The Skin Chairs
Barbara Comyns
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
4.25
· 4 ratings · 208 pages · Published: 1962
Her father dies and the ten-year-old Frances, her mother and assorted siblings are taken under the wing of their horsey relations, led by bullying Aunt Lawrence. Their new home is small and they can't afford a maid. Mother occasionally dabs at the furniture with a duster and sister Polly rules the kitchen. Living in patronised poverty isn't much fun but Frances makes friends with Mrs Alexander who has a collection of monkeys and a yellow motor car, and the young widow, Vanda, who is friendly if the Major isn't due to call. But times do change and one day Aunt Lawrence gets her come-uppance and Frances goes to live in the house with 'the skin chairs'.
First published in 1962, this quirky novel describing the adult world with a young girl's eye, resounds with Barbara Comyn's original voice.