TORTOISE SHELL

by Fanny Frewen

'A joy to read' - PUBLISHING NEWS 'A romp of a read, full of high jinx and quirky insight' - MAVIS NICHOLSON 'Funny, wise and totally captivating.' - LINDA LEE POTTER Mulberry Cottage is the perfect country retreat. But with a cosmopolitan background and a lucrative career, Henny Brack is not sure she's ready to settle down. The village is also home to ninety-five-year-old Cecilia Boxendale. Scratchy, dauntless, she saves her caustic tongue for the ghastly Mrs Phillips (hell-bent on steering her into The Elms retirement home) and gradually becomes Henny's greatest friend. As crises loom, Cecilia remains steadfast. Ultimately, though, it is she who will face the greatest ordeal. Quirky, original and full of life, The Tortoise Shell, is both unashamedly touching and utterly realistic. It is a welcome first novel from an exciting new talent.

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 4, 1996

Reviews

[Libbeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

From Amazon:
Mulberry Cottage looks like a perfect country retreat, and the local village is quintessentially English. But coming from London and a lucrative career, Henny Brack is not at all sure she's ready to settle down. Then she strikes up a friendship with 95-year-old Cecilia Boxendale.

[Elaine Saunders · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book that's very much of its time. Two advertising executives marry and, without asking his wife, the husband buys a cottage in his idyllic home village. She appears happy with the decision and gives up her job to be the wife at home. She can't cook or drive, is clueless when it comes to buying a washing machine and doesn't fall pregnant to order either. Never quite understood why she became the stay at home wife when she was legendary in the advertising industry and earned far more than her husband anyway. It wouldn't pass muster with most readers today but, that said, the author writes brilliantly, can be extremely funny and it was worth the read for some of her great one liners.