Book description
Elizabeth Webster is a spinster pushing seventy. Forced out of her
teaching job, she unleashes her sharp tongue and dogmatic opinions on
everyone in the English village of Little Blessington. Then, one night,
she grinds to a dead halt. To recover from this illness, she travels to
North Africa where she has a brush with terrorism - not that she cares
about politics. Three weeks after Miss Webster has returned home her
doorbell rings. There stands a beautiful young Arab man carrying a large
suitcase. Who is he, why is he there and what does he want? 'This is a
sparkling, redemptive novel which I read in one go and then again with
relish' Independent 'Bittersweet, compelling and moving' Sheila Hancock
'An enchanting novel, filled with all Dunker's trademark wit and
intelligence' Daily Mail 'A story of real charm and compassion. It is,
in short, the kind of novel you want to give all your friends - the
elderly, to show them all is not lost, and the young, who have
everything to gain' Telegraph Patricia Duncker is the author of the
novels Hallucinating Foucault (winner of the Dillons First Fiction Award
and the McKitterick Prize in 1996), The Deadly Space Between, James
Miranda Barry and Miss Webster and Cherif. She has also written two
books of short stories, Monsieur Shoushana's Lemon Trees and Seven Tales
of Sex and Death, and a collection of essays on writing and contemporary
literature, Writing on the Wall. Patricia Duncker is Professor of
Contemporary Literature at the University of Manchester.
