A Friend of the Family [Large Print]

Another great book, great story, love my downtime reading Marcia Willett!!

As always, Marcia Willett's book is a cozy read with wonderful characters, and it evokes a great sense of place. Be aware though, that this is the original title of the book released in the U.S. as "A Friend of the Family." I don't know why publishers change the titles when they publish books in other countries; people like me end up with duplicate books under different titles! Maddening!

Marcia Willet is such a find, such a treasure for American audiences. "A Friend of the Family," first published in the UK in 1995 as "Thea's Parrot," is the wonderful, utterly charming sequel to First Friends. In the former book, we first met British Navy wives Cass Wivenhoe and Kate Webster, whom we last saw mourning the tragic death of Cass's young daughter. Now, several years have passed. Cass and Kate have settled into two very different, but still friendly, lives. We are thrilled to see them again, but this time, the early part of the book focuses on their old navy-wife rival Felicity Mainwaring, who has now become widowed. We all knew she was carrying on for many years behind her husband's back with George Lampeter, who suddenly (in Felicity's eyes, anyway) seems reluctant to marry her, a preordained happening, according to her. But George has fallen in love (and so do we) with young, sweet Thea Barrable, and Felicity is focused on getting her revenge. There are many plots and subplots along the way, and the cast of characters includes the wonderful parrot Percy, given to quoting everything from Shakespeare to the Bible, along with a group of quite wonderful dogs, and even--later on in the book--an escaped murderer. Just wonderful from start to finish; a truly enjoyable book, either on its own or read as a sequel.

Read in November 2006. "A Friend of the Family" or "Thea's Parrot" in England and my title of choice, is Marcia Willett's second novel under her given name. In this one we learned what happened after the tragedy that was the beginning and end of First Friends and/or Those Who Serve. Here we are introduced to Thea who plays a major role, and we get to know a lot more about Felicity Mainwaring, a friend that changes everyone's lives! And once again in this one we get to follow the lives of families and friends that fictionally live in the lovely West Country. It is riveting and rewarding... I love promising endings!

Marcia Willet delights her readers with this satire on the manners and affectations of the British upper middle class. The stock characters are all present---the spurned mistress, the young innocent, the cowardly husband, and more. An illicit love affair, an escaped murderer at the height of a snowstorm, and an unconventional love match all add to the pleasure of this novel. Marcia Willett follows the lives of Kate and Cass from FIRST FRIENDS in this compelling sequel first published in England under the title THEA'S PARROT. Felicity Mainwaring is newly widowed and expects her lover of the past twenty years, George Lampeter, to marry her. George's mother has other ideas and quietly arranges a meeting with Thea, her choice for daughter-in-law. George falls head over heels in love and marries Thea, but is too cowardly to tell Felicity. When she does learn of his betrayal, the vindictive woman seizes on a plot to destroy his marriage. Thea calls in her own support system and soon a callous, almost diabolical, plot is hatched that will not only attempt to save the marriage but also lead to an untimely and tragic death. The novel shifts focus in the second half to another friend of the family. Polly takes center stage as the young and unhappy bride married to an adulterous husband. Her friendship with Thea leads to an exciting career for both of them and fame for Percy, Thea's classical-literature quoting parrot. There is romance aplenty, a daring rescue, love won and love renewed. Readers who love cozy English novels will find a bit of all their favorite elements and even a dash of Agatha Christie-like mystery thrown in for good measure.

Felicity Mainwaring feels pretty good following the death of her naval officer husband Mark to cancer. Some might interpret that she is glad that her spouse no longer suffers, but instead Felicity expects her long time lover of two decades George Lampeter to marry her after the minimal "grieving" period. To her shock and chagrin, George begins seeing Thea though she is much younger than he is. They fall in love and marry, which sends Felicity over the edge as she refuses to accept this and tries to destroy the marriage. The kind-hearted Thea tries to be there for her new friend Polly though she has her own problems caused by the spiteful Felicity. Meanwhile Thea's loving cousin Tim tries to help her by arranging a meeting between his future father-in law and Felicity. They begin to fall in love, but something goes awry leading to the vengeful widow's death from mixing medication with gin and plenty of guilt for those left behind to ponder if they could have done something different. This sequel to FIRST FRIENDS is an interesting British relationship drama that contains an ensemble cast mostly two dimensional except for the devious seemingly over the edge Felicity and to a lesser degree Polly. The story line starts off as a "triangle" starring Felicity, but about half way in turns into a coming of age tale headed by Polly. Fans of the author will enjoy A FRIEND OF THE FAMILY as Marcia Willett provides her readers with a fascinating dysfunctional cozy. Harriet Klausner