How to Measure a Cow
How to Measure a Cow
paperback
Published:
23 February, 2017
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Description
‘Compelling…taut and suspenseful’ Guardian
Tara Fraser has a secret.
Desperate to escape herself and her past, she changes her name, packs up her London home and moves to a town in the North of England where she knows no one.
But one of her new neighbours, Nancy, is intrigued by her. And as hard as Tara tries to distance herself, she starts to drop her guard.
Then a letter arrives. An old friend wants to meet up. Struggling to keep her old life at bay, Tara soon discovers the dangers of fighting the past.
More Details
| Type | Book |
|---|---|
| ISBN13 | 9781784702304 |
| ISBN10 | 1784702307 |
| Number Of Pages | 304 |
| Item Weight | 213 g |
| Product Dimensions | 129 x 198 x 19 mm |
| Publisher / Reseller | Vintage Publishing |
| Format | paperback |
Media Reviews
The work of a novelist in her prime… The narrative is taut and suspenseful, the characterization complex and dynamic. -- Stevie Davies * Guardian *
Brilliantly drawn… Atmosphere and characters linger long after the novel ends * Sunday Times *
Deft, intriguing and gripping. Forster never disappoints. -- Kate Williams * Woman & Home *
This is Margaret Forster's last novel, sadly, and it's full of reminders of what made her such a shrewd and arresting chronicler of women’s lives -- Hephzibah Anderson * Mail on Sunday *
An exemplary final work … wonderfully well-observed -- D.J. Taylor * The Times *
It is Forster’s acute scrutiny of the economy of friendship that hooks. -- Stephanie Cross * Observer *
Her simple, direct prose never strikes a false note -- Lucy Popescu * Independent on Sunday *
Amply displays her formidable talent as a storyteller, undiminished to the end, and her marvellous ability to anatomise the lives of her characters while still enabling them to emerge fully realised in the reader’s imagination… The novel is a rich inquiry into the nature of friendship… Forster is, as ever, brilliant at the telling details that illuminate her characters’ inner lives… A fine last novel by an outstanding writer, it will disappoint neither longstanding admirers nor newcomers to Forster’s work. Above all, it is a novel about the abiding human need to love and to be loved, a need that Forster makes clear is beyond measurement. -- Rebecca Abrams * Financial Times *
Forster is very good at the slow reveal, gradually illuminating the more questionable aspects of Tara's character as well as the crime that changed her life. She's also brilliant on the complexities of ordinary people, particularly women: the little ways they deceive themselves, their quickness to judge and their clumsy determination to be kind -- Claire Allfree * Daily Mail *
Quietly compelling. * Sunday Times *
GoodReads Reviews
Author's Bio
Born in Carlisle, Margaret Forster was the author of many successful and acclaimed novels, including Have the Men Had Enough?, Lady's Maid, Diary of an Ordinary Woman, Is There Anything You Want? , Keeping the World Away, Over and The Unknown Bridesmaid. She also wrote bestselling memoirs – Hidden Lives, Precious Lives and, most recently, My Life in Houses – and biographies. She was married to writer and journalist Hunter Davies and lived in London and the Lake District. She died in February 2016, just before her last novel, How to Measure a Cow, was published.