The Season of the Hedge Gypsy
Marriage to the chairman’s niece secures Richard Nye’s place on the Board and an estate in the country. Acquitting himself brilliantly in the field he becomes a darling of the Countryside Alliance and a target for the hunt saboteurs. What Nye’s besotted wife fails to see is that it is not just in the field where he and her uncle ride neck and neck. Blind to her husband’s sexual exploits, how can she know they underlie a sneering contempt for women?
The Hedge Gypsy seemed to have been around the Sandpits area for years, her birdlike form fluttering along the hedgerow, muttering at her schizoid delusions with nothing more to her name than a passionate love of nature. It is unlikely that Nye and this disheveled little woman would ever meet. When their separate worlds collide Nye finds himself facing a volatile, unpredictable force and their bizarre encounter brings about alarming and irreversible changes.
Patricia Young tells a powerful contemporary story with pace and suspense. Her writing combines a quirky sense of humour with a deep compassion for her characters. She entertains and illuminates, testing the reader’s judgement right through to the last page.
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Also available from wholesalers, Gardners and Ingram.
What readers said about The Season of the Hedge Gypsy
I read it from cover to cover in the space of 24 hours and am now picking out the bits here and there to read again. I laughed and I cried in turn, and it will probably be one of those ‘old friend’ kind of books I can read over and over again.
Writer has a style reminiscent of Tom Sharpe’s early South African novels, very punchy and very funny in places. Two hunts take place in the book and they are both riveting! This author has a real knack of pulling you up short, and making bits of the plot explode at you.
Absolutely loved the book. A quality of writing you rarely see today.
A fantastic read which can be enjoyed by a very wide range of readers.
