or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
10 used & new from £0.01
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The Summerhouse Trilogy
 
See larger image 
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

The Summerhouse Trilogy (Paperback)

by Alice Thomas Ellis (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
RRP: £9.99
Price: £8.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £1.00 (10%)
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 but may require up to 2 additional days to deliver.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Only 1 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

2 new from £8.09 8 used from £0.01

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with The Sin Eater by Alice Thomas Ellis

The Summerhouse Trilogy + The Sin Eater
Price For Both: £16.98

One of these items is dispatched sooner than the other. Show details

  • This item: The Summerhouse Trilogy by Alice Thomas Ellis

    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

  • The Sin Eater by Alice Thomas Ellis

    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

The Sin Eater

The Sin Eater

by Alice Thomas Ellis
4.0 out of 5 stars (1)  £7.99
My Life as a Fake

My Life as a Fake

by Peter Carey
3.5 out of 5 stars (12)  £5.49
Christine Falls

Christine Falls

by Benjamin Black
3.4 out of 5 stars (17)  £5.96
Pnin (Penguin Modern Classics)

Pnin (Penguin Modern Classics)

by Vladimir Nabokov
4.2 out of 5 stars (9)  £5.73
The Porcupine

The Porcupine

by Julian Barnes
3.7 out of 5 stars (6)  £7.19
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Virago Press Ltd; New edition edition (2 Dec 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1844080846
  • ISBN-13: 978-1844080847
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.6 x 2.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 296,331 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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

Product Description

Review

'Her dry ironic style is as English as Jane Austen and as fortifying as a glass of brandy' Daily Mail for The Birds of the Air 'Unputdownable' Spectator 'Every page of this wry, edgy novel bristles with delights' Sebastian Faulks.


Product Description

Margaret and Syl are getting married. Alas for Margaret, who views her impending union with the odious Syl in the same way a ship must view a shipwreck. Alas for Mrs. Monro, Syl's mother, who harbours severe doubts about the entire male gender -- not least of all her son. Alas for Lili, the high-spirited temptress who is willing to do anything to prevent this disastrous misalliance, even if that means sacrificing herself. And hooray for The Summerhouse Trilogy, which follows the ominous weeks before Margaret's wedding through the eyes of these three highly biased narrators. Fizzing with wit and the rueful wisdom of women who have seen -- and borne -- every species of masculine misbahaviour, this delectable and unexpectedly serious comedy was the inspiration for an acclaimed BBC TV film.
See all Product Description

Tag this product

 (What's this?)
Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.
Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags
 

Customer Reviews

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

 
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars "The honeymoon will soon put the roses back in her cheeks.", 27 Aug 2005
By Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)   
Alice Thomas Ellis skewers the attitudes and expectations which her characters bring to love and marriage, both as they live their own lives and as they judge the lives of others. But she is also an understanding author, recognizing that their foibles and limitations stem from their upbringing and experience, as they muddle along as best they can, aided by each other, and sometimes the church. This three-part novel concerns the imminent marriage of twenty-year-old Margaret to Syl, a man in his forties, and is told through three points of view: Margaret, who does not love Syl but intends to go through with the wedding; Syl's mother, the sensible Mrs. Monro, who, abandoned by her husband, does not want the marriage to take place; and Lili, a friend of Margaret's mother from school in Egypt, who arrives in a whirlwind, determined to upset the status quo.

From Margaret we learn of her passionate first love and a shocking death that have occurred during the year she spent away at school in Egypt. Devoutly religious, Margaret is torn between the concepts of romantic and religious love, and she cannot seem to reconcile the church's teachings regarding love, sex, sin, and death. Mrs. Monro, an elderly lady for whom death is very real, if not imminent, is hiding secrets associated with her own past love life. For her, too, love is associated with death and God, though in ways vastly different from Margaret's experience. Into this mix comes Lili, half Egyptian, half English, a free spirit unconcerned with traditional, churchly definitions of sin, and sexually liberated in her own life. Lili is determined to save Margaret from the "pointless secular martyrdom" of marriage.

A sensitive, philosophical exploration of love and sex, God and sin, and life and death, the novel is also an examination of the compromises people make, willingly or unwillingly, in order to find happiness during their lives and loves. Sparkling dialogue and thoughtful interior monologues reveal the sadness, loneliness, and confusion within many of the characters, while Ellis's sense of irony and ability to create absurd scenes lift the mood with cathartic comedy. Gently satirical and full of wise observations, this is an insightful and thoroughly entertaining study of several characters, interconnected by love and marriage, as they try to "muddle through." Mary Whipple

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


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
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.