Blurb from the back of the book:

"A lifetime of restraint and placid affection erupts when a retired bank manager falls for a young girl, as far removed from him in background and experience as in age. Set in Cumbria, this intensely moving evocation of an overwhelming passion and its destructive kernel of jealousy confirms Melvyn Bragg as a master of the contemporary novel."

I'm afraid I didn't enjoy this book very much: possibly because I didn't feel much sympathy for the narrator (who, incidentally, remains nameless throughout. Maybe that's why?) Angela's and Bernadette's letters struck me as implausible, and although I enjoyed the descriptions of the Lake District I found Bragg's style too wordy for my taste. Each to his own, though, and I hope the next reader enjoys this more than I did!

The journal picture shows Melvyn Bragg.

I picked this one up at a meet-up today in Peterborough - possibly the first-ever Peterborough meet-up, organised by dododumpling. Thanks so much for getting us together. It was a good time, and I actually brought home fewer books than I took!

Updated: This was OK to whizz through. Efficient portrayal of life in a small town in the lake district. He conveyed the twitchy net curtain life-style and the contrast between the lifestyles of the solicitors, bank-managers, etc and those who lived from hand-to-mouth on the outskirts of the town in rented houses. Good contrasts. Don't know that the plot was altogether believable, but there again, life's sometimes stranger than fiction.

Will search for a wishlist showing this book. Wild releases vanish without trace in my area.

This journal entry contradicts my original plans for this book as I could not find a wishlist for it.

So --- it was passed on to a family member on January 1, 2006. She planned to share it with a friend in the north-east of England.

I did not even mention BookCrossing to her, I don't think. Perhaps curiosity will prevail and the book will be journalled once or twice more.

Fingers crossed!