Understanding of Jenner Ransfield - Softcover

Imogen, De La Bere

Softcover

ISBN 10: 009928944X ISBN 13: 9780099289449

Publisher: Vintage, 2000

Synopsis

Jenner Ransfield, a man endowed with a brilliant academic mind, personal magnetism, but no self-control, tormented by demons of Laurentian sexuality and Calvinist upbringing, fumes out his existence on a farm in Somerset, teaching at a lowly Agricultural College, and sporadically tyrannizing his family - his sad, suppressed wife Elspeth, who lives inside a romantic ballad and thinks of Jenner as her demon lover, and his two extraordinary children - May Margaret who carves wonders in wood that no man must see, and Robin who lives to keep the World Wide Web out of the Devil's hands. Into this dark world beams Theodora Potts, blond curls, white smile, pretty and neat as a sea-horse, an Australian veterinary scientist, who knows it all. She intends to study the harvesting of bull semen with the great Dr Ransfield, but nothing goes according to her plan, from the moment there slides into her life and her bed Fergal, an urban warrior whose special form of protest is to hang naked in tree-tops. The cast is now complete for a black comedy of almost Shakespearean richness.

About this title

About the Author

Imogen de la Bere divides her time between England and New Zealand, where she writes on a diverse range of subjects, from theatre, through to opera and rock music, to matters of religion. Her first novel, The Last Deception of Palliser Wentwood, was published in 1999.

From the Back Cover

Jenner Ransfield is a tormented, brilliant academic with great personal magnetism but no self-control. He teaches at a lowly agricultural college and lives on a farm in Somerset where he sporadically tyrannises his sad, suppressed wife and two extraordinary children.

Into this dark world enters Theodora Potts, a pretty, neat, Australian veterinary scientist who knows it all and intends to study the harvesting of bull semen with Dr Ransfield. But nothing seems to go according to plan from the moment she meets Fergal, an urban warrior whose protests involve hanging naked in tree-tops.

A black comedy that is as original as it is delightful, The Understanding of Jenner Ransfield confirms Imogen de la Bere as an exceptionally gifted novelist.

Edition details

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 009928944X
• ISBN 13: 9780099289449
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336