Arrivals and Departures

by Leslie Thomas

Fresh from Los Angeles, Mrs Pearl Collingwood and her daughter Rona arrive in the frenzied no-man's-land of Heathrow from the nearby village of Bedmansworth, Edward Richardson jets in and out of it faster than his marriage can tolerate. Yet precisely where village and airport overlap, there exists a world bubbling with intrigues and assignations, with wit, pathos and excitement, that all readers of Leslie Thomas will recognize as his alone.

Genres: Fiction

448 pages, Paperback

First published May 13, 1993

About the author

Born in Newport, Monmouthshire, 1931, Leslie Thomas is the son of a sailor who was lost at sea in 1943. His boyhood in an orphanage is evoked in This Time Next Week, published in 1964. At sixteen, he became a reporter, before going on to do his national service. He won worldwide acclaim with his bestselling novel The Virgin Soldiers, which has achieved international sales of over four million copies.

Reviews

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leslie Thomas was such a marvellous storyteller. It saddens me that there will never be a new story to embark upon.

And so on to reread another, knowing how much I am going to enjoy it.

If you’ve never read any, this might be a nice place to begin. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is a laugh out loud in places as you think you know whats going to happen in fact it does things go from bad to worse but with Thomas's sense of humour eventually it generally works out in everybody flavor in the end The book is well worth a read it makes a really pleasant change from crime and Si--Fi

[Jayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Daily Telegraph calls this "the ultimate airport read" and whilst they are not wrong, they are doing the book a bit of a disservice, because it is so much more subtle than that.

An American mother and daughter arrive at Bedmansworth on the outskirts of Heathrow after the old woman feels unwell. And they never leave. In the meantime, the villagers are involved in their own marital strifes, awkward social situations and secret trysts as the planes trundle overhead. Most of their lives are inextricably linked with the airport, and over time it transpires that the old lady from LA has not chosen the village at random at all, but is looking for answers to secrets that were kept over 50 years before.

The book is beautifully written, very funny in places, and with a keen eye for the minutae of village life. The characters are wonderful and very endearing, even the hapless philanderer and the irritating busybody. They are all colourfully drawn, with enough sex and scandal to keep things light and interesting. The book shows it's age in places (first published 1992) when a senior airport executive is reprimanded for compassionately allowing a colleague dying of AIDS to fly home on a scheduled flight with paying passengers, but there is a lot to enjoy here. A love story, a youth desperate to lose his virginity, the stewardess (his word, not mine) who supplements her income by going "on the game."

I found this book by accident at the top of a shelf in the house I had just moved into, and what a great find it is. This one I will keep and probably read again. A great holiday read for anyone sick of chicklit novels.

[Onnie Granados · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found Leslie Thomas after watching the British TV series "The Last Detective" and found it was based on a series of books by Thomas. So I searched for a copy of The Last Detective -- and immediately Leslie Thomas became one of my favorite writers.

[Heather Loach]

Lovely story, almost predictable ending but feeling not predictable, real people in the real world, even to the Heathrow employee who is woven in towards the end. Lovely book

[Rob Twinem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this airport thriller very much and would recommend to those who like a good old fashioned read...:)

[Ian Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Throughly enjoyable with a cast of intriguing characters

[Lyn Raven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, one of the funniest books I have read

[Walter Van Praag · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can't say i really got into this book. The last 100 pages where the story came together were enjoyable but the first 300 though pleasant to read just did not capture me. LT describes in fine detail all these odd people living in the Heathrow airport region and a mother and daughter visiting from the USA who through bizarre circumstances also end up staying for months in a little Inn underneath the flight path approaching Heathrow runways. Admittedly the story and characters all come together nicely in the story line but for me this was a tedious read unfortunately. still made me cry on the end :)

[Bernie Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished rereading this one after many years. It was refreshing to rediscover a typically rural English village that had somehow survived despite its proximity to Heathrow - and not a computer or mobile phone in sight. Some amazing characters that the author managed to bring to life with his own brand of humour and depth.Leslie Thomas. I will be looking at more books by this author.

[Carole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good read