or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
41 used & new from £0.01
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Amenable Women
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside another edition of this book

Amenable Women (Hardcover)

by Mavis Cheek (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
RRP: £15.99
Price: £10.19 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £5.80 (36%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Only 4 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Want guaranteed delivery by Wednesday, November 18? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
21 new from £2.36 20 used from £0.01
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Paperback £7.99 £5.57 44 used & new from £0.82
Audio Download (Unabridged) £23.49 £16.49

Frequently Bought Together

Amenable Women + Yesterday's Houses + Dog Days
Price For All Three: £21.66

Some of these items are dispatched sooner than the others. Show details

  • This item: Amenable Women by Mavis Cheek

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Yesterday's Houses by Mavis Cheek

    In stock but may require up to 2 additional days to deliver.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Dog Days by Mavis Cheek

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Yesterday's Houses

Yesterday's Houses

by Mavis Cheek
4.0 out of 5 stars (3)  £6.99
Dog Days

Dog Days

by Mavis Cheek
5.0 out of 5 stars (1)  £4.48
Pause Between Acts

Pause Between Acts

by Mavis Cheek
3.5 out of 5 stars (2)  £6.99
Janice Gentle Gets Sexy

Janice Gentle Gets Sexy

by Mavis Cheek
4.2 out of 5 stars (5)  £6.29
Getting Back Brahms

Getting Back Brahms

by Mavis Cheek
£6.99
› Explore similar items

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: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 221,463 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

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

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

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.
Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Amenable Women
88% buy the item featured on this page:
Amenable Women 3.9 out of 5 stars (8)
£10.19
Dog Days
3% buy
Dog Days 5.0 out of 5 stars (1)
£4.48
Mrs Fyttons Country Life
3% buy
Mrs Fyttons Country Life 3.6 out of 5 stars (16)
£5.48
Yesterday's Houses
3% buy
Yesterday's Houses 4.0 out of 5 stars (3)
£6.99
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
18 of 18 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.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
4 of 4 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.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The importance of being amenable....., 3 Jun 2009
By Wynne Kelly "Kellydoll" (Coventry, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)      
This review is from: Amenable Women (Paperback)
A really delightful book. Recently widowed Flora is trying to pick up the pieces and forge a new life for herself. But she is not helped by everyone else's memories of her larger than life husband. At his funeral her thoughts wander over their past life together as she realises that she probably won't miss him all that much and that she is in fact looking forward to being her own boss. Much of the book (especially the early part) is very funny and it would be a hard-hearted reader indeed who failed to root for Flora.
Edward, her late husband, had begun a history of their village. Flora had originally suggested that she do this but Edward quickly took over the idea and squeezed her out. So Flora was now free to work on this again and wanted to concentrate on the links that Anna of Cleves had with the village. She soon rejects the epithet of the Flanders Mare and gives us a refreshing reappraisal of Henry VIII's fourth wife.
There are a series of disappointments throughout the narrative. Flora has been disappointed by her husband and is now attracted to Ewan. But Ewan's wife admits how disappointed she has been by him. And, of course, Anna of Cleves was very disappointed in the husband that awaited her when she arrived in England!
It may not sound like the most feminist of messages but Mavis Cheek shows that amenability can lead to a woman getting what she wants! And what a lovely word "amenable" is - I will find ways to include it in future conversations!
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable take on history merged well with present day story
The characters in this book are artistically drawn and gave me an instant feeling of familiarity, which led to me wanting to find out more. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Janie U

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 4 months 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 5 months ago by A. J. M. Bourne

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 18 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 19 months ago by Persis Gretna

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject









i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Ad

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.