San Marco: The End of the Road by Margaret Henderson Smith
| San Marco: The End of the Road by Margaret Henderson Smith | |
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| Category: Women's Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: The third book in the series which seens Harriet Glover collect men and catastrophes as she and Tricia wreak havoc in Venice. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 290 | Date: December 2010 |
| Publisher: Arima | |
| ISBN: 978-1845494681 | |
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When we last saw Harriet Glover she had just been stood up at the altar by her long-term partner, Mark but rescued and proposed to by the man she has lusted after for quite a while – Joris Sanderson. Harriet knows something else too. She knows that she's pregnant and that the father of the child is not the man she was going to marry, but the man who has now proposed. Complicated? Of course it is. This is the woman who could make Frank Spencer look like a miracle of organisation. She's going to have to do something quite spectacular this time around.
And what does she do? Well, on the morning when she should be sitting in church with her new (or even latest) fiancé to hear the bans being called she collects best friend Tricia and they fly to Venice. Why Venice? Simple. It was the next flight. Naturally there's a trail of destruction (there was no way that someone would not end up in a canal, was there?), mayhem (best not to know about the provenance of Tricia's designer dress) and another man. Another man? Yes – it's not long before Harriet has another man in thrall to her charms, but this one seems to know quite a lot about subterfuge – and exactly who are those heavies who keep appearing?
It's farce, of the classic Whitehall variety. Suspend disbelief and go along for the ride. Harriet might have been made a dame because of her teaching abilities but she doesn't seem able to get into school without causing injury to the caretaker. And Tricia – well she is going to annoy you to the point where you would cheerfully strangle her and face the consequences.
San Marco: The End of the Road didn't work as well for me as A Question of Answers or Ne Obliviscaris. This story relies more on dialogue and this is not Henderson Smith's strength. She's adept at the Wodehousian slapstick scene, the quirky turn of events and the ridiculous consequence made to seem almost logical. Her characters are two dimensional, but this is farce and more would over-egg the pudding – but this time around I felt the dialogue let the book down. It would also have benefited from a rigorous proofreading.
I'd alike to thank the author for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
The book could be read as a standalone, but you will benefit from reading A Question of Answers and Ne Obliviscaris first. We also have a review of The Turn of the Tide by Margaret Henderson Smith.
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You can read more book reviews or buy San Marco: The End of the Road by Margaret Henderson Smith at Amazon.com.
You can read more about Margaret Henderson Smith here.
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