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Broken Biscuits [Paperback]

Liz Kettle
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

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Book Description

5 April 2007

Agnes is senile and has so lost the plot that she's been institutionalized. In this story her life runs backwards.

Her granddaughter, Jodie, is faring only slightly better: her medication at least keeps her in the community. While her story also has the sense to run forwards.

But one way or another, Agnes and Jodie are set for a collusion. For both of their lives hinge (or rather became unhinged) on some unfortunate business in the past. Which means that Jodie is going to spring Agnes from the old people's home in which she is incarcerated in order to get to the bottom of things.

Broken Biscuits is a dark comedy of madness and ill manners, of the dotty and the potty, and the lengths extraordinary people must go to appear ordinary.



Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin (5 April 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0141025824
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141025827
  • Product Dimensions: 1.8 x 13 x 20.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 854,618 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

From the Inside Flap

'Doctor Hassani says I'm not ill at the moment, I'm just
lonely. I should go out more. Meet people. Make friends. Take up an activity. Have I ever thought of photography, or pottery, or learning French? What about flower arranging, Jodie? Flower arranging? I may be knocking on a bit, but I've still got functioning ovaries, thank you very
much. Flower bloody arranging, for fuck's sake. I hate arranging anything, and I'm not that bothered about flowers really.

Agnes's little low modern black and white chest, four drawers high and six drawers wide, was so useful. Three along, four down was toenail clippings. Grey lumpy crescents tipped with pale yellow in a range of different sizes, and collected over fourteen years. Guest soaps, usually wrapped and all with a lingering scent, were in five along and four down, next to the bottom drawer where she kept the bodies of those little dead things...

From the Back Cover

`A wickedly astute debut novel...a believable and compulsive
read' Herald

`Funny, compassionate and never sentimental. I couldn't put it down'
Marina Lewcyka, author of A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

`Never less than engaging' Sunday Telegraph

`Written with humour and compassion ... a convincing and ultimately
uplifting tale of family history and secrets and outsiders in a hostile
world' Big Issue

`An unpredictable and nuanced portrait' Daily Telegraph


Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Broken biscuits are the best ones, 5 Mar 2007
Format:Hardcover
This book was leant to me and I picked it up on a whim, I liked the cover! The story is fascinating, embarassing, sad, amusing and moving all at once. It is an insight into the minds of the socially inept yet acutely aware. You follow the characters to the end of the story and genuinely care about their futures and hope for the best. I was compelled and entertained by this book. An easy read and an enlightening one. Highly recommended.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A female Alan Bennett... 17 Oct 2006
By Sarah Durston TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
and I don't say that lightly!

Broken Bicuits tells the story of a grandmother and grand-daughter, who are both described as 'oddballs'.

Agnes, the grandmother, has dementia and saves old toenail clippings and bluebottle's corpses. Whilst Jodie, the grand-daughter attends a day centre and is supported by her Community Support worker, June. ('There are no problems on plant June, just challenges or, if you're really lucky, oppportunities for growth'.)

The structure of the novel is highly original. Agnes's story is told in reverse, so we see how a senile old woman was once vibrant and full of life. jodie's story is told in the present and both narratives collide when Jodie 'springs' her grandmother from her nursing home.

I just can't express how much I loved this book. It deals with so many dark themes, yet it's never sentimental and at times it's laugh-out-loud funny.

Highly recommended and particularly poignant for anyone working in social care.

Total and utter class....waiting the next book eagerly
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars How wonderful is weird? 20 Jun 2007
Format:Hardcover
This is a great read. One of the best I've ever sped through.

It's central characters are multi-dimensional whilst the rest are left merely in shadow - a backdrop to a family link that seems deeply shared between Jodie and Agnes.

The final few pages are also beautifully written. I was left wondering what had been meant by certain words.

This is what a good novel should be about. Funny ha-ha and very insightful into areas that most of us would know little about. Is anyone that different when it comes down to it.

It's a must read. Go and get it. I'm never selling mine.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Great anti-heroines !!
A really captivating read - throughout this book I wanted to keep on reading even with late-night bleary eyes.... Read more
Published on 18 May 2009 by C. MCNALLY
5.0 out of 5 stars A Strange World
The story revolves around Jodie and her grandmother Agnes. Agnes is senile and has just been moved into a home by her son (Jodie's father). Read more
Published on 15 Feb 2009 by Lincs Reader
4.0 out of 5 stars Moving
A story told with understanding and feeling, without being patronising or stereotypical. The characters are well drawn and developed and one feels empathy with them, whilst sharing... Read more
Published on 28 Dec 2008 by Book chatter
3.0 out of 5 stars Neither loved nor hated it
For me this was just one of those books that I never really got all that into. I didn't really feel much for the characters, and it wasn't one of those books that I found... Read more
Published on 1 May 2008 by Lukens
4.0 out of 5 stars Cleverly Written
On first starting this book I didn't think I was going to enjoy it as it had a fairly depressing start but, once past the first two to three chapters (short ones) I found it a very... Read more
Published on 13 Feb 2008 by A. Rose
4.0 out of 5 stars Cleverly Written
On first starting this book I didn't think I was going to enjoy it as it had a fairly depressing start but, once past the first two to three chapters (short ones) I found it a very... Read more
Published on 27 Oct 2007 by A. Rose
5.0 out of 5 stars A Female Alan Bennett.....
and I don't say that lightly!

Broken Bicuits tells the story of a grandmother and grand-daughter, who are both described as 'oddballs'. Read more
Published on 21 Jun 2006 by Sarah Durston
5.0 out of 5 stars Biscuits with bite.
I don't think I've ever read anything quite like this. The two colliding stories of grandmother and grand-daughter revealed an original voice and an insight into the darker side of... Read more
Published on 1 Jun 2006 by severin
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