Synopsis
Two apparently harmless women reside in cottages one building apart in the idyllic English village of Little Camborne. Miss Finch and Miss Swallow, cousins, have put their pasts behind them and settled into conventional country life. But when a mysterious foreigner, Theodore Cadmus - from Caldera, a Mediterranean island nobody has heard of - moves into the middle cottage, the safe monotony of their lives is shattered.
The fates of the two cousins and Mr Cadmus, and those of Little Camborne and Caldera, become inextricably enmeshed. Long-hidden secrets and long-held grudges threaten to surface, drawing all into a vortex of subterfuge, theft, violence, mayhem . . . and murder.
Publisher information
- Publisher: Canongate Books
- ISBN: 9781786898944
- Number of pages: 192
- Dimensions: 204 x 138 x 22 mm
- Weight: 277g
- Languages: English
Customer Reviews
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Interesting
This was an interesting read and much different to the other Peter Ackroyd i'd read. I enjoyed the story for the most part but didn't feel like it was a gr... READ MORE
Some delicious writing here
On reaching the end of this book I was mostly left with confusion - was it a Poirot style murder mystery, a war revenge story, a fantasy tale of imaginary ... READ MORE
Weirdly odd but amusing.....
Peter Ackroyd is a bestselling author of both fiction and non fiction books and “Mr Cadmus” is a short novel that is unique and certainly an unusual read.
... READ MORE
Very peculiar
A strange little book which starts as a gentle tale about village life and builds into a series of deaths. Then the action moves to the Mediterranean and b... READ MORE
Mr Cadmus: A Book for Adults & Children?
A novella for adults and children ( be aware of the foul-mouthed parrot, and unsavoury happenings). The story of two female cousins of advancing years who ... READ MORE
The reader is left discombobulated – feeling frustrated rather than provoked to think further!
A huge fan of Peter Ackroyd’s fiction of the 80s and 90s, I was left slightly bemused and dissatisfied by ‘Mr Cadmus’. As ever, the writer certainly knows... READ MORE
Starts well, then goes rather weird
Well I started off by really enjoying this book - two ladies living in two cottages in a very twee and quaint little English village; suddenly their lives ... READ MORE
Bizarre
I am not quite sure what to make of this novel. It wasn't what I expected from Peter Ackroyd's previous books and reminded me a bit of a half-remembered b... READ MORE
Interesting but quickly lost
Well the story started started out interesting and intriguing, light and humorous but this was quickly replaced with confusion as the story went on. Ignori... READ MORE
Strange
Strange and occasionally very funny. Weird!
Intriguing mystery
The arrival of an enigmatic stranger, Mr. Cadmus, wreaks havoc on the denizens of the idyllic English village of Little Camborne; most notably two apparen... READ MORE