Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Virago (2009), Paperback, 208 pages
Description
Set on the crazier fringes of 1950s literary London, A Far Cry from Kensington is a delight, hilariously portraying love, fraud, death, evil, and transformation. Mrs. Hawkins, the majestic narrator of A Far Cry from Kensington, takes us well in hand and leads us back to her threadbare years in postwar London. There, as a fat and much admired young war widow, she spent her days working for a mad, near-bankrupt publisher ("of very good books") and her nights dispensing advice at her small South Kensington rooming house. At work and at home Mrs. Hawkins soon uncovered evil: shady literary doings and a deadly enemy; anonymous letters, blackmail, and suicide. With aplomb, however, Mrs. Hawkins confidently set about putting things to order, little imagining the mayhem that would ensue. Now decades older, thin, successful, and delighted with life in Italy-quite a far cry from Kensington-Mrs. Hawkins looks back to all those dark doings and recounts how her own life changed forever. She still, however, loves to give advice: "It's easy to get thin. You eat and drink the same as always, only half�I offer this advice without fee; it is included in the price of this book." A Far Cry from Kensington has been hailed as "outstanding" (Observer), "wickedly and adroitly executed" (New York Times), and "a comedy that holds a tragedy as an eggcup holds an egg" (Philadelphia Inquirer).… (more)
Media reviews
''A Far Cry From Kensington,'' her 18th novel, is the perfect vehicle for her to win over Philistines like me. At the risk of being drummed out of the Book Reviewers Union, I feel the best way to convey the pleasure this novel gives is to compare it to a wonderful old Alec Guinness movie, something
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along the lines of ''The Lavender Hill Mob.'' True, it follows the rules of art right down the line and illuminates the human condition, etc. But it also meets a trickier challenge, that of being superb entertainment Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member Cariola
If she was alive today, I'd be writing to thank Muriel Spark for adding a useful phrase to my repertoire: pisseur de copie. It's a phrase that gets Mrs. Hawkins (later known as Nancy) into a good deal of trouble, but she never takes it back. Mrs. Hawkins, a large-boned and hefty 28-year-old war
A Far Cry from Kensington is a delightful trek into the world of publishing, ca. 1950s, and a wonderfully droll study of character. I've read only one other novel by Spark, but I'll definitely be seeking out more.
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widow, works in the world of publishing, and she lives in a boarding house full of eccentric characters, including a Polish seamstress, a pampered daddy's girl, a clever lower class medical student, and others. It's her connection to Hector Bartlett, the pisseur de copie, that shapes the novel. Mrs. Hawkins takes an immediate dislike to the pretentious would-be author, who tries repeatedly to use his 'friendship' with popular novelist Emma Loy as an entry ticket. (Nancy suspects a sexual liaison, but Emma's revelation that Hector can quote from all of her novels--wrongly--suggests something a bit more egotistical.) When tragedy strikes the boarding house community, Mrs. Hawkins launches an investigation of her own.A Far Cry from Kensington is a delightful trek into the world of publishing, ca. 1950s, and a wonderfully droll study of character. I've read only one other novel by Spark, but I'll definitely be seeking out more.
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LibraryThing member PensiveCat
I can't say this is Muriel Spark's finest work, but it certainly is entertaining. Her narrator, Mrs. Hawkins, is a rotund war widow who people tend to confide in. One thinks this will be the sole plot of the book, but then we are introduced to Hector Bartlett, a horrible writer and detestable human
While it's not usually laugh out loud funny, there are amusing moments, and though slightly tragic, it's a quick and pleasant enough story. I would particularly recommend it to anyone who likes to read about London, particularly post-war.
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being who inspires a French epithet from Mrs. Hawkins every time she sees or hears of him. His reaction to this changes the lives of nearly everyone around her. While it's not usually laugh out loud funny, there are amusing moments, and though slightly tragic, it's a quick and pleasant enough story. I would particularly recommend it to anyone who likes to read about London, particularly post-war.
