Miss Webster and Cherif

by PatriciaDuncker (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2006

  $5.20

  Elizabeth Webster is a sixty-nine year old retired school teacher. She is a tough, old bird: spiky, cynical and adamantly independent; a woman, who has never married, has no friends and lost touch with all her family. In Little Blessington, the village she lives in, the Miss Marple-like figure is regarded as something of a local oddity. Then one day a beautiful young Moroccan knocks at her door. Cherif's mother befriended Miss Webster on her holiday to Morocco, and now the young man is here to begin university in the town nearby. Before she knows it, Miss Webster finds herself with an unexpected lodger. The two could not be more different: the gentle, shy, well mannered young man, bewildered by this strange, new world; and the sharp-tongued old spinster who guides him through its maze. Yet little by little, they become friends. But the villagers of Little Blessington are suspicious. Cherif is too handsome, too young and he's Arab. No good can come of this. Miss Webster, and Cherif tells the oldest of stories - an unlikely friendship, the prejudices of a small, rural community, the arrival of a foreigner - but in a new, post 9/11, world. Patricia Duncker is one of Britain's finest novelists and she is on top of her form. This is an entertaining, clever, provocative book, full of surprises, nuance and humour.

• Used

  Paperback
  2007

  $3.46

  Elizabeth Webster is a spinster pushing seventy. Forced out of her teaching job, she unleashes her sharp tongue and dogmatic opinions on everyone in the English village of Little Blessington. Then, one night, she grinds to a dead halt. To recover from this illness, she travels to North Africa where she has a brush with terrorism - not that she cares about politics. Three weeks after Miss Webster has returned home her doorbell rings. There stands a beautiful young Arab man carrying a large suitcase. Who is he, why is he there and what does he want?

• Used

  Hardcover
  2006

  $3.46

  Elizabeth Webster is a cantankerous spinster pushing 70. Forced out of her old school teaching job, she unleashes her sharp tongue and dogmatic opinions on everyone in the English village of Little Blessington. Then one cold spring night, sitting on the sofa alone, she grinds to a dead halt. To recover from this mysterious, near-fatal illness her doctor sends her on a journey to a North African country where she ventures into the desert and has a brush with terrorism. But Miss Webster no longer cares about anything, least of all Islamic politics and suicide bombers. Three weeks after her return there is a ring on her doorbell. Standing there in the gusty darkness is a young Arab man of astonishing beauty. Worryingly, he is carrying a large suitcase. But who is Cherif? Why is he there and what does he want? Entertaining, intelligent, provocative, Patricia Duncker's new novel is a comedy of errors set in the aftermath of 9/11, in a darkening world moving towards war. This engaging tale about friendship, trust and liberation is full of reversals and surprises, tenderness and humour.