From the Man Booker Prize-winning author of 'Wolf Hall', a savagely funny tale that revisits the characters from the much-loved 'Every Day is Mother's Day'.
Muriel Axon is about to re-enter the lives of Colin Sidney, hapless husband, father and schoolmaster, and Isabel Field, failed social worker and practising neurotic.
It is ten years since her last tangle with them, but for Muriel this is not time enough. There are still scores to be settled, truths to be faced and rather a lot of vengeance to be wreaked.
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[It was ten o'clock in the evening; raining and very dark]***
(Harper Perennial, 16 January 2006, first published 1986, 256 pages, paperback, bought from Amazon)
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Mantel is one of my favourite writers. I loved her book Every Day Is Mother's Day, which features the same characters as Vacant Possession. The first book is much darker and ultimately more enjoyable but I enjoyed spending some time with the great characters again. Colin and Isabel have both been left emotionally scarred by events ten years ago. I felt great sympathy for them. Muriel is as disturbed and devious as ever. I sort of admire her resilience. Vacant Possession is a great read.
