Product Description

An irresistible novel from our number one bestselling author.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #228344 in Books
• Published on: 2001-03-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The court official leaned closer.

"'What's gone past', he said 'is not just an advocate, any old lady advocate. What's gone past is his Honour's totty'."

And what's going past is the life of Guy Stockdale, a 62-year-old judge, who has been married forever, has two sons--Simon and Alan--and three grandchildren. For the past seven years, he's also had a mistress; Merrion Palmer is intelligent, attractive and half Guy's age, which also makes her younger than both Simon and Alan. Her dad died when she was a toddler and she's well aware that Guy is something of a father substitute. For years the role of mistress has suited her but then, suddenly, this style of relationship isn't enough for either of them. They've both had enough of sneaking around and avoiding people, so Guy has momentously made up his mind to leave his wife Laura and marry Merrion.

Marrying the Mistress dives into the shock waves that buffet the Stockdale family after Guy leaves Laura. The novel addresses the question of how his sons are going to cope, the explosive opinions of his forthright daughter-in-law Carrie and what his teenage grandchildren make of it all. Can any of them avoid taking sides? Should they? And what about the abandoned wife Laura, a woman apparently so long-sufferingly self-sacrificing she makes Mother Teresa look selfish?

From queen of the aga saga Joanna Trollope comes a dexterous portrayal of the causes and effects of marital breakdown: the stresses, the battle of wills, the bitterness and personal growth, the renegotiation of relationships--and an exposure of the depths to which the moral high ground can sink. --Lisa Gee

Synopsis
Merrion Palmer has been Judge Guy Stockdale's mistress for the last seven years and his wife and two grown-up sons know absolutely nothing about her. Up until now, Guy and Merrion have enjoyed a blissfully, uncomplicated relationship in stolen moments in Merrion's flat, and to the rest of the world, Guy has played the part of model husband, father and grandfather. But now the time has come for things to change. Guy has become conscious of wasted years and he wants to share his relationship with Merrion with the world. He wants, dammit, to marry her. Yet he is quite unprepared for the storm that will follow ...

From the Back Cover
‘Clever, clever, clever…probes right to the heart of a typically modern dilemma’ Daily Mail

Merrion Palmer has been Judge Guy Stockdale's mistress for the last seven years and his wife and two grown-up sons know absolutely nothing about her. Guy and Merrion have enjoyed a blissfully uncomplicated relationship in stolen moments in Merrion's flat, and to the rest of the world, Guy has played the part of model husband, father and grandfather.

But now the time has come for things to change. Conscious of the passing years, Guy doesn’t want to keep Merrion a secret any more. He wants to share her with the world.He wants, dammit, to marry her.Yet he is quite unprepared for the storm that will follow…

‘A swift and riveting read’ The Times

‘This is Trollope at her best’ Woman and Home

Customer Reviews

Terribly terribly British
Guy Stockdale is a good looking and (obviously) fit sixty-year-old Judge that has never really loved his wife. Merrion Palmer is his sophisticated 31 year old mistress. After forty years of marriage and a seven year affair Guy decides to end his marriage and marry his mistress; they both discover however how very complicated families can be.

Well, it's all very 'sophisticated' with subdued conversations, countless cups of tea and undercurrents of fury but oh, dear it's a dreary read. Not a bad read, in that Ms. Trollope is obviously an excellent and well respected writer and I did read it all, being sufficiently involved with the characters, but this is a slow book that jumps across details that I wanted and concentrated on those I found tedious.

The teenage boys first love was nice but under developed as was the total absence of how the principle characters started their love affair. In fact, for a book (in part) about sex, we get precious little of it. We spend a lot of time with the rejected wife but never really understand her, she's painted as shallow and possessive but we don't really understand how or why she got this way. Her best friend flits in and out of the pages giving good advice but we don't get a clear picture of her. No romance, no sex, some excruciatingly cheesy speeches; it's all a bit old fashioned and depressingly middle class, a bit too 'terribly terribly British'for my liking.

That said, I might do give Trollope a chance to redeem herself as she is clearly capable of better and truly good writers are hard to find.

A bit boring unfortunately
I found this book a little boring and felt that the characters were not realistic. It was interesting to see how all memebers of the family dealt with the marriage break up but on the whole the story dragged. I wouldent reccomend it.

Boring, miserable characters
When you start siding with the "baddies" in a novel, you know there must be something wrong. This was one of the dullest reads I've ever had. The main characters are utterly unsympathetic - self-centred, miserable and cold. I didn't even finish it in the end, that was how little I cared for them. Very unrealistic set-up. Don't bother with this.