Chickenfeed [Paperback]

Minette Walters (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Allen & Unwin (2006)
• ISBN-10: 1741149193
• ISBN-13: 978-1741149197
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Was this the way that it really happened?, November 29, 2008

By 

Lance Mitchell (Hampshire, UK, Northern Hemisphere, Planet Earth) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chickenfeed (Quick Reads) (Paperback)

Minette Walters does a great job of weaving what could have been the real lives of Norman Thorne and Elsie Cameron around a true story from 1920's Sussex.

Norman was eventually convicted of the murder of his fiancé, Elsie, and hung, despite the doubts around the conviction at the time. The way that the author describes the events leading up to Elsie's death could easily have happened this way, and Chickenfeed casts even more doubts on Norman's conviction.

The pressures exerted on a poor young man, struggling to build a decent living from a small chicken farm, which has been paid for by his father, in the years following the First World War, are enormous. Elsie is depressed, and is obsessed with becoming a married woman, especially after her brother and sister both get married in the same year. She will do anything to become Norman's wife, and that obsession, one way or another, undoubtedly contributes to her tragic death.

The author leaves the conclusions to the reader, which I think is a good move.

This is a book that not only makes you think about what happened to these two young unfortunates, but of the wider picture surrounding the death sentence down the years. It takes less than two hours to read, and is well worth the effort.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not "Chickenfeed" but chicken****, May 9, 2007

By 

Wallau reader - See all my reviews

Let me start out by saying I am a huge fan of Minette Walters. I think she is a superb writer gifted with the ability to develop unique plots and in-depth characterizations. No two of her books are ever quite the same but they have all been excellent reads. Up to now, that is. "Chickenfeed" is a book so bad that to call it sophomoric would be to insult sophomores! There is no character development, a boring plot and a complete lack of quality. Whoever came up with the idea of "quick reads" obviously sold it to Ms. Walters (and, I presume, others) as a quick way to pad her bank account while doing absolutely no work at all.
I am deeply disappointed in this work and I hope Ms. Walters is also, and that she will return to her normally high standards with her next effort.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read, January 18, 2012

By 

Mindlink Educational Consulting Inc. "Roxana" (Bucerias, Nayarit, Mexico) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Chickenfeed (quick reads) (Kindle Edition)

This mini-novel by Minette Walters did not disappoint. I was so sorry when it ended, eager to read more from one of my favorite authors. I enjoyed her quirky mind-games and plot twists just as much as I have in her full-length books.