- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (9 Jan 1989)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140105735
- ISBN-13: 978-0140105735
- Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 11 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 420,155 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
A woman takes her husband and children to the Italian home of another English family accompanied by her eccentric father. A sense of foreboding hangs over the holiday from the start as the house, as well as its absentee owners, exert their presence.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mortimer's Chiantishire,
By
This review is from: Summer's Lease (Paperback)
SAFE READING - NO SPOILERS
Not Mortimer at his best but at his most easily readable in many ways. Expatriates and Italian gentry in "Chianti-shire" seem very like the expatriates and Spanish gentry in "Rioja-shire", people with whom I am slightly more familiar; the book shows how they strive to fill their days. I did not have the unusual problems some other reviewers have had. I bought the book in a bookshop. John Mortimer's dry, ironic wit and blackish humour are not as sharp as in other texts but it is a light-hearted, enjoyable book full of characters readers may find it difficult to relate to but no less interesting for that.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"I don't suppose you have ever killed anyone, have you?",
By
This review is from: Summer's Lease (Paperback)
When Molly Pargeter and her family--her husband, father, and three daughters--take a summer lease for La Felicita, an ironically named Tuscan villa in Mondano, Italy, she is curious about the owners. The owners have, after all, specified that they prefer a married couple with three children, preferably all girls, though Molly can't imagine why. The house comes with instructions and both a supervisor ("Mr. Fixit") and a housekeeper, both of whom Molly finds mysterious, and when the water disappears from the swimming pool and has to be replaced at exorbitant cost, she begins to wonder who has the water "concession" for the area.
As the family works its way into the society of other expatriates and Italian gentry in "Chianti-shire," the reader learns that Molly's husband may be unfaithful, that her father still regards himself as a great roué who hopes to make connections with a now-wealthy former flame, and that the local residents seem determined to prevent her from finding out information about the Ketterings, her landlords. With too little to do and an immense curiosity, Molly determines to find out all the secrets. The death of Mr. Fixit, found dead in an empty swimming pool, adds a sense of mystery, and Molly's discoveries about the Ketterings convince her even more strongly that there are hidden crimes behind the seemingly innocent façade of Mondano. John Mortimer's wry satire of British life and society combines with his ironic humor as he shows Molly to be a meddlesome, if well-intentioned, women. His insight into the contrasts between her British mores and those of her Italian neighbors adds color to the novel and shows the Italians to be far more pragmatic than the overly "polite" society of the expatriates. The questions about the death of Mr. Fixit and the disappearance of Mr. Kettering grow, and Molly's pursuit of answers to questions which are none of her business leads to a dramatic, if somewhat enigmatic conclusion. Molly and her family are not characters the reader cares much about, however, and this novel does not achieve the level of black humor which readers have come to expect from Mortimer. Light, satiric, and filled with local color, it is fun to read, however, and the conclusion may keep the reader pondering beyond the end of the novel. n Mary Whipple The Summer of a Dormouse: A Year of Growing Old Disgracefully Felix in the Underworld Murderers and Other Friends: Another Part of Life Rumpole's Return Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders (Penguin Celebrations)
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Summer's Lease,
By
This review is from: Summer's Lease (Paperback)
Thank you for your quick delivery of this book, which arrived in good condition. (Sadly, although it was recommended to me by a friend, I didn't enjoy it. However, that's not your problem!)
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