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Unexplained Laughter
Unexplained Laughter | Alice Thomas Ellis
1 post | 1 read
Behaving badly made Lydia feel better. She hoped she wasn't turning into one of those maniacs who murder people in order to establish their superiority over their fellows who say Please and Thank you and conform to the basic customs of society. Recovering from a love affair gone wrong, Lydia retreats to the Welsh countryside, leaving behind her sophisticated friends, but accidentally inviting Betty, "the human equivalent of sackcloth and ashes," as her companion. There they encounter Hywel, a dour farmer, Elizabeth, his nervous wife, the aspiring priest Beuno, Hywel's brother, and randy Doctor Wyn. Meanwhile Hywel's strange sister Angharad roams the land, observing all, while Lydia is increasingly unnerved by the unexplained laughter that comes down from the hills.
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andrew61
Unexplained Laughter | Alice Thomas Ellis
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A curious story that combines wonderfully ascerbic humour from Lydia, a London journalist, who returns to her Welsh cottage with her put upon friend Betty, with lovely descriptive writing. Lydia + Betty mingle with the locals and enjoy the various relationships that allow Lydia scope for her barbs. There is also a strange supernatural thread + commentary by a curious absent character, Angharad, which perhaps added little. Very enjoyable ⬇️

andrew61 and will read more by the author as I love that gently dark middle class writing reminiscent of spark et al. Picked this up after it was referenced by Jonathan coe on the New bbc book prog Take four books which is good albeit I am still annoyed about the bbc axing open book a great programme specifically focused on books as they also did a few years ago with the film programme. 23h
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