Part of the Furniture - Softcover

Wesley, Mary

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140266283 ISBN 13: 9780140266283

Publisher: Penguin Books, 1998

Synopsis

It is early in 1941, and June Marlowe, with no home and no family to turn to accepts the offer of a home from a frail stranger, older than his years. A series of events takes her to a house in the West Country and the blossoming of an English spring into which war only occasionally intrudes. Here she may find peace; here she will no longer be part of the furniture.

About this title

Review:

The heroine of Mary Wesley's latest novel, Part of the Furniture, is 17- year-old Juno Marlowe, a girl possessed of both extraordinary innocence and remarkable courage. We first meet Juno during the World War II blitz of London; she is suffering the twin effects of rape and having to sleep next to a dead stranger during an air raid. Other novelists might have chosen to plumb these traumatic events for several chapters at least, but Wesley gives them no more time than she thinks they deserve and then moves quickly on to the heart of her story, which takes Juno far away to the western corner of England to deliver a letter from the dead man to his family. Here Juno meets the stranger's father, a man considerably older than herself, and finds her soulmate.

If there's such a thing as a steely-eyed romantic, Mary Wesley is one. On the one hand, she deals with death, rape, and other horrors with unsentimental straightforwardness and humor as black as a coal cellar; on the other, she is a firm believer in love's ability to heal even the deepest wounds. The pleasure of reading Part of the Furniture is observing this surprising marriage of love and pragmatism, as well as the unexpected twists and turns Wesley throws into her tale of loving during wartime.

From the Publisher:

"A novel whose freshness of tone, energy of plotting and sweet nature make it exceptional by any standards"
-Eliza Charlton, Sunday Telegraph

"Few novelists offer such a rich concoction of amoral spice and cleverness; but to judge her work exlusively on this level is to miss more subtle rewards"
-Elizabeth Buchan, Mail on Sunday

"With its brilliant final twist, this is Mary Wesley's best yet"
-Katie Campbell, Evening Standard

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0140266283
• ISBN 13: 9780140266283
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256