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LibraryThing member lex10
I was handed this fictional memoir, by someone I trust to provide quality literary experiences- he assured me of its solid storytelling, and richness of content.
For me, prior to being handed this book, Muriel Spark really brought two things to mind: lighting cigars, (get it?) and books like Please
I had no idea.
In his book, Rotten: No Irish No Blacks No Dogs, one finds out just how literary minded John Lydon is and how he was a fan of lots of great literature (Graham Greene's work springs to mind)... I was shocked when preparing to write this that Muriel Spark's Book The Public Image was where Lydon got the name for PiL. Had I not read his book I never would've guessed it but my suspicions were piqued when reviewing Spark's body of work.
In A Far Cry From Kensington , one gets an accurate portrait of post-war London life, with cramped and damp, recession and thrift, and during the progression of the book it's subsequent awakening from its 6 year nightmare.
Being an Anglophile I might've been satisfied with that and would have been polite about it, but disappointed with its lack of plot arrow.
The plot arrow is large and sharp and accurate: An overweight widow in a boarding house and works at a publisher, insults a literary world hanger-on, which in subsequent years, leads to adverse circumstances over and over again for her, all the while reaffirming her belief that the pisseur de copie "pisser or copy" is just what he is, an opportunistic second banana with no moral compunction about exploitation of personal relationships, and it being a small world, capable of infecting more than just the working world Spark's protagonist, Mrs. Hawkins.
As the story progresses, Mrs. Hawkins loses the insulation she grew during the war; both emotionally and physically- it falls away in the form of weight loss, the loss as allegory for her maturation, as evidenced by her questioning her faith, learning to stand firm when challenged about her interpersonal convictions and rising to the occasion when called upon by her neighbors who have revealed formerly private crises, that stemmed from character flaws that Mrs Hawkins shows us without a word of avarice, only predictive empathy, from someone who by virtue of being a war-widow, feels it necessary to conduct oneself with more maturity than other of her age.
I've hit the spoiler wall; let me just say within all the wool and teacups and rugs and wallpaper there's crazies, death, fist-fighting, insults, medical emergencies, injustice, karma, foreigners, revenge and more. A perfect mix of atmosphere and activity for anyone looking to read outside of genre.
It was also surprising for me, because I thought she was a 1940's & 50's writer (like I said I didn't know anything about her - just the name) - her style in this book doesn't give away that it was written 1988. Her arc runs from Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1961 to 2004's The Finishing School.
I suppose that since I'm a PiL fan I'll read The Public Image next and see what she has to offer.
For me, prior to being handed this book, Muriel Spark really brought two things to mind: lighting cigars, (get it?) and books like Please
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Don't Eat the Daisies, which in reality share nothing with her.I had no idea.
In his book, Rotten: No Irish No Blacks No Dogs, one finds out just how literary minded John Lydon is and how he was a fan of lots of great literature (Graham Greene's work springs to mind)... I was shocked when preparing to write this that Muriel Spark's Book The Public Image was where Lydon got the name for PiL. Had I not read his book I never would've guessed it but my suspicions were piqued when reviewing Spark's body of work.
In A Far Cry From Kensington , one gets an accurate portrait of post-war London life, with cramped and damp, recession and thrift, and during the progression of the book it's subsequent awakening from its 6 year nightmare.
Being an Anglophile I might've been satisfied with that and would have been polite about it, but disappointed with its lack of plot arrow.
The plot arrow is large and sharp and accurate: An overweight widow in a boarding house and works at a publisher, insults a literary world hanger-on, which in subsequent years, leads to adverse circumstances over and over again for her, all the while reaffirming her belief that the pisseur de copie "pisser or copy" is just what he is, an opportunistic second banana with no moral compunction about exploitation of personal relationships, and it being a small world, capable of infecting more than just the working world Spark's protagonist, Mrs. Hawkins.
