- Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Headline Review; New Ed edition (6 May 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0747267472
- ISBN-13: 978-0747267478
- Product Dimensions: 17.4 x 10.8 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 161,458 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Laura Sale, the star of Raffaella Barker's fifth novel, Green Grass, is pretty fed up. Simply put, Laura has forgotten how to have a good time. "Somewhere on the way to becoming a 38-year-old mother of adolescents, a wife manqué for 14 years, she has left having fun behind." Fun has been overtaken by the preoccupations of work and family. Inigo, her conceptual-artist husband is attractive, but "he's always been demanding and egocentric". Her twins, Dolly and Fred, are mostly loveable--except that Fred is constantly campaigning for a pet and Dolly is behaving "like a temperamental opera diva". There seems no space left for Laura's needs.
Fuelled by nostalgic memories of summer holidays in Norfolk, Laura thinks that country life will solve all her ills, she'll have "space to breathe", she may even ditch Inigo and his outrageous artistic demands for the man she was going to marry 20 years ago. Guy is now a farmer, who has a sideline in natural bath products. It seems like the ultimate rural idyll, and as far away from the arty London scene as you can get.
Raffaella Barker is not afraid to tell the truth about the infuriating nature of relationships with lovers, children, siblings and pets. But she never lets cynicism or bleakness take hold; instead her gaze is clear and hopeful. Laura's wistful dreams are treated with wry, good humour, and some healthy reality. Yes, the countryside is airy, but it is also muddy and wet, and home to rampaging goats and aggressive ferrets. Green Grass is gleeful, irreverent and touchingly wistful, a laugh-out-loud account of getting a life. With a pond and blackberry bushes, natch. --Eithne Farry --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Raffaella Barker's captivating novel about love, the countryside, and an invisible woman starting to catch sight of herself again. Laura Sale is becoming increasingly frustrated by the relentless demands of her life as partner of a famous conceptual artist and mother to teenage twins. As Inigo grows ever more successful in London, Laura longs for the rural Norfolk of her childhood, and a chance meeting with her first love is the catalyst she needs. Staying in the cottage she remembers from long-ago holidays, Laura confronts old ghosts, ferrets, a goat and a collapsing relationship as she begins a new stage of her life - one lit with possibilities.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The charm of this book lies in the way the author develops what might on the surface seem a fairly simple - and romantic - story. Barker leads you into some quite interesting territory, a marriage that is going badly awry. Clara is a woman who is losing her sense of herself in the responsibilities of being a mother,a wife and above all a grown-up. As a result of this she finds herself hankering increasingly for the paths in her life she didn't follow and thinking alot about her old boyfriend Guy who is now an organic farmer in Norfolk. Far from being a bleak landscape of domestic gloom this author makes all her insight witty, recognisable and really really funny. The ending might surprise you.....I love this writer.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having read 'Summertime' I looked forward to reading Raffaella Barker's most recent book, 'Green Grass', expecting more lighthearted accounts of rural eccentrics and romance. What a disappointment. This book is totally depressing, both the hero and heroine are unhappily married, the characters are difficult to connect to, and the heroine's artist husband is beyond credibility. The feel of the book is miserable and bleak, a complete opposite to 'Summertime'. Come on Raffaella, there are plenty of gritty writers - stick to the frivolous, please.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I bought this book from Amazon after seeing a review in a newspaper. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's a very true-to-life story of Laura (a 40-something wife and mother) with an irritating husband and two teenagers - the descriptions of Dolly, her daughter, are particularly amusing. She heads off to Norfolk and then meets her erstwhile boyfriend...... I will definitely be reading more of Rafaella Barker's books.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A gentle read for Barker lovers
Green Grass will not disappoint fans of Rafella Barker. Undoubtedly chick-lit (and I do not mean that to be insulting). Read more
Published 4 months ago by Maggie May
A real disappointment
This book is just dreadful. Absolutely nothing of note happens until the penultimate chapter. Perhaps the author thinks she creates some sense of Clara's angst and confusion but... Read more
Published on 21 May 2003 by J. Shaw
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