Amazon.co.uk Review
Alan Titchmarsh, the best known gardener novelist in Britain, extends his patch with his novel,
Animal Instincts. Expectedly funny and warm,
Animal Instincts also has a distinct tinge of social commentary. The central figure is one Kit Lavery, who is returning to bucolic Devon, after ten enjoyable years in the Aussie Outback, so as to sort out the parlous estate of his deceased dad. It is all Kit can do not to leap on the next plane home when he meets the scarily modern women presiding over his father's penniless eco-empire: feisty Elizabeth, polemical Jess.
Love, naturally, will bloom in this seemingly unpromising soil. Before it does Titchmarsh deftly sketches an engaging plot that touches on delicate countryside issues like fox hunting, conservancy and the class system, without ever getting tendentious or dull--and without losing the quintessentially pleasant and light-hearted tone. --Sean Thomas
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Synopsis
Following the brilliant success of Mr MacGregor and The Last Lighthouse Keeper, Alan Titchmarsh has proved that he is a writing force to be reckoned with Following the death of his father, the owner of East Yarmouth Animal Sanctuary, Kit Lavery returns to Britain from Australia to sort out his father's affairs. His visit is intended to be brief, but on arrival at the down-at-heel animal sanctuary, Kit finds it staffed by two very determined women. Elizabeth Punch and Jess Supple. Elizabeth is a woman with a mission - to save animals from inconsiderate man. And Jess Supple has one burning desire - to keep alive the work of the old man who took her under his wing when she was a placard-waving hunt saboteur. As the two women cajole, berate and demand that Kit stay and carry on his father's good work, he finds life becoming increasingly complicated. And when GM crop trials are proposed in the fields surrounding his farm, his scruples are tested to the limit, and not everyone is happy with his decision. It seems that blood may be split before the Animal Sanctuary, with its assorted inhabitants, is out of the woods...