Book description
A train screeches to a halt in the middle of the English countryside
and, observed by her fascinated fellow travellers, a woman climbs down
and rushes to the aid of a sheep, stranded on its back and unable to
rise. Sylvester Weekes watches with interest and noticing, as she
turns, that her face is full of tragedy, the woman's lonely image
lodges in his mind. But he is not the only one to speculate over her
actions - Maurice Benson, former private detective turned full-time
birdwatcher, is convinced that the mysterious woman must be tracked
down, in whatever way possible.
This is a story rich in character and wit, and powerfully moving in
its exploration of the heart's pain and deliverance. It is a tale of
loss, of release, of an acceptance of the cruelties of fate and of the
imaginative experience of love.
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.
