Keeping Up with Magda [Paperback]

Isla Dewar (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1996

The village of Mareth is a community of elaborate scheming and sexual innuendo, where everyone knows everything about each other. At the hub of this is the Ocean Cafe, run by Magda, who makes grown men eat their greens, won't serve customers she doesn't like, and loves her family with a passion.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Isla Dewar was born in Edinburgh. She wrote articles for magazines and newspapers for many years before she wrote KEEPING UP WITH MAGDA, her first novel, in 1995. She lives in Fife with her husband, a cartoonist; they have two sons.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Headline Book Publishing (April 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747251126
• ISBN-13: 978-0747251125
• Product Dimensions: 0.5 x 5.2 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,507,386 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Humanity,humour and beyond the obvious relationships, March 10, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Glasgow , Scotland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Keeping Up with Magda (Paperback)

Jessie Tate leaves Edinburgh and a failing relationship for a village on the Fife coast. She comes across Magda owner of the Ocean Cafe who seems to have the roles of mother daughter and lover easily under control. Isla Dewar explores the intricacies of each of her characters and their foibles with a humanity and a dry Scottish wit that leaves you wiser and smiling.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating characters and setting, August 19, 2006

By 

127 (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Keeping Up with Magda (Paperback)

This is not a typical small town/ greasy spoon diner setting. The characters have great depth and Dewar explores and develops them wonderfully, at the same time avoiding both cliches and predictability. Jessie is leaving both a cosmoplitan life and a painful relationship to move to a small Scottish fising village, where she encounters Magda, the uncompromising gourmet chef of a modest cafe. Through numerous twists and philosophical musings, a fascinating story unfolds. Between the dialogue, dry humor, and food, I enjoyed every second that I spent in the Ocean Cafe. Entertaining, intelligent, and highly entertaining.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Small Town Life Wins?, July 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Keeping Up with Magda (Paperback)

Read this after a trip to Scotland (I'm from the U.S.). We had visited a very old town with narrow streets and where my impression was everybody was in everybody else's business. This was a quick read which I enjoyed, perhaps because I had the visual context...