This book was a disappointment. I'd read and enjoyed The Deadly Space Between and Hallucinating Foucault and had high hopes for this. But it seems hastily written, badly patched together, and altogether inconsequential.

The plot has been summarised in another review; what hasn't been mentioned is that the major twist in it is given away in a terribly heavy-handed way half way through. And in places the writing was quite awkward, particularly in dialogues in which the interlocutors misunderstand each other: More than once Duncker repeatedly shifts point of view in these and resorts to telling us what he thought she meant and what she thought he meant. Doesn't make for smooth reading.

Moreover, Duncker all too often settles for stereotypes, like the discounted old person who is, by gum, a plain-spoken indomitable type with beneath it all a good heart who lives in a village where, oh my aching sides, residents are in dispute over whether a lane should be paved. British writers really do need to acknowledge that neither adorable tough old birds in tweeds nor petty village ructions are charmingly uniquely British. Nor, for my money, are they particularly endearing or humourous. Throw in a Romeo and Juliet romance, an understanding doctor who has himself suffered, a black chap of immense dignity, and a rejuvenation wrought by contact with youth and whizz bang that's pretty much the lot. The descriptions of Morocco are very good, but the Moroccan aspect of the story is all but irrelevant.

If you like books that are a bit fluffy and heartwarming yet not stupid. like The Yacoubian Building or The Elegance of the Hedgehog, you might like this. If you'd like to try something more original, not to mention dark and strange, by Duncker try one of the other books I mentioned.

A genuinely original mixture of social comedy and mystery, this book is one of the most enjoyable I have read this year. My only previous experience of Duncker was reading her debut novel Hallucinating Foucault many years ago, although I don't remember it well, I know that I found it clever and funny.

This book's unlikely heroine is Miss Webster, a 69 year old retired French teacher who almost dies when she collapses at home in her rural English village. After a trip to Morocco "prescribed" by her doctor, a young Arab man turns up on her doorstep claiming to be the son of the Moroccan hotel keeper, and she invites him to lodge with her while studying at a local university. This unlikely pairing allows Duncker to explore some richly comic territory and the prejudice and paranoia of British society after 9/11, but also to demonstrate that forgotten older people can have hidden reserves of character and adventurousness. The resolution is genuinely surprising and intricately plotted. Highly recommended ( )

A rather charming story of a late middle-aged ex-schoolteacher who suffers a breakdown then finds a new lease of life after a trip to Morocco brings her an unexpected new friend. ( )

I am a big fan of Patricia Duncker, but if you haven't read her before, start with James Miranda Barry instead. There were some fantastic things about this book - I loved the accumulation of descriptions about how people can misunderstand each other because of their different backgrounds (ethnic, age). And I liked Miss Webster, and the portrayal of how a young Moroccan would settle in (or not) to a small rural village. But there were a few things which didn't hang together - in particular, the subplot about a young South London jazz singer. ( )