The Price Of Water In Finistère - Hardcover

Malmsten, Bodil; Perry, Frank

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1843431645 ISBN 13: 9781843431640

Publisher: Harvill Press, 2005

Synopsis

"In the same way as there's a partner for every person, there's a place. All you have to do is find the one that's yours among the billions that belong to someone else, you have to be awake, you have to choose." With this conviction in mind, the central character of this engaging and profound novel by acclaimed Swedish writer Bodil Malmsten abandons her native country at the age of 55 to settle in Brittany. For six months she is mind-lessly happy. Then, one fateful February day, she promises her elegant neighbour Madame C to write about her beloved "bit of paradise". At the heart of this portrait of a new life is the conviction that the happiness to be found in Finist-re will not allow itself to be, cannot be, expressed in writing. Embroidered around this seeming paradox are poignant, outraged and thought-provoking observations on the widest range of subjects: how not to buy plants, the elicit pleasures of bargain-hunting, the misery of writer's block, social democracy, racism everywhere, tulipomania, the stubbornness of bank managers, the controlling of moles and slugs, death, political hypocrisy, the delights of wild weather. Malmsten's passion and humour shine through every episode she describes, however minor, offering the reader a window onto a solitary life at once touching, thought-provoking and, occasionally, hilarious.

About this title

Review:

"lively, enchanting and deeply serious book" (Paul Binding, Guardian)

From the Publisher:

At just the point when most sensible people are settling into the routines of middle age, a feisty, fiercely independent woman abandons her home for a new life in another country.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvill Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1843431645
• ISBN 13: 9781843431640
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224