As the story progresses, Mrs. Hawkins loses the insulation she grew during the war; both emotionally and physically- it falls away in the form of weight loss, the loss as allegory for her maturation, as evidenced by her questioning her faith, learning to stand firm when challenged about her interpersonal convictions and rising to the occasion when called upon by her neighbors who have revealed formerly private crises, that stemmed from character flaws that Mrs Hawkins shows us without a word of avarice, only predictive empathy, from someone who by virtue of being a war-widow, feels it necessary to conduct oneself with more maturity than other of her age.
I've hit the spoiler wall; let me just say within all the wool and teacups and rugs and wallpaper there's crazies, death, fist-fighting, insults, medical emergencies, injustice, karma, foreigners, revenge and more. A perfect mix of atmosphere and activity for anyone looking to read outside of genre.
It was also surprising for me, because I thought she was a 1940's & 50's writer (like I said I didn't know anything about her - just the name) - her style in this book doesn't give away that it was written 1988. Her arc runs from Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1961 to 2004's The Finishing School.
I suppose that since I'm a PiL fan I'll read The Public Image next and see what she has to offer.
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LibraryThing member aikoeliz
A Far Cry From Kensington, published in 1988, is one of Muriel Sparks later novels, coming some 25 years after her most famous work, The Prime of Miss jean Brodie. It is set in 1950s Britain, largely in the boarding house of its protagonist, Mrs. Hawkins: a fat, 28 year old war-widow who has a
The novel is filled with colorful, skillfully rendered characters: the kindly, meddling owner of the boarding house; the paranoid Polish dressmaker; the flippant, silly young woman upstairs; the kind but corrupt owner of the publishing company; the whole cast of strange characters at the second publishing company.
Muriel Spark tells her story with wit, wisdom, and seemingly effortless precision. She enraptures me with her ability to capture everyday life and make it slightly absurd, and to capture the slightly absurd and make it convincingly everyday. While I love magic realism and philosophical novels, I am most fascinated by novelists who can convincingly capture everyday, mundane life and make it beautiful not through high-flying poetic descriptions, but through what I can only call skillful writing. Muriel Spark is such a novelist, and if you've never read anything by her, I highly recommend you get started. A Far Cry from Kensington is a good place to start
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knack for inspiring confidence from her acquaintances, who often seek her advice. At the start of the novel, she works essentially as an editor in a corrupt publishing firm that eventually goes under in scandal, but not before she attracts the attentions of Hector Bartlett, and aspiring writer of little talent but who is dating a successful and talented author. Mrs. Hawkins considers Bartlett a pissuer de copie; that is, a hack writer who is "a urinator of journalistic copy." She calls him as much to his face, which infuriates him and establishes a feud between the two that colors the rest of the plot.The novel is filled with colorful, skillfully rendered characters: the kindly, meddling owner of the boarding house; the paranoid Polish dressmaker; the flippant, silly young woman upstairs; the kind but corrupt owner of the publishing company; the whole cast of strange characters at the second publishing company.
Muriel Spark tells her story with wit, wisdom, and seemingly effortless precision. She enraptures me with her ability to capture everyday life and make it slightly absurd, and to capture the slightly absurd and make it convincingly everyday. While I love magic realism and philosophical novels, I am most fascinated by novelists who can convincingly capture everyday, mundane life and make it beautiful not through high-flying poetic descriptions, but through what I can only call skillful writing. Muriel Spark is such a novelist, and if you've never read anything by her, I highly recommend you get started. A Far Cry from Kensington is a good place to start
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LibraryThing member SandDune
Written in 1988, the narrator Mrs Hawkins reflects back over 30 years to when she was an overweight, 28 year old war widow living in a respectable but somewhat down-at-heel rooming-house in Kensington. Her current life is clearly a far cry from her life then, and even by the 1980's Kensington is
As the problems multiply in Mrs Hawkins's working life, so also do her problems at home. Wanda, the Polish dressmaker living on the floor beneath her, starts to get threatening letters and phone calls - a mystery which Mrs Hawkins attempts to resolve. And in doing so her professional and private life become entangled in a surprising way.
