Sandmouth [Paperback]

Ronald FRAME (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf (1987)
• ASIN: B000UZR256
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars View of very English small-town politics in the 1950s, July 20, 2000

By 

Simon Cross (RUSTINGTON, West Sussex. United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sandmouth (Hardcover)

As "Sandmouth People," I read this book just as I left my teenage years. It was the book that gave me a desire to read again, and in that respect I have never looked back. I have now read this book at least three times, bought it for friends and lent it to other friends.

Sandmouth is a fictional English seaside resort, peopled with lively characters, some likeable, other not so likeable. The action follows these characters through one single day, a day that will be forever remembered in Sandmouth as the day one resident is murdered. That particular resident is Tilly, who though saddled with learning difficulties, always seems to be in the wrong place at the right time, and if only she could communicate better, she could tell the whole town a thing or two about each of its residents. This will ultimately prove to be Tilly's downfall, as many of the residents have secrets they would prefer to keep secret.

As the book, and the day, progresses so the characters' reasons for killing Tilly become apparent. An unexpectedly hot day, the heat only contributes to the oppressive mood in the town. The book accurately recaptures the mindset of the residents of such a town during the early 1950s. A number of people were desperately clinging to pre-war values, although conscious that those values were quietly slipping away.

By turns the book is funny and tragic. Each character will elicit a different emotion in the reader. If you can find a copy of this book, and have an interest in what England was like at that time, then this is an excellent novel to read.