Jumping the Queue (King Penguin) [Paperback]

Mary Wesley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 16, 1988 | Series: King Penguin

Matilda Poliport, a recent widow, has decided to end it all. But her meticulously planned bid for oblivion is foiled. Later she foils the suicide attempt of another lost soul--Hugh Warner, on the run from the police--and life begins again for both.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Late-bloomer Wesley published this first novel in Britain at the age of 70a fact that explains the breadth of experience reflected here. As a practical decision, Matilda Poliport, middle-aged and recently widowed, is preparing at the story's outset to commit suicide before the trials of old age can beset her. But she is temporarily thwarted by an encounter with a highly publicized gentleman murderer on the runa matricide, in fact. Matilda whimsically decides to shelter the otherwise sympathetic killer for a few days and agrees to abet his escape to the Continent. Within their brief, strangers-on-a-train-like intimacy, Matilda talks frankly about her life, while the matricide remains strangely silent about his odious crime. However, what the reader learns about Matilda is far more than she admits to herself. Wesley leaves us wondering about the limits of human knowing and what anyone can ever finally determine about either the past or one's true motivations. Reality in this contemporary novel remains an open system. The rub is that Matilda, on the one hand, is remarkably self-aware but, on the other, not only self-deluding but also the victim of a reductive imagination, outright lies and withheld or fragmentary informationpitfalls, the novel suggests, that await the reader of this or any other narrative, be it fiction or so-called fact. The novel is delivered in a bright, sparkling style, full of witty asides on the fatuity of modern culture and mores, all the better to underscore its dark themes.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Mary Wesley was born in 1912. Her education took her to the London School of Economics, and during the war, she worked in the War Office. She published her first novel, Jumping the Queue at the age of seventy. It was followed by nine more. Mary Wesley died in 2002. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (May 16, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140108270
• ISBN-13: 978-0140108279
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #113,829 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mary Wesley, recently passed on, great writer, January 17, 2003

By 

Arlene Herring "ekelks" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jumping the Queue (King Penguin) (Paperback)

The marvelous Mary Wesley passed away a few weeks ago. She was 90. She did not begin publishing until she reached her 70's. She wrote witty social comedy with depth and tenderness and could spin a wicked plot. This was her first novel. I had the pleasure of discovering her when Arts & Entertainment, a TV station, broadcast "Harnessing Peacocks," which was my favorite of her novels. I binged on her work in the 90's, reading one after another. Now that she's gone, I shall reread them all.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Odd tale ends with a surprise., March 8, 2001

By 

Helen Collins "Helen" (PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jumping the Queue (King Penguin) (Paperback)

Jumping the Queue is an unusually crafted story that begins with Matilda Poliport's attempt to end her life thwarted by timing, a non-event which sets the tone for the whole tale. Mary Wesley describes Matilda's environs with exquisite word pictures: her cottage, her neighbors, town. When matricide Hugh Warner stumbles into Matilda's life, things take an interesting turn, and they keep turning that way till the end. Jumping the Queue is an extraordinary story whose ending surprised me, and I'm hard to fool.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Want to read it again, October 21, 2003

By 

Tamar Simchi (Israel, Netanya) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jumping the Queue (King Penguin) (Paperback)

I read this about ten years ago and loved it. It's funny in a mad way all the way through (or at least that's how I remember it) except for the ending which really did upset me - in a forgiving kind of way.

Easy read, great plot and highly recommended.