I did enjoy this book - it's a really evocative portrait of this period - and I like Muriel Spark's writing style. There are some gently funny sections. But somehow the plot lost me about three quarters of the way through: the denouement just seemed too unlikely and not in keeping with the characters as they had been established earlier in the book. So a good read but not a great one.
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also a far cry from what it was in the 1950's. (I looked it up and the average property price in Kensington today is a somewhat staggering £1,500,000 - and that includes flats!) As an editor in a small publishing company she is increasingly irritated by the untalented and annoying Hector Bartlett, eventually accusing him of being a pisseur de copie, literally a urinator of journalistic copy. But the offended Hector has a powerful friend in the shape of the best-selling novelist Emma Loy who manages to get Mrs Hawkins sacked from not just one but two publishing jobs.As the problems multiply in Mrs Hawkins's working life, so also do her problems at home. Wanda, the Polish dressmaker living on the floor beneath her, starts to get threatening letters and phone calls - a mystery which Mrs Hawkins attempts to resolve. And in doing so her professional and private life become entangled in a surprising way.
I did enjoy this book - it's a really evocative portrait of this period - and I like Muriel Spark's writing style. There are some gently funny sections. But somehow the plot lost me about three quarters of the way through: the denouement just seemed too unlikely and not in keeping with the characters as they had been established earlier in the book. So a good read but not a great one.
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LibraryThing member lkernagh
After reading a number of rather heady books of late, a change for something lighter was in order. Sparks' A Far Cry From Kensington was just the right balance of circa 1950's quasi chick-lit piece with the sharp, witty humor that is, IMO, Sparks' trademark. I say 'quasi chick-lit' as the story is
The characters are rich and easy to visualize, as are Mrs. Hawkins adventures as an editor in what can only be described as the wacky world of literary London. This book has it all: love, fraud, mystery, anonymous letters, blackmail, death, quack medical remedies and we mustn't forget shady literary doings! Practical and forthright Mrs. Hawkins finds herself drawn into matters that really shouldn't concern her, which in turn becomes her problem. Her dislike of Hector Bartlett, an author of suspect literary promise whom she calls a 'pisseur de copie' (translated to mean "urinates frightful prose") provides insight into how small and tight the literary world is and the repercussions an off-hand comment can have on one's life, even as one feels compelled to stand by their convictions.
True to form, Sparks does not disappoint with this wonderful slice of 1950's London life. Recommended.
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the reminisces of our narrator, Mrs. Hawkins as she was known at the time, narrated from her abode in Italy as she re-lives her adventures as a young woman and widowed war bride working in the world of London publishing and living in a boarding house in South Kensington. The characters are rich and easy to visualize, as are Mrs. Hawkins adventures as an editor in what can only be described as the wacky world of literary London. This book has it all: love, fraud, mystery, anonymous letters, blackmail, death, quack medical remedies and we mustn't forget shady literary doings! Practical and forthright Mrs. Hawkins finds herself drawn into matters that really shouldn't concern her, which in turn becomes her problem. Her dislike of Hector Bartlett, an author of suspect literary promise whom she calls a 'pisseur de copie' (translated to mean "urinates frightful prose") provides insight into how small and tight the literary world is and the repercussions an off-hand comment can have on one's life, even as one feels compelled to stand by their convictions.
True to form, Sparks does not disappoint with this wonderful slice of 1950's London life. Recommended.
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LibraryThing member JBD1
This one came highly recommended and it met expectations: a very witty account of the postwar London literary publishing scene, with some extremely memorable characters.
LibraryThing member pgchuis
The story of Mrs Hawkins, who works in publishing and makes an enemy of the appalling Hector by calling him a "pisseur de copie" (clearly a lot more French was spoken in London in the 50s...), and the consequences this has in her life and the lives of her fellow lodgers. Mrs Hawkins was an
I would give this five stars were it not for the dated storyline relating to radionics (which I had to look up to check it was an actual thing - it is!)
