The Shell Seekers

ÖZET

Artist's daughter Penelope Keeling can look back on a full and varied life: a bohemian childhood in London and the wilds of Cornwall, an unhappy wartime marriage, and the one man she ever truly loved. She has brought up three very different children: Olivia, her 'special child', who like her mother is both tough and vulnerable; Noel, her ruthless and selfish son, and Nancy, the first born, embittered by greed and jealousy. It is a mild heart-attack that allows the sixty-four year old to take the time to reflect on her past life. Having discharged herself from hospital, the energetic and independent Penelope returns home to her ramshackle cottage in the English countryside. From here she travels to the Mediterranean paradise of Ibiza to stay with Olivia. Here she meets her daughter's lover, Cosmo, and his daughter, the young and beautiful Antonia, all the while reminiscing about her time during the war. The story unfolds like a jigsaw, switching between the 1940's and the present day. ...