Product Description

Flora Chapman is in her fifties when her husband dies in a bizarre ballooning accident. Seizing upon her new found freedom, she decides to finish the history of their village that Edward had begun. A reference to Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII's fourth wife who he rejected for being ugly, captures her imagination as she begins to delve deeper into the life of this neglected figure. Meanwhile, in the Louvre, Holbein's portrait of Anne of Cleves senses the tug of a connection and she begins to tell the story of the injustices she suffered and just how she survived her marriage...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14330 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

About the Author
Mavis Cheek was born and grew up in Wimbledon. She began her working life at Editions Alecto, the contemporary art publishers. After Alecto, she attended Hillcroft College for Women from where she graduated in Arts. After her daughter Bella was born, she began her writing career in earnest; journalism and travel writing at first, then short stories, and eventually, in 1988, her novel Pause Between Acts won the She/John Menzies First Novel Prize. Amenable Women is her thirteenth novel. She now lives and writes in the heart of the English countryside.

Customer Reviews

Being amenable can get you what you want
This is Mavis Cheek back to her old form. I was quite disappointed by her last two books but I loved this one. Flora has always lived in the shadow of her husband. When he dies unexpectedly in a bizarre baloon accident, she finds she relishes her freedom to plan her own life. Casting around for something to occupy her mind she comes across a half finished local history which Edward was working on, and in it a reference to Anne of Cleves - Henry VIII's fourth wife - and her connections with the area. This sparks her interest and she decides to find out Anne's story. She visits Paris to view the original portrait by Holbein and feels as though the picture is speaking to her. Fending off her daughter's attempt to wrest her inheritance from her and some startling revelations about her husband seem minor irritations compared with her search for information about Anna (Anne) of Cleves. Her search helps her come to terms with her own life and she finds many parallels in Anna's story.
This is a multilevelled story which shows while circumstances may change people stay the same. Behaviour which works in one century may well be effective in a later one. Mavis Cheek's sentences sometimes meander along for several lines, but her style suits the story and there is much gentle humour. Characters are well realised and I will certainly look at Henry VIII's 4th wife with fresh eyes from now on.

A treat of a history lesson
I was really looking forward to this book and was thrilled when I had it in the post! It is a beautiful book promising exquisite entertainment. The first half was a real pleasure and very much in the usual Cheek fashion. But then the portraits communicating with each other really were too arty. In the end the book become downright boring, leaving me a bit disappointed. It reminded me a bit of "Getting Back Brahms" which had an equally melancholic touch about it. But finally I have to admit that up to now I hadn't known Anne of Cleves at all and I'm truly thankful for this new piece of knowledge.

The importance of being amenable.....
A really delightful book. Recently widowed Flora is trying to pick up the pieces and forge a new life for herself. But she is not helped by everyone else's memories of her larger than life husband. At his funeral her thoughts wander over their past life together as she realises that she probably won't miss him all that much and that she is in fact looking forward to being her own boss. Much of the book (especially the early part) is very funny and it would be a hard-hearted reader indeed who failed to root for Flora.
Edward, her late husband, had begun a history of their village. Flora had originally suggested that she do this but Edward quickly took over the idea and squeezed her out. So Flora was now free to work on this again and wanted to concentrate on the links that Anna of Cleves had with the village. She soon rejects the epithet of the Flanders Mare and gives us a refreshing reappraisal of Henry VIII's fourth wife.
There are a series of disappointments throughout the narrative. Flora has been disappointed by her husband and is now attracted to Ewan. But Ewan's wife admits how disappointed she has been by him. And, of course, Anna of Cleves was very disappointed in the husband that awaited her when she arrived in England!
It may not sound like the most feminist of messages but Mavis Cheek shows that amenability can lead to a woman getting what she wants! And what a lovely word "amenable" is - I will find ways to include it in future conversations!