Falling (Windsor Selection) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Jane Howard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2000 | Series: Windsor Selection

Henry Kent has been looking for someone. Anyone will do, as long as she is female, preferably with some money. But when writer Daisy Langrish buys a cottage close by he arouses her agent's suspicions.

Editorial Reviews

From AudioFile

British novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard, author of the acclaimed family-saga series, The Cazalet Chronicles, makes a successful stylistic departure in her new novel. This is a tale of romance told in the voices of two characters: Daisy Langrish, an emotionally vulnerable writer who buys a weekend cottage in the country, and Henry Kent, the charmer who offers to work in her garden. Both are over 60, and each wants something from the other. What they want and what they get--that's the crux of the story. The fine British actors Alan Bates and Diana Quick narrate the tale in alternating first-person chapters. The result is a pas de deux of nuanced, sympathetic reading. Henry Kent's charisma and Daisy's neediness are unforgettable. Neither Bates nor Quick attempts to create significantly different voices for the other characters who pass through the story, though Quick deepens her voice for one character, with mixed results. Instead the narrators create one true voice each for their own characters and capture the reader's imagination. A.C.S. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Chivers Large print (Chivers, Windsor, Paragon & C (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0754014053
• ISBN-13: 978-0754014058
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,630,270 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beware of charming old men, December 19, 2000

By 

"judithb" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Falling (Superintendent Daiziel & Sergeant Pascoe Mysteries) (Audio Cassette)

I haven't heard the tapes, but I've read the book. I couldn't find a listing for the book, so I'm putting my review here.

I can just imagine those fine actors, Alan Bates and Dianna Quick giving these characters voice - Bates, especially, is perfect casting.

Henry is in his 60s, without financial means, and caretaking a small houseboat on one of England's canals. He sees himself as handsome, charming and sexually gifted - a real ladies man. He thinks he knows what women want and does his best to give it to them, but on the wrong side of 60 and with little money, his opportunities are limited. Without a partner, and burnt by experiences from lonely hearts columns, he refuses to give up, and sets his requirements down on paper. However, on a walk to the village for provisions, he notices a local cottage has been bought by a reasonably attractive woman of mature years with, most importantly, obvious signs of money. Successfully offering his services as a gardener, then caretaker of the cottage when Daisy's work takes her to America for some months, he immediately begins planning a strategy to make Daisy's money his. He rearranges his life story in a way that he thinks will make Daisy sympathetic to him, and slowly, relentlessly inveigles her into his web of deceit and lies.

Written in alternate chapters from both Henry's and Daisy's viewpoint, we read of him setting his bait, then her unknowingly taking it, then his derision of her neediness. We find out about Henry's past, or rather, the past he prefers to remember. We find out about Daisy, her two failed marriages, her estrangement from her daughter and her unexpected success as a playwright.

Despite being badly let down by two husbands, Daisy allows herself to be drawn in by what she sees as his selflessness, caring, admiration, and sexual prowess, not realising that it's all a calculated act. But fortunately for her, she's not without friends, and even though Henry eventually has her in his thrall, they are not so easily deceived.

I almost put this book down several times. I had a sour taste in my mouth most of the time I was reading - I felt something nasty was going to happen and I wasn't sure I wanted to know about it. It didn't quite happen that way, due to the intervention of people who really loved Daisy, but this could so easily be the story of many people looking for love. Beware of con-men with good stories, listen to your friends, and trust your initial instincts - all advice Daisy could have used.