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Amenable Women (Hardcover)

by Mavis Cheek (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
RRP: £15.99
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Faber and Faber (3 April 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0571238947
  • ISBN-13: 978-0571238941
  • Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 16 x 3.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 197,066 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #10 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > C > Cheek, Mavis

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Product Description

Product Description
Flora Chapman is in her fifties when her husband dies in a bizarre ballooning accident. Seizing upon her new found freedom, she decides to finish the history of their village that Edward had begun. A reference to Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII's fourth wife who he rejected for being ugly, captures her imagination as she begins to delve deeper into the life of this neglected figure. Meanwhile, in the Louvre, Holbein's portrait of Anne of Cleves senses the tug of a connection and she begins to tell the story of the injustices she suffered and just how she survived her marriage...

About the Author
Mavis Cheek was born and grew up in Wimbledon. She began her writing career after her daughter was born; journalism and travel writing at first, then short stories, and eventually, in 1988, her novel Pause Between Acts won the She/John Menzies First Novel Prize. Amenable Women is her thirteenth novel.
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Amenable Women
88% buy the item featured on this page:
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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Being amenable can get you what you want, 7 April 2008
By Damaskcat (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)      
This is Mavis Cheek back to her old form. I was quite disappointed by her last two books but I loved this one. Flora has always lived in the shadow of her husband. When he dies unexpectedly in a bizarre baloon accident, she finds she relishes her freedom to plan her own life. Casting around for something to occupy her mind she comes across a half finished local history which Edward was working on, and in it a reference to Anne of Cleves - Henry VIII's fourth wife - and her connections with the area. This sparks her interest and she decides to find out Anne's story. She visits Paris to view the original portrait by Holbein and feels as though the picture is speaking to her. Fending off her daughter's attempt to wrest her inheritance from her and some startling revelations about her husband seem minor irritations compared with her search for information about Anna (Anne) of Cleves. Her search helps her come to terms with her own life and she finds many parallels in Anna's story.
This is a multilevelled story which shows while circumstances may change people stay the same. Behaviour which works in one century may well be effective in a later one. Mavis Cheek's sentences sometimes meander along for several lines, but her style suits the story and there is much gentle humour. Characters are well realised and I will certainly look at Henry VIII's 4th wife with fresh eyes from now on.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Oh those insufferably proud, wonderfully passionate Tudors...., 24 May 2008
By Val De Beer "Val De Beer" - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
Well done, Mavis Cheek!
I have always enjoyed Mavis Cheek's novels not only because of the plots and the humour which is characteristic of her, but for the amount of research which goes into the sub-plot.

Be it music, or poetry or art, she carefully explores her subject so that she knows exactly what is relevant and also historically or technically correct.
In 'Amenable Women' she has researched the life of Anne of Cleves and while the story of Flora Chapman who is coming to terms with the freedom which she experiences after her husband's death is the first plot which we encounter, there is a concomitant plot in the story of the life of Henry VIII's fourth wife.

The two lives begin to converge and in the denouement, Anne is vindicated and shown not to be the 'Flanders Mare' and Flora realises her own inner strength and how important it is not to crave the limelight as her husband used to.

There are some wonderfully funny lines:
' Inevitably where three or more are gathered together there is always a fruitcake in attendance for the specific purpose of driving everybody else nuts.'

The device of having the portraits together in London for a while so that they can converse is skilfully managed and very effective.

Mavis Cheek has achieved a tour de force here in 'Amenable Women'.
Do buy it - you will enjoy it thoroughly.

Val De Beer.


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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A treat of a history lesson, 23 Jun 2008
By Dani (Hamburg, Germany) - See all my reviews
I was really looking forward to this book and was thrilled when I had it in the post! It is a beautiful book promising exquisite entertainment. The first half was a real pleasure and very much in the usual Cheek fashion. But then the portraits communicating with each other really were too arty. In the end the book become downright boring, leaving me a bit disappointed. It reminded me a bit of "Getting Back Brahms" which had an equally melancholic touch about it. But finally I have to admit that up to now I hadn't known Anne of Cleves at all and I'm truly thankful for this new piece of knowledge.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Parson's egg
I prefer straight history books but was drawn to this because of its treatment of Anna of Cleves. It was fascinating to learn something about her life post-Henry and find how it... Read more
Published 3 days ago by Book Worm

5.0 out of 5 stars Cheek on form
Mavic Cheek on form, a friend asked what the book was like and I replied: 'very funny and the funeral is not over yet'. Read more
Published 1 month ago by A. J. M. Bourne

4.0 out of 5 stars The importance of being amenable.....
A really delightful book. Recently widowed Flora is trying to pick up the pieces and forge a new life for herself. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Wynne Kelly

3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, but unrealistic
Mavis Cheek continues to write in the lively style that has been her hall-mark, but in this, and her previous book, there has been a shift in her depiction of men with a... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Bluebell

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the Flanders Mare
I bought this book because of a very good write-up in the Telegraph but it's not really my bag. I found it full of waffle interspersed with tantalizing snippets about Anne of... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Persis Gretna

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