The Clematis Tree

Widdecombe, Ann

ISBN 10: 0297645722 / ISBN 13: 9780297645726

Published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Limited, London, United Kingdom, 2000

About this Item

First edition, near fine condition hardback and dust jacket.

Seller Inventory # 000007

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Clematis Tree
• Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Limited, London, United Kingdom
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0297645722
• ISBN 13: 9780297645726
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • First Editions

About this title

Synopsis

Ann Widdecombe's The Clematis Tree opens deceptively with a party in a sunny Surrey garden. It is a happy day, with relations and friends celebrating the christening of Mark and Claire's new daughter, Pippa.
Jeremy, their young son, spots a pet rabbit racing across the large garden and rushes through the main gate and out into the lane. A speeding sports car knocks him down and although Jeremy survives, he is now severely brain-damaged.
Widdecombe shows how a middle-class couple and their family are forced to cope with a catastrophe they never imagined could happen to them. Although also drawing on her parliamentary knowledge, The Clematis Tree is about people - at work, on holiday, living day by day - and how they, in their different ways, react when death threatens.
What is Claire's guilty secret, she who is so outwardly efficient in dealing with Jeremy in his utterly dependent state? Mark ponders escape, but has he the nerve? Does the attention lavished on Jeremy foster Pippa's resentment? Can Claire's wealthy, self-made father provide a solution? And what effect does Claire's younger sister, Sally, an MP, have when she launches a Private Member's Bill that would legalise euthanasia?

About the Author

Tory MP for Maidstone. In John Major s Government she was Home Office Minister under Michael Howard. Shadow Home Secretary 1997-2001. Unmarried and a Roman Catholic convert. Has been writing since at school where she won essay prizes. Now writing third novel.