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Acting Up
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| List Price: | £6.99 |
| Price: | £2.36 |
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Product Description
The Andersons are a military family with honours and traditions stretching back two hundred years. When the second Iraq war breaks out, it is only natural that their newest generations should be represented in the ranks of British officers: at 24, Lieutenant Susie Anderson delays her wedding to handsome fellow-officer Callum and joins her regiment on the hot sands of Kuwait. Brother Francis, meanwhile, continues his cabaret career as Madam Fanny Fantoni, drag chanteuse and net-stockinged vamp, with a stinging line in repartee and the most remarkable falsetto top C in Clapham. As the neighbours agree, it must be terribly difficult for their poor parents, especially the General. Real difficulties come, though, when Callum comes home injured, altered and bitter, and Susie and her family feel as though their lives are shattered. The solution to this tangle comes from the most unlikely source of all.
Set against a background of desert war, seedy clubs, a hippie sailing-ship and quiet English village life, Libby Purves' latest novel is a commentary on changing social roles, the nature of courage and the futility of prejudice.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #210694 in Books
- Published on: 2005-02-14
- Binding: Paperback
- 288 pages
Editorial Reviews
Sunday Telegraph
'Convincing and enjoyable . . . there is a warmth and sincerity about this novel that makes one care about its outcome.'
Review
'An eclectic mix of meticulously researched settings . . . Purves's prose is clear and unfussy' (Observer )
'Convincing and enjoyable . . . there is a warmth and sincerity about this novel that makes one care about its outcome.' (Sunday Telegraph )
'A joy to read' (Good Book Guide )
Good Book Guide
'A joy to read'
Customer Reviews
Gallantry; the battle with oneself
This is one of Libby Purves' better efforts. Military family, daughter Susie goes as officer to the Gulf, son Francis continues his career as a 'drag chanteuse.' Both show the inherited family courage, whether at war or under fire from a discontented audience - he insists on facing them again with a different act when he is booed off the stage. Francis also puts on what is described as his own private ENSA act when Susie's fiancé is sent home wounded from the gulf. Some sailing action for those who enjoy it and all - or at least most - of the different characters face trials with guts and kindness. There's even a happy ending.
A warm, unlikely mix. Cherish it.
I heartily recommend this book. I read it over two days on holiday. This book talks to both men and women.
Obstensibly about what happens when the second Iraq war interrupts the best laid marriage plans of Lieutenant Susie Anderson and her fiance and fellow officer Callum. When Callum returns home physically and emotionally injured all bets are off. Libby Purves carefully interweaves the storylines of Callum and Susie with that of Susie's unconventional brother Francis, the down-at-heel crew of a sail-teaching boat, and the concern of their parents. The potential for misunderstanding between parents and children, and some of the false assumptions grown up children often have of their parents are handled well. Events take place against the background of the Middle East, through Middle England, London, Portugal, the open sea, and culminate in the frenzy of the Edinburgh Festival. Unlikely angels rescue more than one of our heroes.
