Product Description

Elizabeth Webster is a cantankerous spinster pushing 70. Forced out of her old school teaching job, she unleashes her sharp tongue and dogmatic opinions on everyone in the English village of Little Blessington. Then one cold spring night, sitting on the sofa alone, she grinds to a dead halt. To recover from this mysterious, near-fatal illness her doctor sends her on a journey to a North African country where she ventures into the desert and has a brush with terrorism. But Miss Webster no longer cares about anything, least of all Islamic politics and suicide bombers. Three weeks after her return there is a ring on her doorbell. Standing there in the gusty darkness is a young Arab man of astonishing beauty. Worryingly, he is carrying a large suitcase. But who is Cherif? Why is he there and what does he want? Entertaining, intelligent, provocative, Patricia Duncker's new novel is a comedy of errors set in the aftermath of 9/11, in a darkening world moving towards war. This engaging tale about friendship, trust and liberation is full of reversals and surprises, tenderness and humour.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #446492 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 244 pages

Review
'Patricia Duncker should be made a DBE' Louis de Bernieres 'The finest literary historical novel since Rose Tremain's RESTORATION.' Time Out on James Miranda Barry 'A gripping detective story about sex, identity and biography.' Alain de Botton on James Miranda Barry 'Duncker manages her brainy material with a touch so deft it is almost skittish, inserts little hooks into the heart as well as the mind, and rounds the whole lot off with a thriller-like twist.' Independent on Sunday on Hallucinating Foucault

Christina Koning, The Times
`Bracing ... a wonderfully funny and surprising exploration of
cultural differences'

Caroline McGinn, Guardian
`Charming ... brilliantly observed and sparingly rendered'

Customer Reviews

completely captivating : Miss Garnett's Angel for 2006
Elizabeth Webster, former French teacher at a girls' school, is a Miss Jean Brodie well past her prime. Ordered abroad to North Africa after a devastating nervous breakdown which has left her half-dead and needing sticks to walk, she has become "everything she most despised: querulous, forgetful, indecisive." Her suffering is brilliantly described, but the Moroccan desert, and the people she meets at a luxury hotel there begin to restore her to herself, a process furthered when the hotelier's exquisitely beautiful son, Cherif, appears on her doorstep back in Little Blessingham.

Who, or what, is Cherif? Set in the year after 9/11, this question becomes increasingly pressing in what is both a mystery story and a comedy of manners. Miss Webster defends him against all comers partly because it is in her bloody-minded nature to do so, and partly out of a genuine, growing affection. Cherif - gentle, respectful, undemanding - gets a place studying Maths at the local university, and becomes her lodger when turned down by mean-spirited locals. A natural anarchist who believes that all forms of government should be blown sky-high, Miss Webster is alert to her own possible deception by a terrorist. Beautiful Cherif is, however, someone to share her extreme loneliness, to introduce her to her first rock concert, Sky TV and fasting at Ramadan.

The clash between English and Berber culture, described in Duncker's lucid, elegant prose, is funny and touching, ranging as it does from Cherif's bewilderment at motorway signs telling them to use the "hard shoulder" to his belief that Miss Webster, like Miss Marple, is unmarried because she was a lady detective. With only popular film culture in common, their approximate communications bring out the best in both of them, and even softens the hearts of the villagers who have hated their neighbour for years. Only connect, as Forster said.

This is not, however, just a feel-good novel like Miss Garnett's Angel. Duncker, author of prize-winning novels such as Hallucinating Foucault and The Deadly Space Between has excelled at exploring ideas through eccentric personal relationships while not gaining wide readership. Here, her intelligence is modulated into a story of real charm and compassion. Just how much should we trust strangers from an alien culture? Can we continue to live according to ancient beliefs in a darkening world? Can duty and desire ever be accommodated, or must they, like the opera Carmen, head for a fatal clash?

I loved this book. It is written with the spirit of George Eliot presiding over it - liberal, sympathetic, beadily intelligent and passionate. I've already bought a copy for my mother-in-law and one of my best friends. Don't miss it!

Not her best ...
Hmm, I didn't really enjoy this one, which is unusual because I normally love Duncker. However, in this case, I felt the story didn't actually begin until Cherif turned up on Page 80 (in my hardcover edition). That was when everything really got going, and the first 79 pages are nothing but backstory. I think the information in them would have been better dropped into the real story here and there to build up the tension.

It's also interesting that the plot (such as there is) all seems to occur in the last 20 pages in one of those bizarre Agatha Christie-like denouements. This came across as rather clunky.

As this is Duncker, there are of course some wonderful turns of phrase, but I really think the sections with Cherif and Miss Webster in the UK getting to know each other are the only parts worth the read - and would have been far better on their own as a novella or long short story.

Not Good
This was an awkward and unconvincing story that utterly failed to engage me as a reader. Although I did develop an affection for the characters, this wasn't enough. I especially lost patience when her central character criticized Peter Susskind's fine book "Perfume". This was completely uncalled for. That said, Duncker is obviously a good writer, but this is not a good book.

Not recommended.