BOOK MY PLACE
 
Shirley Curran
Shirley Curran
 

Mavis Cheek takes us back to Coventry in Patrick Parker’s Progress. A fiercely possessive mother worships her gifted and beautiful son who is destined for great things. Audrey Wapshott adores him too but he ignores the stirrings of love and devotes himself to a career of building bridges.

The novel evokes post-war Coventry, a scene of destruction before the city was reconstructed and we hear sixties’ attitudes when Audrey’s mother keeps cuttings of Patrick’s progress but neglects the talents of her own able and spirited daughter.

Patrick abandons Audrey for a useful marriage and she becomes the mistress of an old world Parisian but Patrick is always in her mind and Audrey finally triumphs.

Patrick Parker’s Progress is an intriguing combination of architectural information – Patrick is a great fan of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, his first love – and sixties attitudes towards the relative roles of men and women.

Posted by :: Shirley Curran on 11 April 2011 at 8:00 | permalink
        Post Comment  
 

GenevaLunch, 11 April 2011.

Filed under: Fiction

Tags: ,

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

We are happy to have your comments, which are approved before they appear: please remember to be courteous and brief. We accept only comments directly related to an article. We do not accept comment spam - messages sent to more than one site. We do not publish comments if the e-mail address is not legitimate. Thank you!

Comments