In 1912, rational Fred Fairly, one of Cambridge's best and brightest, crashes his bike and wakes up in bed with a stranger - fellow casualty Daisy Saunders, a charming, pretty, generous working-class nurse. So begins a series of complications - not only of the heart but also of the head - as Fred and Daisy take up each other's education and turn each other's philosophies upside down

I have just recently been thinking about the changes to the Man Booker Prize in the past few years and the inclusion of genre fiction and this year the first time a graphic novel has made the longlist. I wonder about the direction this award is taking and if I am happy about it. It appears to be a dumbing down of what was once an award of high literature. Anyway this was a most enjoyable read and shortlisted in 1990. I think I will just concentrate on catching up with the earlier books of both the long and short listings and if this is one to go by the quality is certainly more to my liking.

Thank you jeniwren, this book was waiting for me today when I checked my postbox. I appreciate your sending it so far, and I LOVE the bookmark you included. I had never heard of the artist whose work is on it, Emily Kame Kngwarreye before, but her art is just wonderful. Thank you for being so thoughtful and sending such a beautiful piece of art along!
Your comments on the Booker Prize were of interest to me... I haven't read any of this year's list but I must admit that despite being half-American I was disappointed when they changed it to include US authors. I thought it being Commonwealth-only gave it a unique flavor and perhaps a chance for lesser-known authors to be showcased, though many famous ones are longlisted too, of course. Ah well. Fortunately we will never run out of good books to read!

Really, really really loved this book. And since it's the second I've read by Penelope Fitzgerald (the first was The Bookshop) and I liked that one too (though it was years ago and I can't remember it so well) I think that this is now going to put her up there with my favourite authors. The characters are so interesting and nuanced and human, the historical setting feels real, and the little touch of something unexplained just rounds it all out. Sped through it in a day or two. It's one of those books that makes me want to tell others "You should read this!" So I'm going to bring it along to a friend I'm meeting today, to see if she's interested in it. Let's see.

Enjoyed this so much that I passed it on to a friend. Happy travels, little book, and may others enjoy you as much as I did.

The friend I gave this to returned it to me, even though I'd told her she could keep/pass it on, so I have brought it with me to the US where I'm visiting, and am giving it to my sister. I really enjoyed it and hope she does, too.