Book description
Henry Tillotson, a generous, genial man who inherited his father's
philanthropic attitude along with his beautiful house, rescues
Margaret from a disastrous marriage in Egypt and brings her home to
the West Country as his new wife. On the threshold she gives him a
black eye and retires straight to bed where she remains, apart from
the occasional malevolent outburst, for the rest of her life.
Over the years two young couples become regular if uneasy
houseguests, listening, speculating, keeping a watchful eye on
Margaret's door until finally, piecing together the gossip, the
rumours, the mystery, they find themselves and their children
thoroughly tangled in the web of Henry's life...
Mary Wesley was born near Windsor in 1912. Her education took her to
the London School of Economics and during the War she worked in the War
Office. Although she initially fulfilled her parent's expectations in
marrying an aristocrat she then scandalised them when she divorced him
in 1945 and moved in with the great love of her life, Eric Siepmann. The
couple married in 1952, once his wife had finally been persuaded to
divorce him. She used to comment that her 'chief claim to fame is
arrested development, getting my first novel [
Jumping the Queue
] published at the age of seventy'. She went on to write a further nine
novels, three of which were adapted for television, including the
best-selling
The Camomile Lawn
. Mary Wesley was awarded the CBE in the 1995 New Year's honour list and
died in 2002.
