Customer Reviews

The Cucumber Man

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Poor Henry Pratt! Having failed in his career as a journalist, he finds himself jobless in Thurmarsh, South Yorkshire, in the late fifties. This book tracks his life through the next four decades, through three marriages, numerous children, interesting incidents with relatives and friends, a career with the Cucumber Marketing Board in Leeds, a skirmish with politics and an unlikely international mission to promote, you've guessed it, English cucumbers. Most of his life, Henry has found himself in situation thinking one thing, saying another and wishing, almost immediately, that he'd said another. That approach causes enormous problems for him and the reader cannot imagine how Henry can ever enjoy success at anything. However, having seen the passing of all of his relatives in the next generation up, Henry finally finds something that he's good at.

I would hardly describe the book as hilarious, as does the cover blurb, but it is certainly very entertaining and continuously amusing. There are patches of personal tragedy that probably seem familiar to most readers.
This is the third in the Pratt series and I would recommend reading the series in order. First, Second from Last in the Sack Race then Pratt of the Argus, and then read this one. Easy to read, humorous nostalgia.