‘Comyns’s world is weird and wonderful . . . a neglected genius’ LUCY SCHOLES, OBSERVER
‘A curious hybrid: a mixture of domestic disaster, social commentary, comedy, and romance . . . ‘ KATHERINE A. POWERS, BARNES & NOBLE REVIEW
‘I defy anyone to read the opening pages and not to be drawn in, as I was . . . Quite simply, Comyns writes like no one else’ MAGGIE O’FARRELL
Pretty, unworldly Sophia is twenty-one years old and hastily married to a young painter called Charles. An artist’s model with an eccentric collection of pets, she is ill-equipped to cope with the bohemian London of the 1930s where poverty, babies (however much loved) and husband conspire to torment her.
Hoping to add some spice to her life, Sophia takes up with Peregrine, a dismal, ageing critic and comes to regret her marriage and her affair. But in this case virtue is more than its own reward, for repentance brings an abrupt end to the cycle of unsold pictures, unpaid bills and unwashed dishes . . .
‘A curious hybrid: a mixture of domestic disaster, social commentary, comedy, and romance . . . ‘ KATHERINE A. POWERS, BARNES & NOBLE REVIEW
‘I defy anyone to read the opening pages and not to be drawn in, as I was . . . Quite simply, Comyns writes like no one else’ MAGGIE O’FARRELL
Pretty, unworldly Sophia is twenty-one years old and hastily married to a young painter called Charles. An artist’s model with an eccentric collection of pets, she is ill-equipped to cope with the bohemian London of the 1930s where poverty, babies (however much loved) and husband conspire to torment her.
Hoping to add some spice to her life, Sophia takes up with Peregrine, a dismal, ageing critic and comes to regret her marriage and her affair. But in this case virtue is more than its own reward, for repentance brings an abrupt end to the cycle of unsold pictures, unpaid bills and unwashed dishes . . .
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Reviews
I defy anyone to read the opening pages and not to be drawn in, as I was . . . Quite simply, Comyns writes like no one else
For anyone who is interested in stories of everyday concerns, poverty, marriage, love, happiness, fulfilment, peace or joy, this is the book for you
Comyns's world is weird and wonderful . . . there's also something uniquely original about her voice. Tragic, comic and completely bonkers all in one, I'd go as far as to call her something of a neglected genius
A curious hybrid: a mixture of domestic disaster, social commentary, comedy, and romance . . . What I find so really excellent in this novel, in addition to Comyns's powers of description and the slow fuse of her comedy, is her ability to show the cold world and its indecencies without spelling everything out . . .
