Dear Gert, |
Gert Hardcastle is thirty-something and unlucky in love. But now she thinks she's found "the One" in enigmatic Eva, who works in the museum cafeteria where Gert catalogues Egyptian relics. Hoping to lay the ghosts of her own past to rest, Gert is trying to understand her difficult childhood: her relationship with her obsessive twin, Frank; her father who vanished to Africa to run a crocodile farm; and her vain, neglectful mother who still sends her begging letters.
Can Gert somehow come to terms with her traumatic upbringing and make a new life with Eva? Or will she once again be unlucky? In a lyrical narrative studded with relentless humor and giddy self-deprecation, Julia Darling introduces an irresistible cast of characters whose shared story is unforgettable.
"An enormously satisfying meal. Hilarity and pain are mixed delicately. . . . [Darling's] territory is the deepest part of the imagination."
-- Independent on Sunday
"An engaging, inspiring first novel, Crocodile Soup is funny, tragic, and brilliantly original."
-- Glasgow Herald
"Darling writes with assurance and an eye for quirky detail"
-- Observer
"Darling's way with words is sublime ... a combination of delicacy, sensitivity and humour. A novel of exceptional strength and skill ... lingers poignantly in the mind."
-- Big Issue
"Funny, fresh and delicious ... snap it up"
-- New Woman
ISBN 0-141-01516-0
Crocodile Soup was on the long list for the Orange Prize and was republished by Penguin on 24 June 2004. It was voted one of the nation's Top Ten Lesbian & Gay Books, as selected by The Big Gay Read.
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Created by Julia Darling and Cornwell Internet. |
Last updated on 6th June 2006 by Roger Cornwell.
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