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Haphazard House
When eleven-year-old Lisa Fuller and her younger brother Josh buy a house in the country with their winnings from a horse race, their whole family encounters strange and wonderful chaos in their new home.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
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About the author
Mary Wesley
64 books182 followersMary Wesley, CBE was an English novelist. She reportedly worked in MI5 during World War II. During her career, she became one of Britain's most successful novelists, selling three million copies of her books, including 10 best-sellers in the last 20 years of her life.
She wrote three children's books, Speaking Terms and The Sixth Seal (both 1969) and Haphazard House (1983), before publishing adult fiction. Since her first adult novel was published only in 1983, when she was 71, she may be regarded as a late bloomer. The publication of Jumping the Queue in 1983 was the beginning of an intensely creative period of Wesley's life. From 1982 to 1991, she wrote and delivered seven novels. While she aged from 70 to 79 she still showed the focus and drive of a young person.
Her best known book, The Camomile Lawn, set on the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall, was turned into a television series, and is an account of the intertwining lives of three families in rural England during World War II. After The Camomile Lawn (1984) came Harnessing Peacocks (1985 and as TV film in 1992), The Vacillations of Poppy Carew (1986 and filmed in 1995), Not That Sort of Girl (1987), Second Fiddle (1988), A Sensible Life (1990), A Dubious Legacy (1993), An Imaginative Experience (1994) and Part of the Furniture (1997). A book about the West Country with photographer Kim Sayer, Part of the Scenery, was published in 2001. Asked why she had stopped writing fiction at the age of 84, she replied: "If you haven't got anything to say, don't say it.
From Mary Wesley
She wrote three children's books, Speaking Terms and The Sixth Seal (both 1969) and Haphazard House (1983), before publishing adult fiction. Since her first adult novel was published only in 1983, when she was 71, she may be regarded as a late bloomer. The publication of Jumping the Queue in 1983 was the beginning of an intensely creative period of Wesley's life. From 1982 to 1991, she wrote and delivered seven novels. While she aged from 70 to 79 she still showed the focus and drive of a young person.
Her best known book, The Camomile Lawn, set on the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall, was turned into a television series, and is an account of the intertwining lives of three families in rural England during World War II. After The Camomile Lawn (1984) came Harnessing Peacocks (1985 and as TV film in 1992), The Vacillations of Poppy Carew (1986 and filmed in 1995), Not That Sort of Girl (1987), Second Fiddle (1988), A Sensible Life (1990), A Dubious Legacy (1993), An Imaginative Experience (1994) and Part of the Furniture (1997). A book about the West Country with photographer Kim Sayer, Part of the Scenery, was published in 2001. Asked why she had stopped writing fiction at the age of 84, she replied: "If you haven't got anything to say, don't say it.
From Mary Wesley
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 6, 2023
NB: Magic Landscapes is a Mary Wesley omnibus containing Haphazard House, The Sixth Seal and Speaking Terms, if you can't find a lone copy of Haphazard House. (edited 06.10.23)
. . . The best way I can describe this book is by saying it's like a movie by M. Night Shyamalan (sp? Will edit later because on accursed App) x whoever was responsible for the black comedy "Little Miss Sunshine", with a solely Led Zeppelin soundtrack incl. 'Over the Hills and Far Away', 'Bron Y Aur Stomp', and, of course, 'Stairway to Heaven'... but even as I say that, there are The Who songs ('Magic Bus', perhaps) and their general playfulness creeping in, because this book gives me the same feels as 'Pinball Wizard'.
How's THAT for inscrutible?! XD Here's what the back cover says, and I hate back covers like this - they tell you nothing. However, in this case, I have completely changed my mind post-read, and think it perfectly fitting:
And after reading the book, I would write off the summary above as being trite and misleading and spoilerish. Try to forget it, is my advice.
I'm not entirely sure if I understood it all, or if some was lost on me (I'm with Antonia White here - came for the ride, was not disappointed). Spent all last night mulling over this book and trying to think of how to review it, and, as I said, Zeppelin songs..
