The Peachgrowers' Almanac

by ElaineDirollo (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2008

  $3.49

  Set in 1857, between England and India, The Peachgrowers' Almanac is a rollicking novel about feisty women, the devotion of sisters and the Victorian obsession with empire, experiments and photography. The peachgrowers of the title are 27 year-old twin sisters with a passion for botany. Lilian, in mysterious disgrace, has been married off to a dreary missionary. Alice is left at home, curator to her father's monstrous collection of artefacts under the watchful eye of the malevolent Dr Cattermole. The Peachgrowers' Almanac is a dazzling debut. Tongue-in-cheek and inventive, comic and horrifying, it illuminates the dark heart of Victorian hypocrisy and selfishness, yet at the same time is engaging and highly enjoyable. Readers will become completely involved with Alice and Lilian - and their hair-raising escapades.

• Used

  Paperback
  2009

  $5.46

  Lilian and Alice are the bright young twin daughters of the eccentric Mr Talbot, who resides in a huge mansion stuffed full of fossils, inventions, suits of armour, botanical specimens and other specimens of his sprawling collection of curiosities. When Lilian rebels against Victorian standards of morality she is packed off to India as the bride of a dreary missionary, leaving Alice alone and in danger of falling victim to her father's bizarre and hair-raising schemes. This lively and entertaining novel follows the two girls on their very different paths to freedom and is set against the tumultuous backdrop of the Indian Mutiny. Shortlisted for the Saltire First Book prize, the Scottish Arts Council First Book Award and the Guildford Literary Festival First Book Award.