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So Long At The Fair
Growing up in a small Wiltshire village, Abbie Morris knows what lies ahead of her - a life of drudgery as a menial servant, like that of her sisters. But everything changes when Abbie is twelve and their emotional, spirited mother casts them into a crisis for which no one is prepared. Six years later the Morris family have rebuilt their lives, and when Abbie and Beatie, Abbie's adored elder sister, set off for the county fair, the world seems a good place. But their new-found happiness is not to last. A chance encounter with Louis, a personable, handsome stranger, leads to tragedy and has repercussions that threaten to destroy Abbie's peace of mind for ever. Abbie struggles to forget what happened that night, to get on with her life, but when she meets charming, honourable Arthur - and re-encounters Louis - it becomes clear that she might never recover from the night they stayed so long at the fair...
592 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 6, 2015
This novel is set in a village in the UK in the middle of the 19th century. 12-year-old Abbie has just left school and is about to apply for a 'service' job. A picture is drawn of a fairly close lower middle-class family with a discontented mother. When their mother leaves home it’s no surprise, despite being shocking for the era. Abbie has to take charge of the household, and does it well.
The narrative skips several years, when a pleasant day out turns into a nightmare. The rest of the book feels like a kind of soap: it’s full of violence, tragedy, betrayal, and the loss of more and more loved ones. There are some pleasant interludes, then yet another terrible scene is introduced. By the time I was about half-way through I wanted to get to the end, to be finished with all the tragedies, piled higher and higher.
Conversations are stilted, with exchanges that add nothing to the story or the characters concerned. There’s a lot of introspection too, but viewpoints switch even within a scene, making the reader feel uninvolved in any of the characters. Moreover, Abbie becomes less and less likeable, and she's the main protagonist. Rather than being depressed by all the awful things around her, she becomes obsessed, rude and unreasonable. She's supposed to be intelligent, but can't even figure out what a recurring bad dream means.
The ending is, in a sense, hopeful; but Abbie's emotional state isn’t real, and didn’t move me. I should have been in tears at the horrors of the final chapters, but she felt wooden and unbelievable - more and more, I wondered if the author had any insight at all into the ways a young mother's mind worked... and, after finishing, discovered that the author is in fact male, writing under a pseudonym. I don't wish to be sexist, but it does explain, perhaps, why the women in the book are so hard and two-dimensional.
Not recommended.
The narrative skips several years, when a pleasant day out turns into a nightmare. The rest of the book feels like a kind of soap: it’s full of violence, tragedy, betrayal, and the loss of more and more loved ones. There are some pleasant interludes, then yet another terrible scene is introduced. By the time I was about half-way through I wanted to get to the end, to be finished with all the tragedies, piled higher and higher.
Conversations are stilted, with exchanges that add nothing to the story or the characters concerned. There’s a lot of introspection too, but viewpoints switch even within a scene, making the reader feel uninvolved in any of the characters. Moreover, Abbie becomes less and less likeable, and she's the main protagonist. Rather than being depressed by all the awful things around her, she becomes obsessed, rude and unreasonable. She's supposed to be intelligent, but can't even figure out what a recurring bad dream means.
The ending is, in a sense, hopeful; but Abbie's emotional state isn’t real, and didn’t move me. I should have been in tears at the horrors of the final chapters, but she felt wooden and unbelievable - more and more, I wondered if the author had any insight at all into the ways a young mother's mind worked... and, after finishing, discovered that the author is in fact male, writing under a pseudonym. I don't wish to be sexist, but it does explain, perhaps, why the women in the book are so hard and two-dimensional.
Not recommended.
December 30, 2023
For anyone who may coincidentally pick this book up in a charity shop please do not be fooled by the country bumpkin cover because this book really is more of a cottage core nightmare. The book isn’t awful, if you want awful read Brazilian escape which is probably right next to this in the charity shop, but it is insane. Seriously the main character goes through so much trauma it’s honestly laughable, like I know it’s the 1880s but come on babe. Like her mum walks out, her sister is raped and commits suicide, her dad dies in the cold alone, her mum dies of alcohol abuse, she’s unhappily married, her son dies (but not just any death he BURNS ALIVE) then she has a miscarriage and to put the cherry on the cake her other sister kicks the bucket through a titanic style drowning. Also you will most definitely end up hating the main character throughout the majority of the novel as she cheats and has an obsession with this bloke called Arthur. P.s this is not her husband.
Anyways class novel, really recommend xx
Anyways class novel, really recommend xx
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 30, 2025
Enjoyed this easy read. Wasn't the best book ever, but I still liked the storyline and the characters. A bit too much happened towards the end, and felt a bit rushed, as in the book could have gone on for another chapter or so. Still recommend.
December 30, 2007
Brilliant! It made me cried! Some stories reminds me of Titanic!!
December 10, 2011
My favourite book. It made me cried!!
October 26, 2014
A bit long, and tear jerky dramatic, but still a nice read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews