Items related to Tread Softly
Lorna, thirty-nine, is married to misanthropic Ralph, who in turn is wedded to his twenty-seven pipes and his artificial-grass business. In fact, it's a ménage à trios, the third party being Lorna's Monster, a gleefully sadistic personification of her panic attacks.
The Monster has a field day when, after a botched foot operation, Lorna is sent to convalesce among the deaf and demented inmates of a nursing home from hell, where to staff have more problems than the patients. But, despite her surroundings, she begins to blossom, making new friends, discovering untapped talents and even a reawakened interest in sex, thanks to the attentions of an ardent young care-worker. She even gets offered a challenging new job. Meanwhile Ralph is being sued by a vindictive business client and fears he will lose his house and his livelihood.
In another of her wickedly black comedies Wendy Perriam chronicles an unconventional marriage, showing the bond that can develop between two people who have experienced a 'lost childhood'. She also takes a swipe at the medical profession and, by graphically illustrating the plight of residents in low-grade care homes, offers a devastating critique of the way society treats the old and infirm. Yet, throughout, the novel is leavened by the author's exuberant wit. 'One of the finest and funniest writers to emerge in England since Kingsley Amis. She is gifted with devastating powers of observation . . .' Herald Tribune
The Monster has a field day when, after a botched foot operation, Lorna is sent to convalesce among the deaf and demented inmates of a nursing home from hell, where to staff have more problems than the patients. But, despite her surroundings, she begins to blossom, making new friends, discovering untapped talents and even a reawakened interest in sex, thanks to the attentions of an ardent young care-worker. She even gets offered a challenging new job. Meanwhile Ralph is being sued by a vindictive business client and fears he will lose his house and his livelihood.
In another of her wickedly black comedies Wendy Perriam chronicles an unconventional marriage, showing the bond that can develop between two people who have experienced a 'lost childhood'. She also takes a swipe at the medical profession and, by graphically illustrating the plight of residents in low-grade care homes, offers a devastating critique of the way society treats the old and infirm. Yet, throughout, the novel is leavened by the author's exuberant wit. 'One of the finest and funniest writers to emerge in England since Kingsley Amis. She is gifted with devastating powers of observation . . .' Herald Tribune
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review:
Each book [is] a magnificently orchestrated orgy in which her potent blend of sex, religion and humour takes the reader on a spiritual odyssey. -- Time Out
One of the most interesting unsung novelists of her generation. Intelligent and accessible. -- Sunday Telegraph
Perriam is one of the finest and funniest writers to emerge in England since Kingsley Amis. -- Herald Tribune
Perriam must be a strong contender for Britain's most underrated novelist. -- Daily Telegraph
Wendy Perriam was born to write. Her work refreshes and exhilarates. I am her greatest fan. -- Fay Weldon
From the Author:
One of the most interesting unsung novelists of her generation. Intelligent and accessible. -- Sunday Telegraph
Perriam is one of the finest and funniest writers to emerge in England since Kingsley Amis. -- Herald Tribune
Perriam must be a strong contender for Britain's most underrated novelist. -- Daily Telegraph
Wendy Perriam was born to write. Her work refreshes and exhilarates. I am her greatest fan. -- Fay Weldon
I began writing this novel during the Millennium celebrations when I was wheelchair-bound in a geriatric nursing home, surrounded by the deaf and the demented! I was convalescing there after a botched operation on my foot, and decided to use the experience as the basis for a new book. It's not often that one has the chance to view an institution from the inside and see what really goes on. I was both shocked and saddened by the abuses I witnessed – appallingly bad hygiene, general disorganisation, often sullen and uncaring staff.
‘Old age is not for cissies,' Bette Davis once said and, living among the over-85s, I realized the truth of her remark. The elderly have often lost so much – their looks, their jobs, their homes, health, spouses, dignity and self-determination – yet they have no choice but to soldier on in a world that values youth, beauty, wealth and independence.
The situation was so sad I decided to turn it into comedy. It's some time since I've written a humorous book and I was worried at first that my ‘funny muscles' might have atrophied. But there were so many real-life farcical events and misadventures, I found I had a continual supply of inspiring material.
I made my protagonist, Lorna Pearson, much younger than I am – not only to create a romantic interest (she gets involved with one of the care-assistants – an ardent young Nigerian), but also to point up the contrast with her mostly decrepit fellow patients.
