The Tortoise and the Hare (Virago Modern Classics) [Paperback]

Elizabeth Jenkins (Author), Hilary Mantel (Introduction)

Book Description

Series: Virago Modern Classics | Publication Date: February 1, 2009

The magnetic Evelyn Gresham, 52, is a barrister of considerable distinction. He has everything life could offer—a gracious riverside house in Berkshire, a beautiful young wife, Imogen, who is devoted to him, and their 11-year-old son, a replica of his father. Their nearest neighbor is Blanche Silcox, a plain, tweed-wearing woman of 50 who rides, shoots, fishes, and drives a Rolls Royce—in every way the opposite of the domestic, loving Imogen. Their world is conventional country life at its most idyllic: how can its gentle surfaces be disturbed?

Editorial Reviews

Review

My best book of almost all time is THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE by Elizabeth Jenkins ... wonderfully sinister, so enchantingly written and so sad. Everyone should read it Jilly Cooper As smooth and seductive as a bowl of cream Hilary Mantel One of my favourite classics. Elegant and ironic, its continuing charm lies in its quirky and enigmatic love story which becomes more beguiling with each re-reading Carmen Callil Deliciously subtle...A lost world of tweeds and twin-sets...a classic novel of the fifties DAILY MAIL

From the Publisher

Virago¹s distinguished Modern Classics series is dedicated to the celebration of women writers of the 19th and 20th centuries and to the rediscovery and reprinting of their work. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Virago UK (February 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844084949
• ISBN-13: 978-1844084944
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #622,581 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true-treat, must read for Jane Austen fans, August 16, 2010

By 

A. Rathan (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Tortoise and the Hare (Virago Modern Classics) (Paperback)

How does this book not have more reviews? I found it through the 2010 PBS summer reading list and it was absolutely enchanting. I couldn't put it down. As a short description, I'd say it's like a 1950's version of a Jane Austen novel - uppercrust English society, beautiful prose, absorbing conversations, and descriptions of the English countryside. The images and scenes of the book stay with you long after you've put it down. Aside from that, it's also a moving story about a troubled marriage, and the gender roles of the mid-1950's that made men and women much more unalike than need be.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an elegant book, June 27, 2010

By 

carolyn mufson - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tortoise and the Hare (Virago Modern Classics) (Paperback)

This is an elegantly written, albeit slowly paced book. It tells the story of a fastidious wife and indifferent mother whose life revolves around pleasing and maintaining the interest of her husband, who is difficult to please. When a neighbor begins to intrude on the marriage the wife's world is changed. It is the familiar world of upper middle class England after the Second War and the preoccupation with appearances of the leisure class. The book written well before the marriage of the Prince of Wales to Camilla Parker Bowles,but it may remind some readers of the prince's preference for the less beautiful and more motherly Camilla over the glamourous Lady Diana .

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars i've loved it for years, October 30, 2010

By 

Jane H. Otoole "old movie fan" (pittsburgh, pa usa) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Tortoise and the Hare (Virago Modern Classics) (Paperback)

i found this book in a bargain bin years ago and it has long been a favorite of mine. for some reason, i never thought to look for other books by Elizabeth Jenkins and only recently have. she appears to have had an even greater interest in english history than in fiction, but i've obtained a novel, "Harriet" and an Elizatheth I bio. "Harriet" from 1934 is a must read, a facinating and rather horrifying tale of the complicity between several people to gradually arrange the slow death of a simple minded girl for her money---wow! the Elizabeth I biography awaits me, but i anticipate it being special, since the author is a great storyteller. in my mind, i imagined a masterpiece theater production of Tortoise and the Hare, but my ideal Evelyn is no longer with us, Alan Bates. he had the magnetism and physical stature and air of intimidation which would have been perfect for the role. i wish someone would tackle the story, and can't believe someone hasn't already. but for a civilized and unconventional story of a disintegrating marriage, Tortoise and the Hare is unmatched.