Synopsis
Young Fred Fairly, a junior fellow at St. Angelicus College in 1912 Cambridge, falls in love with the dangerously mysterious Daisy, whom he awakens next to one morning after a freak accident
Reviews
English writer Fitzgerald ( The Beginning of Spring ; Innocence ) displays a grace and wit that put her on equal footing with such better-known peers as Muriel Spark. Her own novel, shortlisted for the 1990 Booker prize, is set in the mannered quaintness of pre-WW I Cambridge, yet it goes far beyond the usual Wodehousean scenario of brittle dialogue and eccentric dons in flapping robes. The eccentric dons are by no means absent, but Fitzgerald's writing has a depth, resonance and delicacy that create a sense of genuine comedy rather than of farce. Fred Fairly, a junior fellow at St. Angelicus College, wakes from a bicycle accident to discover that, owing to the misjudgment of a good Samaritan, he has been put in a sickroom bed next to the young woman with whom he has collided. Having made the acquaintance of mysterious Daisy Saunders in this unlikely way, Fairly promptly falls in love with her, though as a St. Angelicus fellow he has pledged himself to a life of celibacy. One can count on Fitzgerald to resolve his dilemma in an unexpected fashion, and she is true to form as the novel swerves toward its satisfying conclusion.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The entertaining latest from Fitzgerald (The Beginning of Spring, 1989, etc.)--as much a story of love in Edwardian England as a gentle but witty sendup of the genre and the age. When young Fred Fairly, son of an impecunious clergyman, becomes a junior fellow at St. Angelicus College in Cambridge, he expects to devote his life to science. Founded by a pope in the 15th century, St. Angelicus is the smallest college in Cambridge-- so small that fellows can meet only in the dining hall or the courtyard. Unlike other colleges, it has also remained closed to female visitors--no woman can pass through its gates--and insists that its fellows be unmarried. Ambitious and keen on science, Fred should be happy, but he has fallen in love with the mysterious Daisy Saunders, whom he met after they were both thrown off bicycles by a recklessly driven cart and horse. Daisy is a young woman of character and beauty, but ``not knowing how dangerous generosity is to the giver,'' she's been unfairly dismissed from her nursing position in London. Now she's come down to Cambridge with a sleazy journalist out to seduce her, but the accident intervenes. Daisy recovers and finds a low-level job; Fred courts her and proposes, but at the trial of the cart-driver the truth about poor Daisy's background is revealed, and their love seems doomed. As the genre demands, fate benevolently intervenes. Daisy, hearing cries of distress, enters St. Angelicus, where she is delayed long enough to be reunited with Fred. All the correct Edwardian nuances, but often turned upside down. A not-too-serious postmodern and feminine riposte to collegiate misogyny and some of E.M. Forster. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
British author Fitzgerald ( The Beginning of Spring , LJ 4/15/89) has concocted another deft comedy of manners, this time set in 1912 Cambridge. A bicycle accident brings about the unlikely pairing of Fred Fairly, a junior fellow of physics at St. Angelicus College, and the enigmatic Daisy Saunders, unfairly dismissed from her place as a nursing probationer. By pursuing his love for Daisy, Fred jeopardizes his career, since St. Angelicus fellows must be celibate. The subsequent investigation into the bicycle accident reveals Daisy's questionable background, and she and Fred are devastated. But the deliberately ambiguous ending seems to hold out a second chance for their happiness. Fitzgerald's elegant prose shines with intelligence and subtle wit as, within this framework, she uses physics as a starting point to examine the existence of both God and the atom. Her flair for well-drawn eccentric characters will appeal to fans of Muriel Spark and Barbara Pym.
-Patricia Ross, Westerville P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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