Not All Tarts Are Apple - Softcover

Granger, Pip

3.84

430 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0552148954 ISBN 13: 9780552148955

Publisher: Scottsdale, AZ, U.S.A.: Poisoned Pen Press, 2003

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A rags-to-riches story with a deeply original spin, NOT ALL TARTS ARE APPLE is narrated by seven-year-old Rosie who grows up in a cafe in 1950s Soho, watched over by her eagle-eyed Auntie Maggie and Uncle Bert, and visited on occasions by her mother, the mysterious, and often drunk, Perfumed Lady. But it soon transpires that the Perfumed Lady's family - landed gentry who hail from a country estate near Bath - are desperate to get their hands on Rosie, and will stop at nothing - even kidnap - to acquire her.

Peopled with a wonderful cast of eccentric subsidiary characters - Great Aunt Dodie, Madame Zelda and Paulette, Sharky, the Campini Family who run an Italian delicatessan in Old Compton Street, and Maltese Joe - all of whom live in a Soho so atmospherically evoked that you can smell and taste it, this is a novel made to be published by Transworld.

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Book Description:

Hugely appealing London saga; first novel and winner of the Harry Bowling prize for fiction

From the Back Cover:

NOT ALL TARTS ARE APPLE . . .

at least, this is what seven-year-old Rosie finds out at school one morning. 'You haven't got no proper mum and dad. Your mum's a tart,' Rosie's friend Kathy Moon taunts her. And with this, Rosie's safe world - her home above the cafe in Old Compton Street where she is watched over by her devoted uncle Bert and auntie Maggie - is overturned.

A caf� in post-war Soho is a strange place to bring up a child. Rosie is surrounded by a motley group of grown-ups - Mamma Campanini at the deli, Madame Zelda (Clairvoyant to the Stars), Sharkey Finn (a clever lawyer but bent as a two-bob watch) and Paulette (who teaches French in an upstairs room). From time to time the mysterious Perfumed Lady makes an appearance. Usually the worse for drink, she laughs a lot and wears clothes like a princess. She brings Rosie presents - silver shoes, glittery jewellery and satin ribbons. Rosie thinks she is her fairy godmother. But she is, of course, Rosie's real mum ... and one day she,or her relatives might want to reclaim her.

Not All Tarts Are Apple is a wonderfully warm-hearted first novel with a cast of eccentric characters who step out of the pages to greet you, a 1950s Soho so real you can smell and touch it, and a seven-year-old heroine you will want to take home.

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