The Aunt Sally Team

by Flick Merauld

THE AUNT SALLY TEAM - A Soap Opera:

When Bill Green puts a notice in a post office window in Oxford, he hopes for a group of intellectually stimulating companions with whom to share long summer evenings playing Aunt Sally, a quaint, traditional English pub game. Instead he gets a zany assortment of characters, not one of whom lives up to his preconceptions.

Diana craves excitement after ending a comfortable but unchallenging relationship. But is she heading for trouble when she finds herself irresistibly drawn to Dante Blackthorn? He's handsome, charismatic and a feckless alcoholic and compulsive gambler, though his devil-may-care attitude and hazy sense of boundaries mask a sensitive and complex personality. His dissatisfied ex wife Beccy still hankers after him and his self-centred but vulnerable daughter Lucy hates the idea of a new woman coming into her Dad's life!

Best friends Lissa and Bethany are pagan teenagers who have their own coven but want to meet boys and have fun as well. Which is fine till Liss falls for someone and jeopardises the friendship.

Meanwhile Jason, a delinquent eighteen year old, has been forced to play Aunt Sally by his Dad and Uncle, who hope being part of the team will keep him out of trouble. When Lucy and Jason are attracted to each other, things get complicated, especially as Beth has set her sights on him as well.

Elderly widow Vera needs to put the past behind her. Will helping Jason fill a gap in her life and begin the process of healing?

And Rashi's family owns the George and Dragon pub where the Aunt Sally Team is based. He thinks his future is mapped out until he falls in love and is pulled between the culture he grew up in and the expectations of his Indian family.

With these and other characters thrown into the mix, the ensuing interactions and relationships become more and more entangled as the players progress through the season. From May Morning celebrations in Oxford to riotous Aunt Sally matches at idyllic Cotswold village pubs - with fun, drama, sex, romance and chaos along the way - by the end of the summer their lives will have been changed forever.

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Amazon

339 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Doreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

…An endearing, delightful tale with flawed, quirky characters…

The team of eight for the George and Dragon pub is quite a motley group of characters. Each chooses to join the team with a sense of hope that either loneliness will be eased or an accomplishment can add fulfillment to their life. Flick Merauld is a master weaver of tales. Although the script takes the reader into each character’s personal storyline, the story moves smoothly from character to character in a balanced, harmonious flow.
There is no person in this novel named Aunt Sally. Instead, Aunt Sally is the ‘doll,’ a small white skittle dressed in a bonnet with an old woman’s face. A traditional Oxfordshire pub game, teams of 8 from various pubs play against each other. Using an underarm throw of variously weighted sticks, the goal is to knock the doll off a swivel-top iron. It takes great patience and skill.
The most compelling aspect for me in reading THE AUNT SALLY TEAM is the psychological themes, the flaws of character that are masterfully tackled by Flick Merauld. She writes of these flaws with profound understanding tossed with a seasoning of wit. The inner thoughts and urges of each young character relative to friendship and dating are sensitively written. The relationship issues amongst the adult characters relative to marriage, separation, sexual intimacy and trust are insightfully presented. Even the older-age characters concerns are treated with dignity.
Having worked in the field of Substance Abuse, I was most captivated by Flick’s writing of the relationship between Dante and Diana who meet as team members. Flick scripts so insightfully not only the signs of Dante’s spiraling alcoholism but also his stages of denial and the difficulty he had in recognizing his condition. I found myself talking out loud to Diana as she struggled with her attraction towards Dante and the recognition that she could not help him. The intensity of several scenes was profound.
Some novels weave a great story yet leave a reader ‘hanging’ as to the outcome of the lives of the characters. Flick treats her readers respectfully, bringing relationships amongst her characters to a sense of closure.

