Voracious reader Thelma Horrocks featured in the last issue of Read On where she told us about her love of talking books. Here's her review of a short story called Renting a granny from a collection called Changing Babies by Deborah Moggach.
"This story amused me a great deal. It's really about women's role in society and how it's changed. The main character Munro is a writer suffering from writer's block. He's been married three times and has a daughter by his first wife who's 32 and the same age as his current wife. He also has a daughter of 17 who lives with him and a son, Barnaby, who is 4. His wife is about to go on a course to 'release the inner warrior' so Munro finds himself at home having to look after Barnaby, which he does not find easy."
"He has a very attractive cleaning lady called Tina who wears red lipstick, has blonde hair and a chain around her ankle. Munro persuades her to take Barnaby for a walk and he thinks to himself, 'why can't grannies be like they used to be'. His wife's mother has Botox and HRT and does PR for a rock group. Tina tells him he needs a real granny and suggests the old lady upstairs, who is actually the same age as Munro. She comes down and Barnaby is transfixed at her knee while she knits, he even winds the wool for her. Munro thinks back to a golden age when grannies were grannies and they had a roast on Sundays. He goes up to his computer and his writer's block has disappeared and he writes a bestseller."
Changing Babies is available as TB 12742.