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excellent and amusing character and the entire supporting cast was well-drawn.I would give this five stars were it not for the dated storyline relating to radionics (which I had to look up to check it was an actual thing - it is!)
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LibraryThing member TheAmpersand
"A Far Cry from Kensington" has a lot to recommend it: a cleverly constructed plot, an amusing, well-drawn cast of characters, sharp details about life in the grey British nineteen fifties and, a likable protagonist's slow progress toward an independent adulthood and a career in the publishing
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industry -- which Spark describes as bracingly chaotic and continually floundering -- and enough British eccentricity to satisfy any BBC America viewer. It's light stuff and a short read, but even if it's not an "important" novel, it's enjoyable to spend time with an author of Muriel Spark's caliber as she indulges in her literary whims. I also wonder if "A Far Cry" isn't a sort of sly response to the gaggle of self-help books that packed the shelves at about the time it was released. The book's main character lost weight specifically to outgrow what she saw as a too-motherly persona, but she's still full of commonsense advice drawn from her own observations. You could do much worse than to learn about life and other people from Muriel Spark and Mrs. Hawkins. Show Less
LibraryThing member William345
3.5 stars
Here's what the New York Times's reviewer Michiko Kakutani wrote about the author: "Here is the recipe for a typical Muriel Spark novel: take a self-enclosed community (of writers, schoolgirls, nuns, rich people, etc.) that is full of incestuous liaisons and fraternal intrigue; toss in a
Here's what the New York Times's reviewer Michiko Kakutani wrote about the author: "Here is the recipe for a typical Muriel Spark novel: take a self-enclosed community (of writers, schoolgirls, nuns, rich people, etc.) that is full of incestuous liaisons and fraternal intrigue; toss in a
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bombshell (like murder, suicide or betrayal) that will richochet dangerously around this little world, and add some allusions to the supernatural to ground these melodramatics in an old-fashioned context of good and evil. Serve up with crisp, authoritative prose and present with 'a light and heartless hand.' ". I don't know, but while accurate on the whole there seems something contradictory about this summation. I think it's the clash between "melodramatics" and "crisp, authoritative prose." The heartlessness is still here in this late novel (1988) but what once seemed outrageous no longer does. Therefore I am less enthusiastic for A Far Cry from Kensington that I was for earlier Spark novels, especially Memento Mori and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie--but then those were both 5-star masterpieces. Recommended with reservations. Show Less
LibraryThing member DameMuriel
I picked up a used copy of this book at a bookstore in Pittsburgh a few years ago. When I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. There's no way to put into words exactly what makes a Muriel Spark book so enjoyable for me. This one is, in my opinion, one of her best.
LibraryThing member bookmagic
Mrs Hawkins is an overweight, young widow living in 1950's London. She lives in a rooming house with a variety of characters, including Wanda, a Polish seamstress with a secret.
Mrs Hawkins works in a publishing firm and is persistently approached by Hector Bartlett, who wants her to assist him with
Mrs Hawkins then gets another job at a more prestigious publishing firm of Mackintosh and Tooley. She is surprised to be hired over more qualified applicants until eventually she notices that all of their employees seem to have some sort of deformities, hers is that she is obese. This leads her to immediately go on a diet.
In the meantime, her neighbor Wanda has received a letter from someone threatening to turn her in for tax evasion, and then gets phone calls with other threats. Mrs Hawkins is convinced that Wanda knows who is behind this, but has more things on her mind. She know longer wants to be Mrs Hawkins, but Nancy, a young woman with a new lover. But she can't shake the irritating presence of her nemesis, Hector.
This book was short but delightful, filled with eccentric characters. I can't believe this is the first Muriel Sparks book I have ever read. I love her dry, British wit.
