The Chestnut Tree - Hardcover

Charlotte Bingham

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786259515 ISBN 13: 9780786259519

Publisher: Thorndike Press, 2003

Synopsis

An International Bestseller

It is the summer of 1939, and the residents of the idyllic Sussex fishing port of Bexham are preparing for war. Friends Judy Melton, Meggie Gore-Steward, Mathilda Eastcott, and Rusty Sykes are all, in their individual ways, determined to play an active part in the defense of their country. But knitting socks and bomb dodging are not what they have in mind.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

It is the summer of 1939, and the residents of the idyllic fishing village of Bexham are preparing for war. Beautiful Judy Melton, daughter of a naval war hero, the social butterfly Meggie Gore-Stewart, seemingly demure Mathilda Eastcott, and Rusty Todd, the tomboy daughter of the owner of the local boatyard, are all determined to play an active role while their husbands and brothers, fathers and lovers are away fighting. But knitting socks and dodging bombs are not what they have in mind.

However, it is not just the young women who are determined to find new roles for themselves -- so are their mothers. In this manner the little Sussex port, facing as it does the coastline of Nazi-invaded France, finds its closely sewn social fabric beginning to unstitch, inch by inch.

The women of Bexham meet under the chestnut tree on the green to look back on a landscape that has changed irrevocably, and which they have helped to alter. None of them is the same as before, and yet, as the men return from war, they are expected to slip back into their simple roles of mother, daughter, grand-mother. Only the chestnut tree continues to flourish in the accepted fashion, becoming the uniting symbol of all that has passed forever.

From the Back Cover:

British praise for Charlotte Bingham’s books

In Sunshine or In Shadow: “Superbly written.” –Daily Mail

Nanny: “Charlotte Bingham’s spellbinding saga is required reading.” –Cosmopolitan

To Hear a Nightingale: “A delightful novel ... pulsating with vitality and deeply felt emotions. I found myself with tears in my eyes on one page and laughing out loud on another.” –Sunday Express

Stardust: “Charlotte Bingham has produced a long, absorbing read, perfect for holidays, which I found hard to lay aside as the plot twisted and turned with intriguing results.” –Sunday Express

Debutantes: “Line up, fans of Edith Wharton’s The Buccaneers, for your copy of Debutantes...[a] dramatic novel of 19th-century ballroom battles for power by marriage.” –Cosmopolitan

Change of Heart: “Her imagination is thoroughly original ... a fairy tale, which is all the more delightful as it is not something one expects from a modern novel.” –Daily Mail

About this edition

• Publisher: Thorndike Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0786259515
• ISBN 13: 9780786259519
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 555