It's Christmas Eve at 14 Camberley Road, North London. The Townsend children have hung up the last strand of tinsel and now, in the firelight, all is softly aglow, with the magic and mystery of Christmas... Anfd then - oh no! - their mother staggers home. Caroline Townsend, ex-beauty, failed actress, divorcee, and almost alcoholic, is fighting drunk (as usual) and has just been jilted by her lover, Bart. Will Christmas be doomed again this year? One thing's for sure: it's time for desperate measures. Wildly funny, completely original, and full of insights about marriage, adolescence and the lethal defences we all use to hide our needy selves, Mothertime is worth a decade of psychotherapy and is far more entertaining.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Gillian White is Associate Professor of English at the University of Michigan.
From British journalist White, a wacky, well-written comic novel in which a narcissistic mother is imprisoned in her posh London home by her five young children. Alcoholic ex-actress and divorc‚e Caroline Townsend is a mother from hell. Christmas Eve finds her on a drunken rampage, ripping off the tinsel that her children have lovingly draped about the tree after Caroline's married lover, Bart, has ditched her. When she collapses into unconsciousness, the children, led by the eldest, 12-year-old Vanessa, lock her up in the basement sauna, explaining that they will free her when she becomes a proper mother. They keep her there for three months, inventing artful ruses to explain her absence to the au pair and the housekeeper as well as to Bart, who might want Caroline back, and their father, successful television talking head Robin Townsend, and his new young wife Suzie. All the adults are too self-absorbed--Robin and Suzie are trying desperately to get pregnant--to question the children's alibis except Bart's schizophrenic brother Lot, who decides, after his beloved brother's marriage breaks up, to hunt down the evil home-breaker Caroline. Lot, who proves as winsomely inventive as the children, breaks into the basement of the Townsend home, frees Caroline and then, in an unlikely twist, falls in love with her. Equally improbable is the finale in which new mother Suzie and newborn mother Caroline repair, sans Robin, to the English countryside with Lot and Caroline's five children to embrace a cheerily rustic bliss straight out of Beatrix Potter. Blessed with the gift of fashioning clever metaphors while delivering pungent pronouncements on men, marriage, and motherhood, White is best when she resists trying to make nice to her characters and sticks to skewering them. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
US$ 6.39
From United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Shipping:
US$ 6.95
Within U.S.A.
Seller: WorldofBooks, Goring-By-Sea, WS, United Kingdom
Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR001312540
Quantity: 2 available
Seller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Fair. No Jacket. Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.5. Seller Inventory # G1857992083I5N00
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: SecondSale, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00050122267
Quantity: 3 available
Seller: Books Unplugged, Amherst, NY, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. Buy with confidence! Book is in good condition with minor wear to the pages, binding, and minor marks within 0.49. Seller Inventory # bk1857992083xvz189zvxgdd
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Book Deals, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.
Condition: Fair. Acceptable/Fair condition. Book is worn, but the pages are complete, and the text is legible. Has wear to binding and pages, may be ex-library. 0.49. Seller Inventory # 353-1857992083-acp
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: AwesomeBooks, Wallingford, United Kingdom
Condition: Very Good. This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping. . Seller Inventory # 7719-9781857992083
Quantity: 3 available
Seller: GF Books, Inc., Hawthorne, CA, U.S.A.
Condition: Very Good. Book is in Used-VeryGood condition. Pages and cover are clean and intact. Used items may not include supplementary materials such as CDs or access codes. May show signs of minor shelf wear and contain very limited notes and highlighting. 0.49. Seller Inventory # 1857992083-2-3
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Goldstone Books, Llandybie, United Kingdom
Paperback. Condition: Good. All orders are dispatched within one working day from our UK warehouse. We've been selling books online since 2004! We have over 750,000 books in stock. No quibble refund if not completely satisfied. Seller Inventory # mon0003565559
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: WeBuyBooks, Rossendale, LANCS, United Kingdom
Condition: Good. Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. Seller Inventory # wbs6035819815
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Bahamut Media, Reading, United Kingdom
Condition: Very Good. Shipped within 24 hours from our UK warehouse. Clean, undamaged book with no damage to pages and minimal wear to the cover. Spine still tight, in very good condition. Remember if you are not happy, you are covered by our 100% money back guarantee. Seller Inventory # 6545-9781857992083
Quantity: 3 available