A Friend of the Family (Center Point Platinum Fiction (Large Print)) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Marcia Willett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2007 | Series: Center Point Platinum Fiction (Large Print)

Picking up the story of Kate Webster and Cass Wivenhoe that began with First Friends, A Friend of the Family (published in the UK as Thea's Parrot) tells the tale of one of their friends, Felicity, a married woman who has been dallying with George, another mutual acquaintance. When Felicity is widowed, everyone expects George to pop the question. He does, but to the astonishment of Kate and Cass, his intended bride is not Felicity. With her usual generous helping of tears and laughter, Marcia Willett again provides her fans with a treat to be savored.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this sequel to First Friends, British author Willet revisits the lives of Cassandra Wivenhoe and Kate Webster, one-time boarding school buddies who later become military wives. But the best part of the novel involves these characters only tangentially. Instead, in the early chapters, Willet focuses on their friend Felicity Mainwaring, who, upon the death of her husband, assumes that her long-time lover, George Lampeter, will now marry her. But George instead chooses to wed the much younger and sweeter Thea Barrable. The story of how Felicity tries to thwart the marriage, and how Thea fights to save it, makes for engrossing reading as their three-way dance comes to a shocking conclusion. But the plot slackens when the doings of other characters, including Cass and Kate, dominate. This is one of Willett's early books, being published in the United States for the first time, and includes beautiful descriptions of the countryside in Devon. It's a shame that the book peters out in the middle, but the strong first half makes it worth picking up.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Booklist

Although Kate Webster and Cass Wivenhoe, characters from Willett's earlier novel First Friends (2006), reappear in this expansive tale of family and friendship, love, and loss set on the rambling moors of England, the story really belongs to Felicity Mainwaring, Thea Lampeter, and Polly Wickam, three women whose approach to life couldn't be more dissimilar yet who find themselves thrown together through dramatically sinuous circumstances. Recently widowed, Felicity is now free to legitimize her lifelong affair with George Lampeter, or would be if George hadn't helplessly fallen in love with Thea, a vibrantly determined woman some 20 years younger than Felicity. While Felicity conspires to destroy their marriage and win George back, Thea's friend, Polly, finds her own desultory marriage to Paul coming to an end and must reevaluate her future. As Thea brings Polly into her circle of friends and family, Felicity finds and loses a love of her own. Unanticipated plot twists, winsome characters, and a beguiling setting unite in Willett's captivating comedy of manners. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 461 pages
• Publisher: Center Point Large Print (February 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585479357
• ISBN-13: 978-1585479351
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,157,113 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars English Comedy of Manners Is Cozy Romance, November 3, 2006

By 

Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: A Friend of the Family (Paperback)

Marcia Willet delights her readers with this satire on the manners and affectations of the British upper middle class. The stock characters are all present---the spurned mistress, the young innocent, the cowardly husband, and more. An illicit love affair, an escaped murderer at the height of a snowstorm, and an unconventional love match all add to the pleasure of this novel.

Marcia Willett follows the lives of Kate and Cass from FIRST FRIENDS in this compelling sequel first published in England under the title THEA'S PARROT. Felicity Mainwaring is newly widowed and expects her lover of the past twenty years, George Lampeter, to marry her. George's mother has other ideas and quietly arranges a meeting with Thea, her choice for daughter-in-law. George falls head over heels in love and marries Thea, but is too cowardly to tell Felicity. When she does learn of his betrayal, the vindictive woman seizes on a plot to destroy his marriage. Thea calls in her own support system and soon a callous, almost diabolical, plot is hatched that will not only attempt to save the marriage but also lead to an untimely and tragic death.

The novel shifts focus in the second half to another friend of the family. Polly takes center stage as the young and unhappy bride married to an adulterous husband. Her friendship with Thea leads to an exciting career for both of them and fame for Percy, Thea's classical-literature quoting parrot.

There is romance aplenty, a daring rescue, love won and love renewed. Readers who love cozy English novels will find a bit of all their favorite elements and even a dash of Agatha Christie-like mystery thrown in for good measure.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cozy Sequel to First Friends, June 29, 2007

By 

Wendy Kaplan (Houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Friend of the Family (Paperback)

Marcia Willet is such a find, such a treasure for American audiences. "A Friend of the Family," first published in the UK in 1995 as "Thea's Parrot," is the wonderful, utterly charming sequel to First Friends. In the former book, we first met British Navy wives Cass Wivenhoe and Kate Webster, whom we last saw mourning the tragic death of Cass's young daughter.

Now, several years have passed. Cass and Kate have settled into two very different, but still friendly, lives. We are thrilled to see them again, but this time, the early part of the book focuses on their old navy-wife rival Felicity Mainwaring, who has now become widowed. We all knew she was carrying on for many years behind her husband's back with George Lampeter, who suddenly (in Felicity's eyes, anyway) seems reluctant to marry her, a preordained happening, according to her. But George has fallen in love (and so do we) with young, sweet Thea Barrable, and Felicity is focused on getting her revenge.

There are many plots and subplots along the way, and the cast of characters includes the wonderful parrot Percy, given to quoting everything from Shakespeare to the Bible, along with a group of quite wonderful dogs, and even--later on in the book--an escaped murderer.

Just wonderful from start to finish; a truly enjoyable book, either on its own or read as a sequel.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars interesting British relationship drama, October 9, 2006

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Friend of the Family (Paperback)

Felicity Mainwaring feels pretty good following the death of her naval officer husband Mark to cancer. Some might interpret that she is glad that her spouse no longer suffers, but instead Felicity expects her long time lover of two decades George Lampeter to marry her after the minimal "grieving" period. To her shock and chagrin, George begins seeing Thea though she is much younger than he is. They fall in love and marry, which sends Felicity over the edge as she refuses to accept this and tries to destroy the marriage. The kind-hearted Thea tries to be there for her new friend Polly though she has her own problems caused by the spiteful Felicity.

Meanwhile Thea's loving cousin Tim tries to help her by arranging a meeting between his future father-in law and Felicity. They begin to fall in love, but something goes awry leading to the vengeful widow's death from mixing medication with gin and plenty of guilt for those left behind to ponder if they could have done something different.

This sequel to FIRST FRIENDS is an interesting British relationship drama that contains an ensemble cast mostly two dimensional except for the devious seemingly over the edge Felicity and to a lesser degree Polly. The story line starts off as a "triangle" starring Felicity, but about half way in turns into a coming of age tale headed by Polly. Fans of the author will enjoy A FRIEND OF THE FAMILY as Marcia Willett provides her readers with a fascinating dysfunctional cozy.

Harriet Klausner