Rosy Thornton is a clever and thoughtful writer who comes up with engaging and interesting scenarios for her novels. This one is set in an all female Cambridge college where tradition has been broken with and a man has been appointed as Head of House. This is a witty and intelligent delve in to the world of the Oxbridge academic life with charming characters to keep you smiling throughout.
With insight, humour and a great deal of affection, Rosy Thornton reveals the idiosyncrasies of life in a Cambridge college and the pitfalls of being a man in a woman's world. St Radegund's College, Cambridge, which admits only women students, breaks with one hundred and sixty years of tradition by appointing a man, former BBC executive James Rycarte, as its new Head of House. As Rycarte fights to win over the Fellowship in the face of opposition from a group of feminist dons, the Senior Tutor, Dr Martha Pearce, faces her own battles: an academic career in stagnation, a depressed teenage daughter and a marriage which may be foundering. Meanwhile, the college library is susbiding into the fen mud and the students are holding a competition to see who can 'get a snog off the Dean'. The question on everyone's lips is how long will Rycarte survive at St Radegunds without someone's help?
Rosy Thornton grew up near Ipswich and studied law at Cambridge. She stayed on to do a Ph.D. and has been a lecturer there ever since. Rosy lives in a village near Cambridge with her partner, their two daughters and a springer spaniel called Treacle.
