangye at the beginning of the final Minack Chronicle, the autobiographical series that has been an inspiration to readers all around the world. Delving into the mass of letters and papers in the abandoned stable at Minack, the remote Cornish cottage where he lived alone after the death of his wife Jeannie, Derek weaves pieces of his past into the story of those last peaceful years spent in the company of his donkeys Merlin and Susie. Poignant and deeply evocative, The Confusion Room is a marvelous tribute to the memory of Derek Tangye.

224 pages, Hardcover

Published March 18, 1996

About the author

During WWII, Derek Tangye worked for MI5 (the U.K.'s domestic counter-intelligence and security agency) and, after the war, he worked as a newspaper columnist. His wife, Jeannie Nicol Tangye, was a hotel PR executive. They both left their jobs in the city to move to a simple cottage on a flower farm in Cornwall.

Reviews

[Skyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

If only I knew how the story ended. Did he live for his last year or two with no feline companion? Did he die at his beloved home or in hospital? I am bereft at finish the end of this memoir series.

[Mavis Hewitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the earlier ones, in my opinion.