The grandfather is hilariously cantankerous, and simply BEGS to be brought to life by any number of British Comedy icons. Lisa's role would be a legendary debut for someone young and sweet but giving off maniacally unhinged or darker vibes... I hate suggesting that a good book is an overlooked movie plot, but the characters here are simply too grand to be locked away in an obscure out of print teen's book (That said, I hope a movie is never made - no director could resist rewriting or adding bits and utterly ruining it as a result. I'm eyeballing you, Peter Jackson). All of them are going to haunt my subconscious for eternity. The dialogue is hilarious and off-beat, and the imagery... we have a bohemian, introverted, struggling artist in Croydon who eschews all technology and modernity and worldly wealth, pressed into attending his first ever art show (he attends incognito with his daughter, Lisa) by his unhappy wife. A dentist is mercilessly bitten, a child is allowed to gamble away a windfall (with the express desire of parent to blow away all that money pointlessly in a grand gesture), and a cat is resurrected, or at least saved from the brink of death. The TV definitely dies, though. Then there's a magic hat (or is there? That's the consensus, anyway - they roll with it, and the reader does as well), and like hippies they gather up random strangers (incl. a parking meter attendant who would rather be a full-time herpetologist, a baby named Arnold, an aloof Battersea rescue dog, and a Lazarus-like cat and her kitten) and abandon London at dawn in a repurposed hearse painted with "nymphs and daisies", to which the painter father adds some buttercups, and off they go into the unknown which has very clearly called them to it.
I find this book hard to categorize, and while it's a little spooky, it's equally funny.
I'll call it 'a weird and haunting little read for the anachronistic teen or young-at-heart who has read too much normal crap lately' and leave off there. Good for you if you made it this far into my disjointed review. XD
-back cover
. . . The best way I can describe this book is by saying it's like a movie by M. Night Shyamalan (sp? Will edit later because on accursed App) x whoever was responsible for the black comedy "Little Miss Sunshine", with a solely Led Zeppelin soundtrack incl. 'Over the Hills and Far Away', 'Bron Y Aur Stomp', and, of course, 'Stairway to Heaven'... but even as I say that, there are The Who songs ('Magic Bus', perhaps) and their general playfulness creeping in, because this book gives me the same feels as 'Pinball Wizard'.
How's THAT for inscrutible?! XD Here's what the back cover says, and I hate back covers like this - they tell you nothing. However, in this case, I have completely changed my mind post-read, and think it perfectly fitting:
Antonia White, the author of the Frost in May quartet, wrote to Mary Wesley after reading Haphazard House in manuscript, saying, " . . . I was so enthralled that I just couldn't stop till I'd finished it. I decided to forget about its being an allegory or anything and let myself be carried away with the book itself which, for me at any rate, was compulsive reading . . . As to the characters, animals and humans, I think they are quite marvellously done. what a wonderful eye you have for nature - birds, flowers, landscapes - everything. And I think the dialogue is splendid - absolutely right for each character. Also the narrative is superb, one is gripped from the first word to the last - on tenterhooks as to 'what happens next', yet not tempted to skip a word in one's avid curiosity . . . "Before reading this, I found that useless, and the inside flap much more helpful:
When a painter sells every picture at his first one-man exhibition, he and his daughter, Lisa, back a winning horse with the proceeds making it possible to buy a romantic and partly ruined house on the Devon/Cornwall border.-inside front flap, Dent 1983 hardcover
Together with his family and several friends he leaves London for Haphazard House where mysterious events and fluctuating time change their lives in ways that are both disturbing and delightful. They are, as they adjust, happy - all expect for four of the group who only 'visit'. Meanwhile, the Fuller family, Mr Bailey and David have come to terms with their new existence, eventually growing either older, younger or more talented to realize their full potential. So Mr Bailey finds his toads, Pa can paint his masterpieces, Grandpa regains his prime, and Lisa, the narrator, forgets her fears and finds her love. The story ends with a kaleidoscopic party at which all who have the courage dance.
Jacket illustration by Alex Smirnoff
And after reading the book, I would write off the summary above as being trite and misleading and spoilerish. Try to forget it, is my advice.
I'm not entirely sure if I understood it all, or if some was lost on me (I'm with Antonia White here - came for the ride, was not disappointed). Spent all last night mulling over this book and trying to think of how to review it, and, as I said, Zeppelin songs..
