- Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; Reprint edition (26 April 1990)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140123938
- ISBN-13: 978-0140123937
- Product Dimensions: 18.3 x 13 x 1.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,379,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The book is full of witty and colourful observations about a certain class of people. Mary Wesley is a skillful painter of characters, and from the first sketch of the heroine, the reader is beguiled by a passionate story.
Harnessing Peacocks is full of vision. Mary Wesley does not tread lightly, which is very refreshing. A jolly good laugh with tender, candid moments. Well worth a read.
Harnessing Peacocks is full of vision. Mary Wesley does not tread lightly, which is very refreshing. A jolly good laugh with tender, candid moments. Well worth a read.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
A gentle, English comedy-of-manners
2 July 2001
Format:Mass Market Paperback
"Harnessing Peacocks" is one of my all-time favorite books. In some ways, it's a typical British comedy-of-manners, but with terrific, quirky characters and a gentle, romantic plot.
Teenaged Hebe runs away from the home she shares with her grandparents when she overhears them and her bossy older sisters plotting to get her an unwanted abortion.
We see her again as her son, Silas, is growing old enough to question his background. His mother has raised him on her own, cooking for wealthy elderly clients and "tarting" (as she calls it) for several selected men, to be able to provide him with the same upbringing she had. She is smart, fiercely independent, and vulnerable (although she doesn't realize it).
One of my favorite things about this book is Wesley's wonderfully quirky and complex characters.
If you enjoy other authors such as Barbara Pym, Laurie Colwin and Jane Austen, I think you will enjoy this book.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Not a bad read, but don't expect thoroughgoing farce--
15 Mar 2001
Format:Mass Market Paperback
"Harnessing Peacocks" is a sometimes comic, sometimes slice-of-life novel about a prostitute who takes up gourmet cookery and earns money at both so she can send her child to a fancy boarding school. With great effort she keeps her personal and private lives separate. You know, of course, the dam has to break at some point or there wouldn't be a book.
Perhaps it's just my American impatience but I thought the book took too long to get off the ground. Characters' habits and daily activities were explored more than necessary and by the time the farcical elements got going, I felt relief more than enthusiasm. Still, the writing was excellent and the characters were well drawn. I can see why Wesley is a popular author in her native Great Britain.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Great book! Very warm and romantic ! I love it.
22 May 1999
Format:Mass Market Paperback
A very heart warming story to give you hope on a cold and miserable day
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