Synopses & Reviews
Winifred Belair is one of the returnees who gossip over drinks on the verandas of the Caribbean island of St. Caesare. Fred is good looking still and eligible, but her friends warn her about the visit from Barbados of the Reverend Alex Taylor"looking for a soul-mate to help him with the Good Works. And save the world." Readers of E. A. Markhams inimitable stories will be pleased to be reminded of the warmth, wit, and wisdom of a much-missed, unclassifiable writer.
Review
"Wonderfully rich and entertaining . . . radiantly full of life." Independent
Review
"Markhams writing has a deep, unshowy wisdom." Times
Review
"Past and present, real and imagined, melt convincingly together; the prose is graceful, inventive, and robust, the pattern of free association yields charming results." Guardian
Review
"A remarkably accomplished literary figure, Markham has the lightest of touches . . . Markhams book, his entire writing project even, is an attempt to be faithful to the crookedness of human experience, the cussedness of the human spirit. . . . This is one of the chattiest books Ive ever read." Sunday Telegraph
Synopsis
Winifred Belair is one of the returnees who gossip over drinks on the verandahs of the Caribbean island of St Caesare. Fred is still good-looking and eligible, but her friends warn her about the visit from Barbados of the Rev Alex Taylor - "looking for a soul-mate to help him with the Good Works. And save the world." Her other two suitors, typically for Markham, are figments of Markham's alter ego Pewter Stapleton's elaborately imagined fantasy. Readers of E. A. Markham's inimitable stories will not be surprised that this linked collection encompasses cricket, boxing and world politics as well as matrimony in later life; or that Pewter's travels take him to Boston. Massachussetts; Trinity College. Dublin: London, Sheffield; and the atmospheric streets of Paris.
About the Author
E. A. Markham (19392008) was born on the Caribbean island of Montserrat and educated in London and Wales. Best known for his collections of poetrymost notably
The Rough Climate, shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prizehis short stories also received warm critical praise.