2021/113: Mr Cadmus -- Peter Ackroyd

2021/113: Mr Cadmus -- Peter Ackroyd

‘May I offer you a glass of sherry, Mr Cadmus? Or wine perhaps?’
‘We will drink our fill of golden sunshine. One of your national poets tells us this.’
‘I’m afraid I only have a Beaujolais from Tesco.' [p. 6]

Devon, 1981: two unmarried cousins, Maud Finch and Millicent Swallow, inhabit the end houses of a three-cottage terrace. The ladies are understandably alarmed when a Foreigner (easily identified by his yellow sportscar, green trousers and red sweater) moves into the middle house. However, the mysterious yet charming Mr Cadmus -- for it is he -- soon wins them over with chocolates, compliments and polite flirtation, and in turn the ladies introduce him to the social whirl of Lower Camborne. ( Read more... )