The grandfather is hilariously cantankerous, and simply BEGS to be brought to life by any number of British Comedy icons. Lisa's role would be a legendary debut for someone young and sweet but giving off maniacally unhinged or darker vibes... I hate suggesting that a good book is an overlooked movie plot, but the characters here are simply too grand to be locked away in an obscure out of print teen's book (That said, I hope a movie is never made - no director could resist rewriting or adding bits and utterly ruining it as a result. I'm eyeballing you, Peter Jackson). All of them are going to haunt my subconscious for eternity. The dialogue is hilarious and off-beat, and the imagery... we have a bohemian, introverted, struggling artist in Croydon who eschews all technology and modernity and worldly wealth, pressed into attending his first ever art show (he attends incognito with his daughter, Lisa) by his unhappy wife. A dentist is mercilessly bitten, a child is allowed to gamble away a windfall (with the express desire of parent to blow away all that money pointlessly in a grand gesture), and a cat is resurrected, or at least saved from the brink of death. The TV definitely dies, though. Then there's a magic hat (or is there? That's the consensus, anyway - they roll with it, and the reader does as well), and like hippies they gather up random strangers (incl. a parking meter attendant who would rather be a full-time herpetologist, a baby named Arnold, an aloof Battersea rescue dog, and a Lazarus-like cat and her kitten) and abandon London at dawn in a repurposed hearse painted with "nymphs and daisies", to which the painter father adds some buttercups, and off they go into the unknown which has very clearly called them to it.
I find this book hard to categorize, and while it's a little spooky, it's equally funny.
I'll call it 'a weird and haunting little read for the anachronistic teen or young-at-heart who has read too much normal crap lately' and leave off there. Good for you if you made it this far into my disjointed review. XD
-back cover
Mary Wesley has published two previous novels for the young, Speaking Terms (Faber and Faber) and The Sixth Seal (Macdonald). Her interests are reading, travel, international politics, conservation and wildlife. She lives in Devon.-back inside flap
August 28, 2016
Wonderful writing: at times funny, warm, and ominous as fog. Lisa Fuller and her extended family are moving from London to Coldharbour, on the inspiration of a magic hat, a gallery sale, and a 50-1 Derby horse. The comedy shifts from subtle to absurd; as father deals with his fear of material wealth, mom lobbies for a least one modern convenience, Grandpa frets over his cat, and Lisa bites her dentist.
The laughs fade out when the family arrives at their new home. The grounds are known to be haunted, and the entire neighborhood is shrouded in mystery. Lisa can feel that her family belongs here, but she has no idea where or even when “here” is.
Her place in time is key, and the concept is twisted enough to discourage even strong readers. I’m not convinced of how securely the jumbled histories of Coldharbour and Haphazard House fit together, but this story makes a fascinating patchwork of it all.
The laughs fade out when the family arrives at their new home. The grounds are known to be haunted, and the entire neighborhood is shrouded in mystery. Lisa can feel that her family belongs here, but she has no idea where or even when “here” is.
Her place in time is key, and the concept is twisted enough to discourage even strong readers. I’m not convinced of how securely the jumbled histories of Coldharbour and Haphazard House fit together, but this story makes a fascinating patchwork of it all.
July 20, 2014
From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
A family buys a house in near-deserted town, with spooky, time-shifting consequences.
A family buys a house in near-deserted town, with spooky, time-shifting consequences.
December 30, 2012
I was surprised to find that Mary Wesley had written a children's book. I enjoyed it as I read, but had some difficulty with the ending. I'm curious to know what others thought. I wish I had read it with a group. It had a lot to ponder.
July 8, 2025
Fun, beautifully written, spooky and quirky children's book I read on holiday. Amazingly the first thing I've read by Wesley but it won't be my last.
August 21, 2025
I have a copy of this kept from when I was a child with my name biroed into the front cover. I think a lot of it went over my head and probably still does. eerie and strange
February 11, 2016
Wonderful writing: at times funny, warm, and ominous as fog. Lisa Fuller and her extended family are moving from London to Coldharbour, on the inspiration of a magic hat, a gallery sale, and a 50-1 Derby horse. The comedy shifts from subtle to absurd; as father deals with his fear of material wealth, mom lobbies for a least one modern convenience, Grandpa frets over his cat, and Lisa bites her dentist.
The laughs fade out when the family arrives at their new home. The grounds are known to be haunted, and the entire neighborhood is shrouded in mystery. Lisa can feel that her family belongs here, but she has no idea where or even when 1Chere 1D is.
Her place in time is key, and the concept is twisted enough to discourage even strong readers. I 19m not convinced of how securely the jumbled histories of Coldharbour and Haphazard House fit together, but this story makes a fascinating patchwork of it all.
The laughs fade out when the family arrives at their new home. The grounds are known to be haunted, and the entire neighborhood is shrouded in mystery. Lisa can feel that her family belongs here, but she has no idea where or even when 1Chere 1D is.
Her place in time is key, and the concept is twisted enough to discourage even strong readers. I 19m not convinced of how securely the jumbled histories of Coldharbour and Haphazard House fit together, but this story makes a fascinating patchwork of it all.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews