2009 bookcrossing:

I had never heard of Beryl Bainbridge before I picked up this book. It says in the front that she was born in the 30s in Liverpool. This book was first written in the 70s. It is set in London and focuses on two women: the dramatic and well-built blonde Freda, and the skinny, mousey Brenda, who have haphazardly joined forces in life. They share a bedsit and bed and work at an Italian bottle factory. Freda is keen to seduce the Italian manager, and arranges a works outing for one Sunday. Brenda is dreading it because she is being persued by another of the Italian managers. The day trip doesn´t exactly go to plan and ends really quite grimly.

The book really focuses in on the events and people´s conversations - I mean, time-wise this isn´t a long story. But this doesn´t make it boring or feel long and drawn out. It was a pretty addictive read: I finished it in a day. There are some fantastic characters in this book, and I would certainly try more of her work if I ever come across it.

One of the minor characters really fascinated me - Brenda´s mad mother-in-law. Some of the little anecdotes about what she did were brilliant. I particularly liked the one about her sneaking out in the wee small hours, stealing the hens´eggs to draw faces on them before putting them back.