[Peter Davey · Rating 5 out of 5]

It sounds like a cliché but Flick Merauld's novel, `The Aunt Sally Team', does work at many different levels. The title and cover suggest a light-hearted, humorous tale about an ill-assorted band of characters in an obscure corner of English parochial life and readers who are expecting that will not be disappointed. It is, however, far far more than that. Each of the players who reluctantly come together to form the Aunt Sally Team at the George and Dragon pub in Oxford is, either by fate, family pressures or their own inner devils, caught within one of those little bubbles of loneliness and isolation we all recognise as such a prevalent feature of modern life. Each has their own story to tell and those stories, through the agency of the Team, become intertwined and inseparable - no small feat for a writer but one which Flick Merauld pulls off effortlessly. The novel is at times poignant, at times hilarious, always riveting and imbued with a quiet and compassionate wit and razor-sharp eye for the great human story as it affects both men and women, young and old. The characters are brilliantly drawn, highly individual yet recognisable and the descriptive passages of the countryside and quiet textures of English life are pure poetry. Each story is played out and resolved satisfyingly yet there is no 'happily ever after' ending, any more than there is in life. Nonetheless, when I got to the end of this book, I not only felt I'd had a great read but also felt pretty okay about being human. Get it.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This worthy read begins with a posting looking for team members to play on an Aunt Sally team – a game played in British pubs. Bill who was looking to put the team together had ideas of a dedicated team to participate in competitions with other like teams. His hopes of this didn’t appear too promising when he saw who walked in the pub on the first evening looking to join. He became more convinced of this as the weeks went by and some of the folks weren’t showing up. Competitions were played and relationships were established albeit many unhealthy ones.

What drew me in? The relationships I knew the book was offering.

What kept me reading? The true to life personalities and relationships. Not all the relationships within are romantic; Some are friendships; Some are teammates. Sure most of the main characters were making terribly unwise choices but none of them were cookie-cutouts rife in most romance novels. When a book makes me feel, it’s a good book and this one makes me feel. I found myself shaking my head at choices being made but was happy in how someone treated one character who badly needed encouragement. Ya, I was probably shaking my head more than not.

[J.D. Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don’t expect fireworks from Aunt Sally, although there are several dramatically tense moments that will have you wondering about outcomes and worrying about the fate of various characters. This is a delightful and gentle comedy of Englishness, but laced with moral questions about alcoholism, the nature of modern relationships and the inescapable consequences of love. The book has something of P.G. Wodehouse about it, but with far more empathy and much less farce than good old P.G. ever managed.

It might be English but the situations faced by the ensemble of protagonists are universal and will find echoes in any society in the world. The characters are drawn by Flick Merauld with unerring accuracy and if you’ve never experienced the ancient city of Oxford and the surrounding villages except through ‘Inspector Morse’, you are sure to enjoy this book. It will draw you in.

And then there’s Aunt Sally. Recommended.

[Wendy Cartmell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well written, well researched piece of enjoyable fiction that stays in the mind well after the reader has finished the book. Flick Mirauld draws her characters with words, as finely as they are drawn on the front cover. Each is very different and each endears you to them in their own different ways. The ever moody teenagers, the lonely widow, the businesswoman who isn’t really looking for love and, of course, Dante, so well named, so charming, so needy and yet so flawed. This is a book the author should be proud to have written and it is a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining read. I can’t wait to load the sequel onto my Kindle.

[Aunty Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This quirky book is much more character driven than about the plot. The characters are brought together by joining the team for a quaint Oxfordshire pub game. A mixture of ages and backgrounds interact together into their own stories, trials and tribulations. Interlinked, almost as a character itself, is the glorious Oxfordshire countryside and town of Oxford. I'd love to read more by this author, I was reminded very much of Maeve Binchey whilst reading The Aunt Sally Team.

[Diana Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not my usual genre, but I enjoyed this story and the style in which it was written. The story is a bit long, but I think necessary in order to flesh out the many characters, which was well done. I would recommend this book & I am looking forward to the next book, Aunt Sally & More.

[Jenna Cordell · Rating 4 out of 5]

So....I had to look up Aunt Sally,which apparently is a game. YouTube has actual videos of people playing this game.
There are two books to this story,a collection of people who be became an Aunt Sally team and how their lives intertwine and unfold.

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aunt Sally sounds like a lovely old relative, doesn’t she? However, there is no team – even among supposed couples. I did enjoy the story and recommend the book.

