Elizabeth Jolley (1923–2007)

This is one of the most peculiar books I've read in a long time...but it's absolutely brilliant. Halfway through I ordered more of her books... Puts me slightly in mind of Beryl Bainbridge.
Written in the third person, but told entirely from the perspective of old-for-his-age academic Edwin, the other characters remain somewhat unknowable. There's his younger wife- gynecologist Cecilia, who's off on a year-long posting to Canada. We never actually "meet" the wife...she crops up in phone show more conversations, and in Edwin's musings. Her ready laugh, the "swinging" scene, to which she has introduced the ..we sense unwilling...Edwin... And is there more than just comradeship with her fellow obstetrician, Frau Doktor Vorwickl?

To Edwin's door come locked-out neighbors, the uneducated and rather vulgar Mrs Bott and her plain, hefty yet grateful, undemanding and childlike daughter Leila. Once in, they soon take up residence....mother's cooking and daughter's fleshy charms work their way...gradually...into Edwin's heart. But meanwhile neighbour Daphne (friend to both Edwin and Cecelia) , not to mention the people from the swinging club, are prowling about. And Cecelia phones home, and will be back after a year..

It's both incredibly well-observed and funny, while - even in such surreal scenarios - confronting deeper questions about one's needs and desires. show less

I read this as part of a well-taught class through Arlington (MA) Community Ed and never would have chosen it myself. Over six weeks, we learned about the author's technique of maintaining duplicity and ambiguity to keep lively what could have been a routine story of expats in Australia. Edwin, a literature professor, and Cecelia, his OBGYN wife, seem to have little commonality in their marriage, and when new next door neighbors, a mother and her nubile daughter, get locked out of their show more house, Edwin steps up. Cecelia is on a years-long research trip, during which Edwin intended to spend being cared for by their couple friends (and attend "key parties"), but Leila and her mother move in and seduce him with cooking and feigned attraction and helplessness. There's the vast complication of a pregnancy, Edwin's disinterest in his absent wife, and one truly good friend to him, Daphne, whose character shines out from the scheming others. The shocks and surprises slide in sideways, and there's much to discuss and decipher. show less

In The Orchard Thieves, Elizabeth Jolley employs an interesting (and at first disconcerting) device by naming her characters only in terms of their relationships to one another. She also sketches vague details regarding setting, placing further emphasis on her themes of family discord and, particularly, the complexities of the mother-daughter relationship.

In the grandmother of the clan, Jolley creates a nuanced narrator whose vivid imaginings of imminent catastrophe add pleasing touches of show more dry humour to the fable. Yet, as in life, it is not until real disaster strikes the family that each character's true colours are revealed.

The Orchard Thieves is a small but satisfying slice of Australian life. show less

My second read by the wonderful Ms Jolley- and, as expected, it's weird, hilarious and unputdownable.
Miss Peabody is a sad old London spinster, her life devoted to a job in an office and caring for a sick mother. One day she writes to the Australian author of a novel she just enjoyed...and receives a reply.
The enthusiastic letters from the other side of the world include instalments of a story- an Australian boarding school headmistress, a couple of lesbian colleagues- one as much of a wet show more weekend as Miss Peabody- and a couple of the "gels" embark on a European tour
As the group hit London, Miss Peabody is so caught up in the story that she looks for them in the crowd...
Quite fabulous. show less