Sunday, 3 March 2013

The Lion and Unicorn Quest by Cecilia Peartree


This is a nice gentle story set in 1950s London.  We join the characters Oliver Quest and Flora after first meeting them in the Hearts and Arrows anthology.  Oliver is an ex-policeman and Flora was a spy in France during the war.  They then got together to search for missing works of art.

This story, however, starts with them having a tiff / misunderstanding and both starting their own quests and jobs which invariably merge.

The setting being 1951 certainly adds to the tone of the book.  Characters are always having to go and find a phone box – even for emergency and urgent calls.  Or catch a bus to get where they need to be.

Even though there is crime, murder, gangs and beatings, it is all done in a gentle manner.

This is certainly a very readable and enjoyable book and even though you want to give Flora a clip round the ear and tell her to listen to Oliver, the characters soon feel like old friends.



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