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Summary
Summary
Set in London and Cornwall between World War II and the present, this is the story of the Keeling family, and of the passions and heart-break that have held them together for three generations--a story of life, hope, children and death
Author Notes
Rosamunde Pilcher was born Rosamunde Scott on September 22, 1924 in Lelant, Cornwall, England. When World War II broke out, she left school and went to work for the Foreign Office. In 1944, she joined the Women's Royal Naval Service and was stationed in Ceylon when the war ended. Her first short story was published while she was serving in Ceylon. She married Graham Pilcher in 1946.
Her first novel, Half-Way to the Moon, was published in 1949 under the penname Jane Fraser. She continued writing books under that penname into the early 1960s, but in 1955 she also published her first book under her own name entitled A Secret to Tell. Her best-known novel, The Shell Seekers, was published in 1987. Her other novels included Sleeping Tiger, The End of the Summer, Wild Mountain Thyme, Voices in Summer, September, Coming Home, and Winter Solstice. She also wrote short stories. She died after a short illness on February 6, 2019 at the age of 94.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
On the heels of a hasty wartime marriage, Penelope Keeling is left to repent at leisure in the English seaside town of Porthkerris, where her artist father and her French mother are spending the duration of World War II. Safe in the embracing arms of that warm household, Penelope forgets her sour husband and takes a lover, and in that relationship, too, she weathers the war's privations and its hardest blows. In a beautifully detailed family saga that shifts effortlessly back and forth in time, Pilcher (Under Gemini) recounts Penelope's story and that of her three children. When their grandfather's work suddenly comes into vogue, Nancy, obsessed over status, and sleek Noel, adept at getting the most and giving the least, join in urging their mother to sell The Shell Seekers, a painting that gives her great joy. Only Olivia, a cool and collected magazine editor, refuses to be party to their barely concealed avarice. Pilcher's 13th book is a satisfying and savory family novel, in which rich layers of description and engagingly flawed characters more than make up for the occasional cliche. 100,000 first printing; $100,000 ad/promo; Troll Book Club main selection. (January 18) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Following upon Pilcher's several comfy women's novels and collection of short stories (The Blue Bedroom and Other Stories, 1985) comes this chronicle of an indomitable Englishwoman. Living in her Cotswold cottage as the novel unfolds, Penelope Keeling is in her 60s, recovering from a heart attack and dodging the clumsy attempts of her progeny--a self-satisfied matron named Nancy; hopelessly venal and immature son, Noel; and Olivia, a workaholic magazine editor--to take over her affairs. Penelope is the daughter of Victorian artist Lawrence Stern, and though Noel and Nancy encourage her to sell her small legacy of canvases, Penelope staunchly keeps them, for they remind her of her idyllic childhood on the Cornish coast and of her lover, Richard Lomax, who died scaling the Normandy cliffs in WW II. Then Penelope befriends a young couple, Antonia and Danus, whom she comes to think of as her spiritual heirs. One morning she expires neatly on a garden bench; when her will is read, her greedy children get the shock of their lives--and Danus and Antonia, a windfall. Lots of weepy sentimentalism here, Cornish coast atmosphere, and Cotswold quaintness--in fact, probably enough to compensate for the slim plot and peculiar illogic of Penelope's character: she dies a fully satisfied woman despite the fact that her life has been a long chain of dashed hopes and misfortunes. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Pilcher (Voices in Summer, Booklist 80:1227 My 1 84) turns from the romance to the family saga. Readers of her first book, however, needn't worry; there is still plenty of romance in this story of a mother and her three adult children and how each of them has become the victim of love. Set in England's Cotswolds, the novel begins with a crisis: the mother has signed herself out of the hospital against doctor's orders and is determined to resume her independent life. This introduces the two daughters and one son who must deal not only with their mother and with each other, but also with the relationships they have established for better or worse in their own lives, whether it's as a dowdy suburban housewife, an unmarried career woman who edits a high-fashion magazine, or a ne'er-do-well advertising executive. This, in turn, allows the introduction of many more characters from the past and present, all of whom are certain to keep Pilcher's audience occupied as she probes her characters' emotionally messy lives. While some of the details seem heavily Americanized would the sophisticated British editor really compare a man's physique to that of a fullback? there's enough substance here for some understanding entertainment. JB.
Library Journal Review
As this absorbing saga of a modern English family opens, 64-year-old Penelope Keeling is returning to her country house following a heart attack, and her three adult children have varying reactions to the news. The narrative is actually a series of deftly interwoven vignettes that shift back and forth in time; each chapter centers on one of the principal players in the family's history. The unifying thread is an oil painting entitled ``The Shell Seekers,'' done by Penelope's father. Pilcher's characters are well-drawn, real, and engrossing people. A thoroughly charming book for most fiction collections. Troll Book Club main selection.Maria A. Perez-Stable, Western Michigan Univ. Libs., Kalamazoo (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
