Customer Reviews

Lady Jean

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I first discovered the work of Noel Virtue on a trip to New Zealand years ago and immediately became faithful reader. Eventually I have read his entire body of work. There was some serious searching online and in used bookstores. It is a challenge to find many of his books in the U.S., but certainly worth the effort. It is hard to understand why Noel Virtue hasn't received the recognition he deserves in America. I chanced upon Lady Jean earlier this year in London. I am delighted that it is being offered on Amazon - it'll be my gift of choice this year at Christmas.
Readers familiar with Noel Virtue's works will recognize a number of themes and character types from earlier works. They are familiar, but it certainly is all very new and fresh. Reaching the end of Lady Jean you have not merely finished a story, but feel you know an entire household of characters as intimately as a group of your own close friends. The only regret is that just as you feel you get to know these wonderful and interesting people, the book comes to an end. The story is told in Virtue's familiar and straightforward style. Like his previous work, the genius of his style is that Lady Jean seems to just read like a good book, when in truth it is a highly refined, important work of literature. It is Virtue's, clean, unpretentious writing with the ability to tell a good story that reminds me of one of my other favorite authors - Willa Cather. Anyone who has enjoyed his earlier works, will certainly adore Lady Jean. For first time readers, it would be a fine introduction to Noel Virtue. Though be warned, you'll often find yourself hoping to get lucky in the "V's" of every used bookstore's fiction section.
While I would recommend a number of Noel Virtue's works, Lady Jean is in a category by itself. It's the most significant work of literature to come out of New Zealand since Keri Hulme's The Bone People. Lady Jean confirms Noel Virtue's status as one of New Zealand's leading writers.

I am a devotee of Mr Virtue's books and was lucky enough to obtain this one as soon as it came out. The quirkiness of the characters is a joy to read; each one is different and so well observed, it is as tho' one is present and eavesdropping in the background. The writing has an air of comedy and mystery about it; a cross between Charles Dickens in its delineation of the characters and Oscar Wilde in its wit. I am lucky in that I have lived in both St Johns Wood and Brighton and know the big houses in the former and the slight seediness of the latter. Eccentrics abound in both places and Mr Virtue has captured the essence of both. I wanted the book to go on and on far beyond its final page; the writing is so full it makes one want to know more about all the characters. A veritable tour de force. A must for anyone who appreciates true literature.

Helen L McNidder Sinclair, Brighton, UK

Jean has a past that clouds the present. She shares her house with a bizarre cast of characters -- an eighteen year-old homeless lad in love with his uncle, a slightly dotty geriatric aunt, a lesbian friend, her ex-husband's father and, eventually the lad's father... The novel is beautifully written, quietly funny, sharply observed and a font of the sort of tolerance that would make the world a much more pleasant place, were it practised by everyone.

This is a really wonderful, funny, shocking novel, with such true British characters, an excellent plot and a completely satisfying ending.It could well become a modern classic. Just excellent.