Publisher Description

A novel of wit and imagination - about friendship, loss and the effects of war.Monty and Ada last saw one another on the frontlines of the First World War, when Monty was a nurse and Ada an ambulance driver who drove like the devil. Now, the two friends have been reunited at crumbling Bleakly Hall, where Monty has been hired to look after the grumpy, gouty guests who have come to take the Hall's curative waters.But the end of the Great War has brought changes for everyone at Bleakly, and not all of them are good. Monty, mourning the death of her beloved Sophia, has a score to settle with the elusive Captain Foxley; Ada misses her wartime sense of purpose; the Blackwood brothers must reinvent Bleakly for a new era; while Foxley has his own ways of keeping his demons at bay.

Notes

The 2nd novel from the author of A Proper Education For Girls, about a rundown Bleakly Hall, which faces changes after the Great War. Combines camp comedy with serious intent.

Back Cover

'I can't remember the last time I read a novel that fizzed with so much energy, or swung so acrobatically between lightly carbonated comedy and pitch-black horror' Scotsman Monty and Ada last saw one another on the frontlines of the First World War, when Monty was a nurse and Ada an ambulance driver who drove like the devil. Now, the two friends have been reunited at crumbling Bleakly Hall, where Monty has been hired to look after the grumpy, gouty guests who have come to take the Hall's curative waters. But the end of the Great War has brought changes for everyone at Bleakly, and not all of them are good. Monty, mourning the death of her beloved Sophia, has a score to settle with the elusive Captain Foxley; Ada misses her wartime sense of purpose; the Blackwood brothers must reinvent Bleakly for a new era; while Foxley has his own ways of keeping his demons at bay. ' In a series of funny, moving set pieces, di Rollo explores the aftermath of the Great War through her cast of bewildered veterans' Marie Claire

Author Biography

Elaine di Rollo comes from Lancashire and now lives in Scotland. She has a PhD from Edinburgh University in the social history of medicine, and is currently a lecturer at Napier University. The building she works in used to be a hydropathic. This is her second novel. Her first, A Proper Education for Girls (first published as The Peachgrowers' Almanac), which was shortlisted for the Saltire First Book prize, the Scottish Arts Council First Book Award and the Guildford Literary Festival First Book Award, was set in 1857 between England and India.

Review

I can't remember the last time I read a novel that fizzed with so much energy, or swung so acrobatically between lightly carbonated comedy and pitch-black horror * Scotsman *
In a series of funny, moving set pieces, di Rollo explores the aftermath of the Great War through her cast of bewildered veterans * Marie Claire *
Often very amusing and tartly observed... a bold comic creation * Times Literary Supplement *
A comedy of manners, given tragic depths * The Tablet *

Promotional

A novel of wit and imagination - about friendship, loss and the effects of war.

Review Text

I can't remember the last time I read a novel that fizzed with so much energy, or swung so acrobatically between lightly carbonated comedy and pitch-black horror

Review Quote

"I can't remember the last time I read a novel that fizzed with so much energy, or swung so acrobatically between lightly carbonated comedy and pitch-black horrow." - Scotsman

Promotional "Headline"

A novel of wit and imagination - about friendship, loss and the effects of war.

Details