Journal Entry 1 by elz-dad from Basingstoke, Hampshire United Kingdom on Friday, April 30, 2004

Kate Thomas, nearing her hundredth birdthday, lies in hospital after suffering
a stroke. Apparently unconscious and unresponsive, her mind is active and she
revisits memories of her long life, including the murder of one of her
husbands, which she determines to solve by mental power alone.

I just read this for the second time, but on neither occasion has it grabbed
me as much as I hoped: usually when I read one of Nobbs' novels I end up
feeling that it was my favourite, but that didn't happen here. I'm not sure if
this is because it's the only one with a female protagonist (I don't think
he's so good at doing women - Elizabeth in Reggie Perrin is also a bit weak I
think) or perhaps that the novel is over-ambitious: it covers nearly a hundred
years of life compared to the Pratt novels, where three books cover about half
this time.

The fact that so much life-story has to be covered (as well as the solving of
a murder) means that I didn't feel I really knew many of the characters, and
even at the end of the book I was mixed up over which son was which. And I
don't think I became particularly attached to any of the people - even Kate -
although I did want to.

It is a good book nevertheless, and there is care and sympathy in the
descriptions, especially of Kate's family in Wales with their Welsh cakes and
bara brith. I just think it should have been a trilogy.

 

Journal Entry 2 by elz-dad at on Friday, April 30, 2004

Released on Friday, April 30, 2004 at British Heart Foundation Shop, book and music dept in Basingstoke, England United Kingdom. 

Journal Entry 3 by Rand0m from Hitchin, Hertfordshire United Kingdom on Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Picked this up from the OBCZ in Basingstoke after making a special journey there from west London to drop off a book and see what might be found. Will read, review and re-release. 

Journal Entry 4 by Rand0m at Geocache GCR64M, Little Wymondley in Hitchin, Hertfordshire United Kingdom on Thursday, December 27, 2007

Released 4 yrs ago (12/27/2007 UTC) at Geocache GCR64M, Little Wymondley in Hitchin, Hertfordshire United Kingdom

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

Left in a geocache set up specifically for the purpose of book-swapping.

Never did manage to read this - couldn't get into it at all - but lent it to a workmate and her mother who both really liked it.