Product Description
Beth Durban is persuaded to write a letter to the editor's page of a national Sunday newspaper in response to a film critic's prejudice against adaptations of Jane Austen's novels. When she receives an unexpected visit from the newspaper's critic, F. William D'Arcy, she is bemused, but after several sightings of the inquisitive journalist, she's neither pleased nor amused.
Beth is so distracted by the unwelcome interest from such an arrogant man she fails to see that a close work colleague is falling in love with her. As a scientific researcher in a Scottish University, she has led a varied life travelling the world, spending time in New Zealand, Canada, Australia, America, Singapore and Israel. With such a full life, she has had little time to form any serious, romantic attachments that might lead to a permanent relationship.
When she decides to take driving lessons, Beth opens up new opportunities for herself and realises that perhaps she isn't too old to find love after all.
Review by Al Stevens:
Apparently I'm in a minority. I like this book. Let's see, what does is lack? Car chases, shootemups, explicit sex, explosions, murders, messages, wise-guy cops, riding off into the sunset, etc. It's missing all that. You want that stuff, read a different book.
So, given that, what's to like? Everything. It reads like an easy-going memoir that describes some time in the life of an interesting young woman, told from her perspective, living a life like real people lead, people who live outside the pages of a book. Life is not a continuous thread of tightly related, interwoven events. It has its highs and lows, its fun and its enigmas, its successes and its insecurities, and that's what you find here. With a small, unsolved, unimportant mystery that threads aimlessly throughout the story.
For a guy, reading this book is like peeping into the diary of an interesting girl. Maybe that's why the lady reviewers here don't like it as much as we do.
I must admit, it took me a long time to finish this book. It's not a page-turner, not compelling like a plate of fudge or a Chuck Berry tune. It just wafts along from here to there carrying the reader with it. So, when I found myself with time to spare, I returned to the book and read a few pages.
What is compelling is the writing. We Yanks love the lilt of a young Scottish/English girl's voice, and it comes through loud and clear in this book. I think it was not well-received here because it is not an ordinary book. Which is what I like about it.
Beth is so distracted by the unwelcome interest from such an arrogant man she fails to see that a close work colleague is falling in love with her. As a scientific researcher in a Scottish University, she has led a varied life travelling the world, spending time in New Zealand, Canada, Australia, America, Singapore and Israel. With such a full life, she has had little time to form any serious, romantic attachments that might lead to a permanent relationship.
When she decides to take driving lessons, Beth opens up new opportunities for herself and realises that perhaps she isn't too old to find love after all.
Review by Al Stevens:
Apparently I'm in a minority. I like this book. Let's see, what does is lack? Car chases, shootemups, explicit sex, explosions, murders, messages, wise-guy cops, riding off into the sunset, etc. It's missing all that. You want that stuff, read a different book.
So, given that, what's to like? Everything. It reads like an easy-going memoir that describes some time in the life of an interesting young woman, told from her perspective, living a life like real people lead, people who live outside the pages of a book. Life is not a continuous thread of tightly related, interwoven events. It has its highs and lows, its fun and its enigmas, its successes and its insecurities, and that's what you find here. With a small, unsolved, unimportant mystery that threads aimlessly throughout the story.
For a guy, reading this book is like peeping into the diary of an interesting girl. Maybe that's why the lady reviewers here don't like it as much as we do.
I must admit, it took me a long time to finish this book. It's not a page-turner, not compelling like a plate of fudge or a Chuck Berry tune. It just wafts along from here to there carrying the reader with it. So, when I found myself with time to spare, I returned to the book and read a few pages.
What is compelling is the writing. We Yanks love the lilt of a young Scottish/English girl's voice, and it comes through loud and clear in this book. I think it was not well-received here because it is not an ordinary book. Which is what I like about it.
