Guppies for Tea

by Marika Cobbold

Book Overview

This unique and witty tale of three generations of women is a bestseller in England, and a nominee for Britain's prestigious Sunday Express Book of the Year Award. An original, painful, funny, fresh book.--Joanna Trollope.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031210992X
• ISBN13: 9780312109929
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 286 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Insightfulness deserving four stars

Although Guppies for Tea could never be described as gripping, the author quietly steers each character beyond their mild mannered nature into cathartic territory. The story opens with thirty-something Amelia beginning to realise that her maternal grandmother, who gave her the sane upbringing her mother could not, might not be around forever. Simultaneously she experiences the collapse of her two year relationship with Gerald. Both granddaughter and grandmother find themselves forced to move out of their homes and face the relentless forward march of time. The text provided many nuggets of wisdom regarding loss, aging and the ticking of one's biological clock without getting too heavy. The characters were multifaceted and believeable when facing situations not often adressed in contemporary literature (when, for instance, gran's bladder control problem puts a damper on her pool activities). Worth rereading.

Hard to put down

I found this to be a very good book to read and hard to put down. It was funny and sad at the same time. The characters are so real - that in the end when I closed the book - it was hard to get back to the "real world". I am going to check out for more books by Marika Cobbold - for someone whose mother tongue is not English - she has written a very good book (and this was her first one).