A professional family are trying to sell their house in Essex and move back to London but there seems to be a poltergeist which creates mayhem whenever prospective purchases view. Our narrator, 15-year old Jo, and her friend try to solve the mystery. What develops, in this darkly funny, original novel of a dysfunctional family, marvellously evokes a picture of teenagers growing up in the 70s. The characterisation is superb, highly recommended. Comparison: Kate Atkinson, Laurie Graham, Mavis Cheek. Similar this month: Andrew Rosenheim, Jonathan Tropper.
It is 1971 - hippies, hot pants and extraordinary footwear. Jo and her friend Frankie are fifteen, and they have a problem. Frankie's American mother, in England against her will, is determined to move out of the scruffy Essex village to civilized London. Jo's family would follow them if only they could sell their great rambling home, the Red House, but unfortunately, the house is putting up a fight. An architectural oddity built by an eighteenth-century madman to irritate his wife, it always did have a life of its own, but now its sinister goings-on are driving prospective buyers away. The capable Jo has always coped with her eccentric family but they're getting worse. Even more disturbing, Jo and Frankie are convinced that there's been a murder on the premises. As the Red House crumbles around them, the girls are determined to get to the bottom of the mystery so the Starkey family can sell up and start an ordinary life. But along comes the devastatingly attractive Florian, folk singer and opportunist, to cause a chaos all of his own... RAINY DAY WOMEN is a black comedy in which teenaged hopes, fears and egomaniacal tunnel vision are played out against the background of a seriously dysfunctional family, some of its members deeply loveable - and some of them not.
‘A mystery story, a ghost story, a rites of passage tale – Yardley’s novel excels as each. Rainy Day Women manages to capture the strain and pain of teenagers growing up and families breaking down and yet remain upbeat, animated by humour that is sharp but unfailingly generous’ Daily Mail
You'll love this step back in time’ Red
‘Funny, poignant and original’ Company
'Following the lovely Painting Ruby Tuesday comes a tale equally spotted with music references and beautifully evoking teenagers growing up in the 1970s. A crumbling Essex house takes centre stage: its hauntings hide a darker secret. However, it's the light touch and genuine humour that leave you revisiting the story for days. Excellent throughout' Sarah Broadhurst, The Bookseller
Author
About Jane Yardley
Jane Yardley was brought up in Essex in the 1960s. She has a PhD from a London medical school and works on clinical projects around the globe. Her first novel, Painting Ruby Tuesday, (which was written on aeroplanes) was short-listed for the Guilford Arts First Novel Prize. Rainy Day Women is her second novel.
