Promenade

A poignant and comic tale of social outcasts whose lives collide, this lost novel by acclaimed author and translator Mary Hobson is now published for the first time. Nora is treated with contempt and pity by her fellow residents at Bideawhile, a Home for elderly ladies. Second-year pupil Margaret befalls a similar fate at her new boarding school. When their paths cross on a seaside walk, the two strike up an unlikely alliance. Set in the 1970s, Promenade is a witty, moving and clear-eyed examination of friendship, social hierarchies and the stories women and girls tell themselves in order to survive.