Sir Alec's utterance and subsequent words of praise were like the cry of a bird in distress, far away across a darkening lake. I had a sense he was offering things abominable to me, like decaffeinated coffee or coitus interuptus...
It is hard to categorize this novel; part mystery, drama, humor, amusing life observations. I am definitely going to read more books by this highly respected author.
my rating 4/5
Mrs Hawkins works in a publishing firm and is persistently approached by Hector Bartlett, who wants her to assist him with
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getting his book published. Mrs Hawkins considers him a hack writer and insults him by calling him a 'pisseur de copie' a urinator of journalistic copy. She makes an enemy of not only him, but his benefactress, the author, Emma Loy. Emma gets Mrs Hawkins fired from her publishing firm, but just before it goes bankrupt due to the fraudulent activities of her former boss.Mrs Hawkins then gets another job at a more prestigious publishing firm of Mackintosh and Tooley. She is surprised to be hired over more qualified applicants until eventually she notices that all of their employees seem to have some sort of deformities, hers is that she is obese. This leads her to immediately go on a diet.
In the meantime, her neighbor Wanda has received a letter from someone threatening to turn her in for tax evasion, and then gets phone calls with other threats. Mrs Hawkins is convinced that Wanda knows who is behind this, but has more things on her mind. She know longer wants to be Mrs Hawkins, but Nancy, a young woman with a new lover. But she can't shake the irritating presence of her nemesis, Hector.
This book was short but delightful, filled with eccentric characters. I can't believe this is the first Muriel Sparks book I have ever read. I love her dry, British wit.
Sir Alec's utterance and subsequent words of praise were like the cry of a bird in distress, far away across a darkening lake. I had a sense he was offering things abominable to me, like decaffeinated coffee or coitus interuptus...
It is hard to categorize this novel; part mystery, drama, humor, amusing life observations. I am definitely going to read more books by this highly respected author.
my rating 4/5
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LibraryThing member Smiler69
Agnes Hawkins lives in a lodging house in South Kensington and is an editor by day in a publishing house that has seen better days. People are always trying to befriend our rotund narrator, who they see as a mother figure and dispenser of solid advice, as well as a useful contact in an industry
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that is notoriously difficult to enter for anyone seeking a job, and especially for writers of little talent. One writer, Hector Bartlett, particularly gets under her skin, but chooses to ignore her constant brush-offs and contrives to arrange "chance" encounters on a regular basis. One day this proves too much for Agnes and she accuses him of being a pisseur de copie to his face, an insulting French term to designate one who literally "pisses (bad) copy". This will of course get Agnes in trouble, but the derogatory appellation sticks to Bartlett all the same. Meanwhile, Wanda, one of the lodgers she lives with and has befriended, has received a threatening letter. A Polish immigrant who tries to make ends meet as a seamstress, Wanda is besides herself with fear and apprehension, convinced she'll be deported because of the accusations contained in the letter. The lodgers all begin suspecting one another, and as the threats multiply, Wanda slowly loses her sanity, and Agnes is far from suspecting what her friend has gotten involved in to pacify her accuser. Another amusing romp in Muriel Spark's fictionalized world of publishing, which is filled as always with larger than life characters and scenarios that may or may not purely stem from her imagination. Show Less
LibraryThing member lahochstetler
Set in the mid-twentieth century London publishing world, this is a quirky and enjoyable read. The book is structured as a flashback, as Mrs. Hawkins looks back on her youth, working for a minor Kensington publisher. She looks back from the comforts of her retirement in Italy. As a young war widow
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Mrs. Hawkins lived on a small salary reviewing manuscripts for her employer. Her duties led her to an ongoing feud with an untalented hack writer, who believes firmly in his own merit, but whose clunky prose Mrs. Hawkins dismisses. After brandishing him with a somewhat amusing moniker, she becomes the target of his revenge. Their ongoing feud reveals to Mrs. Hawkins a seedy underbelly of the publishing industry, one that she may unknowingly expose. The ending is both bizarre and entertaining, and the characters are originals. Show Less
LibraryThing member grheault
Funny, funny, funny. Mrs. Hawkins, the marmish, but not really marmish storyteller, narrates her life, and that of her housemates in London in the 1950's. She takes what could be experienced as a mundane, tragic existence and interprets it as vibrant, dramatic, ironic, comic, and full of intrigue.