[Sarah Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really quite enjoyed this book - it was a bit light but the characters were well written and likeable - a real summer read

[Alison · Rating 1 out of 5]

I very rarely give up on books, but I'm afraid this one has been consigned to the "abandoned" shelf. It held high promise - the reviews on Amazon were all good, it's set in Oxfordshire so I was looking forward to reading about the county where I've made my home (for the time being), and it was about Aunt Sally, a traditional Oxfordshire sport that intrigues me. Should have been a winner.

Well after spending about ten days reading it at bedtime I was only at 37% - because it just sent me to sleep after a couple of pages. I didn't connect with any of the characters so didn't really care what happened to them. I was continuously frustrated by the typos, especially the lack of commas that let phrases stream together and make no sense. But worse, I felt there was far too much detail, and many things that I understood instantly were over-described to the point of tedium. The story seemed to be going nowhere and whereas I normally enjoy "people" books, where nothing much happens for a while except you get to know the characters, I just found myself becoming more and more bored and irritated by this book.

"it's probably me, not you" could well be the case here - but with so many other books to be read I'm afraid I wasn't willing to spend any more time on this one.

[Die Booth]

I met the author of this book in circumstances almost as unusual as joining an Aunt Sally team (I won't elaborate here!) and she was so lovely and interesting that I had to give one of her novels a go, despite the fact that this is absolutely nothing like anything I have ever read or would ever have picked up to read. Well - that just proves that you should always give new things a go. I'm not sure if this is chick-lit exactly, as I've never read any, but it's a pacy, fun and engaging read which focuses on character and relationship. The characters are people that you know - I mean, anyone reading this is guaranteed to know at least a few people like the characters in this novel, who are of all ages and backgrounds and thrown together by circumstance. The plot focuses on how they form friendships and relationships - often unlikely ones. It's dramatic, fast-paced, and ultimately heartwarming, also with some quite devastating observations about alcoholism and teenage love. Interspersed with all the action are some often rather lovely descriptions of Oxford and especially the surrounding countryside that give a really vivid sense of place. I enjoyed this despite not being remotely the target audience, and have the sequel all ready to read.

[Anne-Marie Klein · Rating 4 out of 5]

As somehow who spent part of a summer a few years ago in Dorchester, Oxfordshire, I looked forward to reading this book for the local flavour and it did not disappoint in that regard. I loved the descriptions of the area in and around Oxford, and could easily see the landscape reappear in my imagination.

As a Canadian, I had never heard of Aunt Sally games, and I'm still not completely sure what it entails. No matter, I quite enjoyed the quirky cast of characters in the book and their complicated relationships from one match to the other.

If I have one consistent complaint about the book, it is that I often felt the author over-explained the conflicts and issues rather than letting their behaviour and dialogue demonstrate the tensions and problems for the reader. I found the explanations sometimes quite distracting and often wished that I could have been shown the behaviour rather than being told what the motivations and private thoughts were. Letting the characters act and speak out more directly would have made this a 5 star book.

That said, I enjoyed the story very much, and found the characters engaging.

[Lorraine Burgess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Firstly, I must point out that I don't usually read within this genre and wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I can assure you that I have no regrets of reading out of my comfort zone.
The story is based upon a group of unique individuals with their own stories to tell and all brought together when they join a local Aunt sally team.
The author has an excellent way of pulling you into the story with your heart and soul, as like me, you will relate to at least one of the characters in this soap opera style book.
The discription of the characters and scenes are written beautifully and you can easily imagine yourself in the setting and experiencing the emotions which the talented author provokes in you.
Ms Merauld keeps you enthralled throughout the book, giving full explanations in regard to the aunt sally game, Oxford and it's delights, paganism, alcoholism and complicated relationships and so much more.
The story is enriched with drama, romance and laughter and I only hope the second will be as entertaining.

I would recommend this book to any one of my friends and have given it the 5 stars it so rightly deserves

[Liza · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a bit cliched in parts, and you definitely have to be able to multitask the numerous characters and plotlines, but I really have nothing truly negative to say about this book. Almost all of the characters evolved by the end of the novel, and aside from anyone under 25 overusing the word "like," I enjoyed most of the storylines. It was a light novel - nothing in it was truly heartwrenching or soulsearching - but that was okay, too.

