MADreads

Just the thing

August 28th, 2008 Lisa - Central

There’s nothing like a good British soap opera/social comedy.  Especially in the summer.  Nicholas Coleridge’s A Much Married Man is just the thing for a summer vacation. 

In this very long, but very enjoyable novel which begins in 1965, Anthony Anscombe, a charming, if naive country gentleman, is from a wealthy Cotswold banking family that also owns most of the lovely village of Winchford, Oxfordshire.  One night, at his parent’s annual ‘fork supper,’ he spies Amanda across the room and falls madly in love.  The free spirit dares him to follow her to France (she’s going there the next day) which he does, and they share a romantic interlude during a storm which clinches the deal.  They marry and have a child, Jasmine.  But soon the impetuous Amanda leaves him.  And so begins Anthony’s habit of marrying the wrong woman.  By 1995, he has 3 ex-wives and 10 children and stepchildren.  Which, despite the chaos and the amount of money he shells out, he really enjoys.  As Coleridge puts it:

“There were times when Anthony wondered how it had all worked out like this; he felt he had ended up at the epicentre of an enormous adhesive spider’s web, upon which legions of ex-lovers, ex-wives, children and extended families were stuck for ever, all looking to him to feed, house and educate them.”

Anthony becomes extraordinarily rich, and loses everything; there are surprises revealed at the village cricket game, rock concerts, modeling careers, an evil stepson, international travel and more.  Our hero, though a bit of a dolt where women are concerned, is thoroughly likeable.  And though it could have stood a bit of editing (periodic updates on all those 10 kids could be a bit monotonous) it was a heck of a lot of fun finding out who Anthony would end up with.

For a PBS-like satire of upper-class British society, this novel is just perfect.

Entry Filed under: Recreational Fiction