And Then Came Paulette by Barbara Constantine

And Then Came Paulette by Barbara Constantine
Buy And Then Came Paulette by Barbara Constantine at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: General Fiction
Reviewer: Sue Magee
Summary: A book which leaves you with a smile on your face and a cheer on your lips for those people who are determined to think of others as well as themsleves and who learn to live their lives to the full. Go on. You know you want to.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 256	Date: March 2014
Publisher: MacLehose Press
ISBN: 978-0857052421
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Ferdinand was a widower and he lived with his son, daughter-in-law and their two children on the family farm. Well, he did until the family moved away. Apparently Ferdinand was occasionally prone to swear and obviously children can never be allowed to hear such words. That left him on his own except for the children’s kitten to which their mother was allergic in a farmhouse which demanded a family. He was lonely and he began... well, let’s call it making mischief. Assault is such an ugly word, isn’t it? Then he met Marceline - or rather he encountered her dog and in returning it discovered the old woman is a room filled with gas and leaking rain water through the roof.

It was a giant leap but really only a small step for Ferdinand to invite Marceline to stay with him (temporarily, of course) whilst her home was repaired. This involved moving some furniture, a donkey called Cornelius, a tom cat and the aforementioned dog. Then there was Guy whose wife had just died and unless Guy began to eat and to look after himself he was in danger of following her very quickly - which lent itself to another obvious solution and before long the farm was home to a community of the lonely, the elderly or the impecunious and gradually they all rediscover the simple joy of living and helping each other.

Sometimes you pick up a book with no expectations. ‘’And Then Came Paulette’’ was one of those books: perhaps I’m a little jaded when it comes to books which are described as ‘’feel-good’’. But his was a little different as I sympathised with Ferdinand straight away and particularly with the way that his family abandoned him. Perhaps some of the problems did resolve themselves just a little bit too readily - I can imagine the older people being a great deal more stubborn even when the suggested solution was obviously to their benefit - but suspend disbelief just for a little while and enjoy the story.

My favourite characters were the children - the Lulus as they are called - Ludo and Lucien. Eight year old Ludo is just mastering the art of swearing and he’s got his head screwed on the right way about the state of his parents’ marriage. There’s an endearing - but very realistic - mix of worldly wisdom and childhood innocence. And who, you are probably wondering is Paulette? Well she’s the final visitor to arrive and I’m afraid that you’ll have to read the book to find out the details! But I’d very much like to thank the publishers for sending a copy of this gorgeous book to the Bookbag.

For another feel-good book we can recommend The First Phone Call From Heaven by Mitch Albom.

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You can read more book reviews or buy And Then Came Paulette by Barbara Constantine at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy And Then Came Paulette by Barbara Constantine at Amazon.com.

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