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Harding, John What We Did On Our Holiday ISBN 13: 9780552773881

What We Did On Our Holiday - Softcover

 
9780552773881: What We Did On Our Holiday
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Thirty-somethings Nick and Laura have been married for 10 years and things aren't going well. She senses her biological clock ticking away and wants children while he doesn't. Not because he doesn't like children but because he feels a child would be just one responsibility too many.
Nick's problem is his parents. He's devoted to them of course, but sometimes even he finds his patience wearing a little thin which in turn brings on the guilt. But they are rather a handful. They're conservative, highly eccentric and increasingly infirm. His Mum's so enormously overweight that her heart's now a bit dicky and she is certainly no longer up to looking after Dad by herself. He's got Parkinson's Disease - not the shaking kind, as Mum's always reminding people - but he's unable to do even the simplest task himself and needs constant care and attention.
Nick knows the time has come to take the matter in hand but things need to be handled carefully. And so he and Laura take them to Malta for what they hope will be a happy final family holiday. Nick thinks his only problem is going to be avoiding Laura's amorous advances but this particular island turns out to be a sun-kissed cupboard with more than its fair share of skeletons...
Tackling a taboo subject with sensitivity, understanding, great affection and good humour, What We Did On Our Holiday is a remarkably uplifting, moving and reassuring novel about a time in our lives when it seems roles are reversed and we find ourselves looking after the very people we'd always assumed would be there to look after us.

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Review:
Nick is 36 and he's still going on holiday with his Mum and Dad. ButWhat We Did on Our Holiday is no ordinary outing. The health and sanity of his elderly parents are retreating rapidly, and this may be their final sojourn in the sun. Nick takes them to Malta, a cherished spot in his father's wartime memories, and in doing so unleashes an army of skeletons from the family cupboard.

Meanwhile, Nick's wife Laura has a biological clock louder than Big Ben--and she is determined to become pregnant. Nick is equally determined--by foul means or fair--to avoid fatherhood, and enlists an array of unconventional contraceptive methods, including sunburn, a saucepan of Horlicks and a loaded turkey baster. None of these, however, cause quite so much chaos as Anthony Spiteri, the debonair Maltese businessman claiming kinship with Nick's family.

Harding has crafted a witty and original plot which tackles the awkward aspects of old age in a voice that is refreshingly honest. He paints a touching and sensitive picture of a couple in their final years, but avoids sentimentality. Nick's mother is 18 stone and worries she will waste away if she misses breakfast. His father meanwhile, terminally constipated and rarely intelligible, wields the word "toilet" as his one remaining weapon. The humour--centred around funny foreigners, bowel movements and sex--is very British, but this is far from a cosy book, and its conclusion is as moving as it is unpredictable. --Matthew Baylis

Review:
"'A wonderfully funny, original and moving novel...Harding has knife-sharp observation, immaculate timing, and the guts to take his story as far as it will go'" (Helen Dunmore)

"'Poignant, hilarious and ultimately deeply moving...a real page turner...a wonderful novel'" (Marika Cobbold)

"'A wonderful novel...written with great humour and a rare generosity of spirit. Truly original'" (Deborah Moggach)

"'Beautifully crafted...the perfect marriage of humour and heart'" (Glenn Patterson)

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  • PublisherBlack Swan
  • Publication date2006
  • ISBN 10 0552773883
  • ISBN 13 9780552773881
  • BindingPaperback
  • Number of pages320
  • Rating

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9780552998475: What We Did On Our Holiday

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ISBN 10:  0552998478 ISBN 13:  9780552998475
Publisher: Black Swan, 2000
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