The View From The Summerhouse: A WWII mystery set in Cornwall (Barbara Whitnell Cornish Novels) by Barbara Whitnell

Author:Barbara Whitnell [Whitnell, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sapere Books
Published: 2022-09-19T04:00:00+00:00

TEN

Simon, familiar by this time with the West End, was nevertheless largely ignorant of Greater London — a lack which Laura took it upon herself to rectify. She took him to the old fishing village of Strand-on-the-Green, where they strolled beside the Thames and sat outside a riverside pub.

“I’d no idea,” Simon said appreciatively, looking at the cottages and the gracious houses that lined the bank. “I can’t believe this is London.”

“This is my patch,” Laura told him. “Where I grew up.”

They moved on to Kew Gardens and Hampton Court, and all the time they talked and talked, exploring with growing delight the beliefs and backgrounds and opinions that had shaped them. Even in the middle of the maze they stood for a full five minutes, locked in passionate discussion about — of all people — John Betjeman, whom somehow Laura had never linked with anything very passionate. It was only with the appearance of a couple in identical shellsuits who looked at them a little strangely that they came to their senses and embarked on identifying the elusive and tortuous path to the outside world.

They watched a game of cricket on Kew Green, in the end reduced to helpless laughter at Laura’s attempts to explain the rules — only, she had to admit, sketchily grasped and little understood. And, because he knew she had a sentimental attachment to the place, he asked to be taken to Richmond Park, where she had so often gone with Stella.

It was there, watching her feed the ducks, seeing her smile as she turned to speak to him, that he knew without doubt that she was the woman for him. No matter that they had known each other for such a short time. No matter that there had been other girls before — that he had imagined himself in love. This was different. This was going to last. His total certainty on this point was, at times, something that astonished him. Short the time may have been, but it seemed now that he could hardly remember when Laura wasn’t there, at the very centre of his life.

Time and events moved on; and preoccupied as he was with his own emotions, not to mention the need to work, it was nevertheless impossible to ignore the smiling and implacable face of Saddam Hussein on the television. The world held its breath and worried over the fate of the hostages and the future of oil supplies, and how close Iraq was to having nuclear and chemical weapons.

George Bush ordered American troops to Saudi Arabia, and an international blockade was planned; nevertheless there was, after all, a hope that Jonathan Pryce might be able to play in Miss Saigon on Broadway, a vague possibility that Iran might lift the fatwa on Salman Rushdie, and a racist outburst in Stratford by a Frenchwoman protesting at the playing of a French king by a black actor. These were the things that engaged Simon’s more professional attention, busy as he was with the gathering of material for his next Soundings report.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.