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The Camomile Lawn Mary Wesley 9780099499145 Books

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The Camomile Lawn Mary Wesley 9780099499145 Books

I ordered the Audible version, but I did not realize that this was the abridged version until after I'd listened to the entire thing. It makes a little more sense now, as I assume the unabridged version filled in some of the missing pieces and made more sense. Not that the abridged version was hard to follow, I just felt that there had to be more back-story and character development than this. I couldn't truly grasp some of the characters' motivations for their actions. I'm hoping the unabridged version gives more justification for all the bed-hopping that went on. The characters came off as heartless, callous and downright immoral, and I'm sure that is not how Wesley intended them.

And Ann Massey's narration was just painful to listen to; I kept imagining all the face-wrenching she'd had to do for her characterizations. I wish she'd just read it straight through; there was really no need for all of the overly thick and exaggerated English accents. Even her attempts at the Erstwhilers' German accent was uncomfortable to listen to. Funny, but uncomfortable.


Tags : The Camomile Lawn [Mary Wesley] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. A vivid picture of wartime London and Cornwall through the eyes of five cousins. Behind the large house,Mary Wesley,The Camomile Lawn,Vintage Books,0099499142,Fiction General,General & Literary Fiction

The Camomile Lawn Mary Wesley 9780099499145 Books Reviews

I must have read this book 3 or 4 times and have a tattered hard cover I bought at a second hand store. Very moving, sharp insight by the author into character's motives (characters who were very nicely fleshed out). Lovely ambiance even though some of it was quite sad.
I really enjoyed the characters in this book where it gives you their lives during the second world war in Britain and also when those still living are old. It was interesting to get to feel the experience of that time and how life was lived in Britain as apposed to how I would have experienced in the U.S. The war intensified their need to live every moment the way the wanted to.
Five cousins gather at their Aunt Helena's and Uncle Richard's home on the Cornish coast as they have almost every summer in their relatively short, innocent lives. It is August, 1939, and while war looms, they are very much aware they may never meet again like this, all together, on their aunt's sweet-smelling camomile lawn.

Author Mary Wesley uses the device of two intertwining narratives to tell her tale. The last summer days before WWII merge into life in war torn London and Cornwall, and the plot reflects the changes that take place in all the characters as the conflict and violence impact their lives. This storyline is intertwined with another, set in the mid-1980's, over a period of two days as the surviving members of the group gather for a funeral. The reminiscences of those gathered fill in the interval between the beginning of the war and the present.

"The Camomile Lawn" is a well written, intricate soap opera, of sorts, which illustrates how the uncertainty of war and the heightened sense of one's mortality allow for unconventional behavior and impact the social mores of the times...sort of a "live each day as if it were the last" philosophy. I enjoyed the novel, especially the well drawn characters and highly recommend it.
JANA
Great book, and wonderful author! I discovered the author many years ago, and wish that she had written more books!
This was the first I read, which put me in a mad fever to read all her books. A "late" author, one cannot wonder what marvels she would have written if only she had discovered her muse in her 30's instead of her 70's. A loving look at life during the war and all the small bits of different characters which pop up in her other books too. This is the book it all starts with. After you finish this, you will find yourself wanting to read the others. The rest are much shorter, but of the same caliber.
This review is from The Camomile Lawn (Paperback)
The summer before the Great War, the family, nieces, nephews and assorted others arrive at the grand house of Helena and Richard. Helena of the money and Richard of the one leg, lost in the war. This is a glorious book you want to consume at one sitting, but wait it out and read it at leisure.

The family Calypso, Walter, Polly, Oliver, Sophy, and the twins who lived in the rectory, were on the train from London to Penzance, a town in Cornwall, UK. This beautiful coastal town was where this family spent their summers. All nieces and nephews of Richard. Helena was the money bag, but she seemed to welcome them. This was to be their last summer together, the big war,which Richard said was not to occur, was to begin later. This is a wonderful family full of the sort of people I would like to meet. Later we get to meet Max and Monika, Jewish refugees who had been placed in a settlement. Richard at the urging of Sophy was able to obtain their release.

We follow this family through the years, their stories told by Each family member, but mainly by Helena,mas she and Hamish travel to a funeral in Penzance. The loves of Calypso who married for money and found true love. Walter off to the war. Polly who loved both twins and couldn't decide in either, Oliver so in love with Calypso but not to be, and Sophy, the young beautiful girl, not loved by Richard or Helena , but the rest of the family loved her. Richard, Helena, Monika and Max, now here was a real story.

The scented camomile lawn at the house by the sea was, for the cousins, the essence of summer. Here was the home they could all come to for peace and quiet and contemplation. Mary Wesley reminds me of my favorite Britsh author , Muriel Spark. The characters really come alive, truly alive. You can see them in your mind's eye. I could vision Calypso's beauty and Sophy's beauty to come. Such wonderful writing, I must read all of Wesley's novels.

Recommended. pris rob 06-06-13
I ordered the Audible version, but I did not realize that this was the abridged version until after I'd listened to the entire thing. It makes a little more sense now, as I assume the unabridged version filled in some of the missing pieces and made more sense. Not that the abridged version was hard to follow, I just felt that there had to be more back-story and character development than this. I couldn't truly grasp some of the characters' motivations for their actions. I'm hoping the unabridged version gives more justification for all the bed-hopping that went on. The characters came off as heartless, callous and downright immoral, and I'm sure that is not how Wesley intended them.

And Ann Massey's narration was just painful to listen to; I kept imagining all the face-wrenching she'd had to do for her characterizations. I wish she'd just read it straight through; there was really no need for all of the overly thick and exaggerated English accents. Even her attempts at the Erstwhilers' German accent was uncomfortable to listen to. Funny, but uncomfortable.