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Laced with honest observations and witty wisdomic (new word) commentaries on propriety, justice, sexuality, I found this a very interesting, light touch weaving of genre threads. I have become a Muriel Spark fan. Show Less
LibraryThing member murraymint11
I felt this book 'washed over me'. I'm not sure I'll remember much about it in a couple of months time. However, I do like Spark's writing style, and my lack of enthusiasm is probably due more to the time of year than the contents of the book.
My impression is that it is all a bit drab and dreary -
My impression is that it is all a bit drab and dreary -
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which is probably what life was like in London just after the war. Show Less
LibraryThing member ccayne
Mrs. Hawkins is wonderful - as an overweight resident of Milly's house in South Kensington, she is the favored confidante of most of the diverse group of residents. She works in publishing where she is also treasured until she insults Hector Bartlett by calling him pisseur de copie. Unfortunately,
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although he may be a literary hack, he is a friend of a well-known author who defends him. Spark captures the intricacies of human relations and frailties and of those who prey upon the weak. Mrs. Hawkins loses weight and this changes everything, including setting in motion the notion that she is very ill. Spark takes the reader on twists and turns only an inventive mind could conjure and ties it up perfectly in the end. Aspiring writers should read Spark - it all works Show Less
LibraryThing member Prop2gether
This novel is a retelling of Sparks' work as an editor (as told in her memoir Curriculum Vitae) and she deftly skewers those who were involved in that period of her life. This book is fiction, but really--it's a delightful payback.
LibraryThing member SirRoger
Wonderful. Sparks' vivid characters hooked me from the beginning, and the story unfolds in Sparks' characteristic way. I love the wit, the aplomb, and the ending.
LibraryThing member overthemoon
I read this a long long time ago, and phrases kept echoing from decades past. I remember liking it very much: on this second read, Nancy got on my nerves a bit with all her advice - believe me, you can NOT slim by cutting your food down by half, at least if you have my morphology you can't. And she
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does repeat too many times "pisseur de copie" - a phrase I have never heard in all my 40 years of French-speaking. I suppose if she had used the expression "verbal diarrhoea" Spark would not have got away with it. Show Less
LibraryThing member hazelk
I found this a rather disappointing read from this author. I did like some of the insights into publishing but I don't think the book generally held together. What I did like was the portrayal of London in the drab post-war years. It was a lightweight read.
LibraryThing member Condorena
This is a wonderful book about a lovely woman Mrs. Hawkins, who though in her twenties is considered by many the person to turn to in times of trouble. The book has a wonderful sense of time and made me feel I was living in the 50's in London.
LibraryThing member SeriousGrace
Mrs. Hawkins is the glorious and very witty narrator of A Far Cry From Kensington. Now decades older and living in Italy, Mrs. Hawkins reminisces with the reader about her life as a young war widow working in publishing and living in a rooming house in South Kensington, England. She recounts, with
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great hilarity to the reader, a mystery surrounding one of her former housemates, a Polish dressmaker by the name of Wanda. Wanda is being threatened, ultimately blackmailed, by someone sending anonymous letters. Mrs. Hawkins, being one of such confidence and admiration, is immediately called to consult on the issue. The plot thickens when Wanda subsequently commits suicide. I do not want to give more of the plot away but this was the first time I had ever heard of radionics or the phrase, "pisseur de copie." Show Less
LibraryThing member snash
The book has no particular point but is a fun romp with a curious collection of characters.
LibraryThing member rmaitzen
This is a very odd book!
Subjects
Awards
Language
Original publication date
1988
Physical description
208 p.
ISBN
1844085511 / 9781844085514