Lorna also suffers from panic attacks – and again it was a challenge to make a serious subject funny. Eventually I created a sardonic character, the Panic Monster, who constantly predicts the worst. He's visible only to Lorna, so sometimes she finds herself involved in bizarre 3-way conversations, ostensibly addressing her husband or a friend, while also countering the Monster's gleeful taunts.
As a writer, I'm interested in secrets – people's secret fears and afflictions, the secret cruelties and power-games inherent in most institutions, the secret errors and bunglings in the Health Service. Tread Softly shines a light on all these areas, using humour to make serious points about our frailty as human beings. I'm also fascinated by the secrets of marriage and the fact that often we know so little about our friends' intimate relationships.
Lorna, in the novel, is aware that she married out of need. She was feckless, rootless, penniless, in her twenties, and Ralph appeared a possible saviour and protector. His stoical self-control also seemed a valuable counterbalance to her panicky outbursts. But when the book opens, they are living almost separate lives – no longer sharing a bed, rarely conversing, and eating different meals at different times in different rooms. The obvious solution might seem to be divorce, in keeping with the current trend of going one's own way and doing one's own thing. It's estimated that in 10 years' time 40% of British women will be living alone. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but that seems a sad statistic. Bonds and commitment are surely vital in life. And Ralph and Lorna do have a genuine bond: both suffered in childhood, having lost their basic security and happiness very early on, and then enduring the misery of bleak, uncaring boarding schools.
Only later on in the novel does Lorna come to realize that although she can't live with Ralph, nor can she live without him. What they have built up together is too precious to be abandoned.
I found the ending of the book very difficult to write. I wanted it to be moving, yet needed to avoid sentimentality and also retain a note of ambivalence. In most of my novels, I prefer to let the reader decide what happens to the characters beyond the final chapter. It seems only fair if they've stuck with me that far!
‘Old age is not for cissies,' Bette Davis once said and, living among the over-85s, I realized the truth of her remark. The elderly have often lost so much – their looks, their jobs, their homes, health, spouses, dignity and self-determination – yet they have no choice but to soldier on in a world that values youth, beauty, wealth and independence.
The situation was so sad I decided to turn it into comedy. It's some time since I've written a humorous book and I was worried at first that my ‘funny muscles' might have atrophied. But there were so many real-life farcical events and misadventures, I found I had a continual supply of inspiring material.
I made my protagonist, Lorna Pearson, much younger than I am – not only to create a romantic interest (she gets involved with one of the care-assistants – an ardent young Nigerian), but also to point up the contrast with her mostly decrepit fellow patients.
Lorna also suffers from panic attacks – and again it was a challenge to make a serious subject funny. Eventually I created a sardonic character, the Panic Monster, who constantly predicts the worst. He's visible only to Lorna, so sometimes she finds herself involved in bizarre 3-way conversations, ostensibly addressing her husband or a friend, while also countering the Monster's gleeful taunts.
As a writer, I'm interested in secrets – people's secret fears and afflictions, the secret cruelties and power-games inherent in most institutions, the secret errors and bunglings in the Health Service. Tread Softly shines a light on all these areas, using humour to make serious points about our frailty as human beings. I'm also fascinated by the secrets of marriage and the fact that often we know so little about our friends' intimate relationships.
Lorna, in the novel, is aware that she married out of need. She was feckless, rootless, penniless, in her twenties, and Ralph appeared a possible saviour and protector. His stoical self-control also seemed a valuable counterbalance to her panicky outbursts. But when the book opens, they are living almost separate lives – no longer sharing a bed, rarely conversing, and eating different meals at different times in different rooms. The obvious solution might seem to be divorce, in keeping with the current trend of going one's own way and doing one's own thing. It's estimated that in 10 years' time 40% of British women will be living alone. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but that seems a sad statistic. Bonds and commitment are surely vital in life. And Ralph and Lorna do have a genuine bond: both suffered in childhood, having lost their basic security and happiness very early on, and then enduring the misery of bleak, uncaring boarding schools.
Only later on in the novel does Lorna come to realize that although she can't live with Ralph, nor can she live without him. What they have built up together is too precious to be abandoned.
I found the ending of the book very difficult to write. I wanted it to be moving, yet needed to avoid sentimentality and also retain a note of ambivalence. In most of my novels, I prefer to let the reader decide what happens to the characters beyond the final chapter. It seems only fair if they've stuck with me that far!
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherCE/OP
- Publication date2012
- ISBN 10 1447223381
- ISBN 13 9781447223382
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages360
- Rating
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR012340204
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