Benny and Shrimp

Why is it so impossible to get a relationship to work between two mature single people, driven by an enormous longing and loudly ticking biological clocks? Especially when they are struck by a totally unexpected passion when they first meet... In alternate chapters, Benny and "Shrimp" tell the story of a love that started by mistake in a village cemetery. She is a childless young widow with a sharp intellect and a home so tidy that even her jam jars are in alphabetical order. He is a gentle, overworked farmer, who fears becoming the village's Old Bachelor. The attraction between them is powerful. But how will she learn to accept that he falls asleep at the opera and has a house full of his mother's embroidered wall hangings, and how could he ever feel at home in her minimalist apartment, bare as a dentist's waiting room? In Benny and Shrimp, Katarina Mazetti brilliantly captures the intensity of a midlife love affair, and the heartbreaking inevitability with which life tends to... The winter of 1843 is one of bitter strife for England. The nation is on the brink of ruin and revolution, the government struggling to stand firm against the rising chaos.Out of this apocalyptic landscape emerges a young Scotsman, Daniel McNaughten. He has been on a journey, a descent into his own despair, mirroring the tribulations of society at large. His journey will end in London, with the death of an apparently innocent man. One freezing day in January, he takes a shot at the Prime Minister's Private Secretary, Edward Drummond, as he makes his way to Downing Street. The incident rocks the nation. Has the assassin perhaps mistaken Mr. Drummond for the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel? And who is this McNaughten? A dangerous political radical -- possibly the agent of an entire network of revolutionaries -- or a religious fanatic? Is he a lunatic, or merely a victim of the collective madness that surrounds him? SiÃ¥n Busby's debut novel is a breathtaking feat of historical scholarship, which takes you to the heart of the Victorian soul. As Daniel McNaughten goes on trial, the dark forces lying beneath the surface of society threaten to break loose and overturn the very order of things. Suddenly, the nation's sanity seems to be hanging on the destiny of one hapless individual. The verdict against him will change English law forever. Why is it so impossible to get a relationship to work between two mature single people, driven by an enormous longing and loudly ticking biological clocks? Especially when they are struck by a totally unexpected passion when they first meet... In alternate chapters, Benny and “Shrimp" tell the story of a love that started by mistake in a village cemetery, a love that should not really be as complicated as it seems. She is a childless young widow with a sharp intellect and a home so tidy that even her jam jars are in alphabetical order. He is a gentle, overworked milk farmer, a reluctant loner, who fears becoming the village's Old Bachelor. The attraction between them is powerful. But how will she learn to accept that he falls asleep at the opera and has a house full of his mother's embroidered wall hangings, and how could he ever feel at home in her minimalist apartment, bare as a dentist's waiting room? In Benny and Shrimp, Katarina Mazetti brilliantly captures the intensity of an unexpected love affair, and the heartbreaking inevitability with which life tends to get in the way The bestselling “offbeat, down-to- earth love story”(The Observer, London)— now available in the United StatesAn international sensation, this addictively readable tale asks the question: Why is it so impossible to get a relationship between two middle-aged misfits to work? The answer lies in the story of Shrimp, a young widowed librarian with a sharp intellect and a home so tidy that her jam jars are in alphabetical order; Benny, a gentle, overworked milk farmer who fears becoming the village’s Old Bachelor; and an unlikely love that should not be as complicated as it seems. Reminiscent of the works of Carol Shields, this quirky, humorous, beautifully told novel breathes new life into the age-old conundrum that is love. On a freezing night in February, a woman wades into the waters of Morecambe Bay in a drunken bid to commit suicide. Braced for death, she finds herself instead saving a man's life-a young Chinese cockle picker, one of the only survivors of a tragic mass drowning... He glances over at her. Her shoulder length brown hair is matted with wet against the sides of her face, and there are dark circles under her eyes. He is uncertain of her age. Not young, he decides. Thirty? Forty? He finds it impossible to judge with foreigners. Na een ongeluk op zee waarbij ruim twintig Chinezen worden gedood, wordt een jonge Chinees als vermist beschouwd; hij probeert zich los te maken van zijn cultuur en zijn tweelingzuster