Patricia Ferguson

Following on from The Midwife's Daughter, Aren't We Sisters? is a gripping novel about buried secrets and unlikely friendship.Norah Thornby can no longer afford to live in her grand family home in the centre of Silkhampton. Unless, perhaps, she can find a respectable lodger.But Nurse Lettie Quick is not nearly as respectable as she seems. What's really going on at the clinic she has opened? And why has she chosen Silkhampton?Meanwhile the beautiful Rae Grainger has found the perfect place to stay, in an isolated house miles away from the town. It's certainly rather creepy, especially at candlelit bedtime, but Rae knows that all she has to do is stay out of sight, until others - paid, professional others - are ready to take her little problem away. Then she can just forget the whole ghastly business . . . can't she?No one guesses, of course, that there's a killer quietly at work in Silkhampton; that in one way or another all three women are in danger . . .

Aren't We Sisters?

A novel connecting disperate women at different times in their lives, and in history. Sylvia, a brilliant and successful eye surgeon is nevertheless amazed to find herself pregnant, despite taking no precautions. Iris, a timid young woman in love with a man from a different social stratum. And Ruby, a 1950's housewife who receives poison pen letters, which she believes she thoroughly deserves. Linking these women is a fascinating thread that weaves their lives together. Peripheral Vision is a powerful new novel about love and the lack of it; about loss, mothering, sight and insight, from this prize-winning author. Patricia Ferguson's last novel, It So Happens, was listed for the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2005. Now read on.

Peripheral Vision

Garnitures are matching sets of ceramic vases, and this book shows their rise and fall in popularity

Vase Sets from National Trust Houses

Garnitures

Charles Fenoughty

It So Happens

A BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime. The new novel from Orange Prize listed author Patricia Ferguson is a deeply moving tale about two sisters and the young black orphan who changes their lives - for anyone who loves Call the Midwife or Andrea Levy. Violet Dimond, the Holy Terror, has delivered many of the town children - and often their children - in her capacity as handywoman. But Violet's calling is dying out as, with medicine's advances, the good old ways are no longer good enough. Grace, Violet's adopted daughter, is a symbol of change herself. In the place where she has grown up and everyone knows her, she is accepted, though most of the locals never before saw a girl with skin that colour. For Violet and Grace the coming war will bring more upheaval into their lives: can they endure it, or will they, like so many, be swept aside by history's tide? A moving tale of prejudice, struggle, love, tragedy, bravery and the changing lives of women in the twentieth century, The Midwife's Daughter grips the reader all the way to its heartstopping conclusion. Praise for Patricia Ferguson: 'Strong, affecting, vividly depicted . . . It is a pure pleasure to read' Lionel Shriver, Telegraph (on Peripheral Vision by Patricia Ferguson) 'One of the most brilliant novelists around . . . funny, gripping, wonderfully shrewd' Independent Patricia Ferguson trained in nursing and midwifery, and her first book, Family Myths and Legends, won the Betty Trask, David Higham and Somerset Maugham awards. Her most recent books, It So Happens and Peripheral Vision were both longlisted for the Orange Prize. She lives in Bristol.

Patricia Ferguson

About

Books

Join the club