2898 Tim a novel by Colleen McCullough (read 18 Aug 1996) This tells of Tim Melville, a 25-year-old handsome retarded man in Australia, and Mary, a 43 (or so) year-old spinster. It is a touching and moving story, but really seems like a "woman's book". It is what I would expect to find in a woman's magazine. The story was somewhat sugar-coated and un-true-to-life--hard to believe a woman would fall in love with a man as dim as Tim. But while I was reading I enjoyed it. ( )

Tim is what you would call mentally challenged. He is functional enough to hold simple jobs, and handle living with his family.

When a spinster, close to 20 years older than he is, hires him to do a job or two, she finds her thoughts turning more to cradle-snatching than to the jobs to be done. ( )