Random: I had to push through the first several chapters before it got interesting. My least favorite character was Beth (because she was superfluous) and the least fleshed out main character was probably Bill Green. I also think the lack of closure to Jason's family situation was an oversight.

[Kellyanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It is well written and the author goes very in depth with the characters.
A group of people who have mostly never met before, respond to an advert to join an Aunt Sally Team at a local pub. Relationships and friendships are formed, some for the better and some for worse.
Flick Merauld touches on various issues, including alcoholism, teenage love, relationship issues and vengeance.
It was certainly a page turner as I wanted to keep reading to see how everything evolved, especially with Dante and Diana. I also really liked Jason's character who was beautifully written.

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who knew that Aunt Sally was a game. sign up to join a team, get to know new people and hopefully make new friends, and not make a fool of themselves playing the game. Sounds challenging. I did enjoy the book mostly. Some characters more than others. I especially like how we get to know the characters and what their thoughts are, it made you feel and think at the same time. I liked the stories within the story also, and how some type of closure to their stories is given in the end. My main dislike is that we don't need all the details of the sex. Leave some things to our imaginations please. Do people really jump into bed that fast????

[Francesca Alford · Rating 1 out of 5]

I enjoyed certain topics explored in The Aunt Sally Team but overall I found it rather repetitive and sometimes boring. I persevered hoping that certain stories may develop but they seemed to plod along, not gaining the momentum I was hoping for.

The different characters were entertaining but I found certain characters such as Diana and Lucy quite frustrating. I also think Flick Merauld could have explored Lucy's deeper feelings about her parents separation rather than mentioning it and moving on.

Overall the book left me feeling rather underwhelmed and a little confused about the point of the story.

[Áine · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the Aunt Sally Team step up to the ochee at the George & Dragon, there are two other stories running contrapuntally: a serious look at alcoholism and its effects on friends and family; and the individual foibles of the team member "organized" by Bill Green, and his efforts to shape them into a cohesive force. I learned a lot about this ancient game (Aunt Sally) and its origins, the use of "Aunt Sally" as a figure of speech, and about the environs of Oxford.

[I.C. Camilleri · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Aunt Sally Team is an absolute five-star read. The story line revolves around the traditional Oxfordshire game of Aunt Sally. But that’s just the surface. Beneath this light crust various deep issues are tackled, issues that our modern society faces, alcoholism, culture clashes, to name just a few. This, together with a rich writing style, lovable characters and a sprinkling of humour makes it an outstanding read. No wonder it has all those five stars.

[Maureen Vincent-Northam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Middle-aged Bill Green advertises for a group of like-minded people to form an Aunt Sally team for the George and Dragon pub. What he gets is an odd assortment who are all joining up for reasons of their own – not all entirely voluntary.

The book centres on each of the characters’ lives by turns, the unlikely alliances that develop and a variety of problems.

[Ruth Johnstone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I downloaded this book free from Amazon and what a gem it was.

We get to know all the characters in the team and the ups and downs of their lives, all very well described, and at the end you are quite sad to be leaving them.

Would probably have missed this one had it now been on the free list and what a loss that would have been.

[Jeri Bitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of fun

I had no idea what to expect but enjoyed this a great deal. I tend to give five stars only to books which are not quite as light-hearted and more serious, but I nearly did. Rollicking good fun, good character development, and the author has a gift for allowing us to peer into the minds of the people and see what they do what they do.

[Cassie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thankfully I had the Olympics to use as an excuse for taking so long to read this book.
I didn't feel that I got to know any of the characters at all and certainly not enough to feel concern over any of their happenings.
The ending was very abrupt and sadly, predictable.

[Karen Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very slow but persevered with it. OK but was bored within first half of the book. Could have been a great book .... Too many individual character storylines for me

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this, a few different stories interweaved.

[Samantha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very slow! Took me ages to get into this book. Didn't enjoy the book as much as I had hoped to.

[Az · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just could not get into this, So boring, unlikeable charectors. This is one of the very few books I gave up on.

[Leigh Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once I got into it I liked the story, and all of the characters were great but what I found really annoying was the font formatting, it was either eye-strainingly small or too big.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good mix of characters who all come together. Really enjoyed reading about it all.