THE RUIN OF JESSIE CAVENDISH

A highly moving story of two childhood friends who meet unexpectedly in adulthood.

Marcia Ford, a prosperous career woman, drives under a bridge when her old friend, Jessie Cavendish, a professional musician, jumps to end her life.

By extraordinary coincidence, the two women who had not met for many years, are united, Jessie, a former gypsy refugee from the 1956 Hungarian uprising, hears her roguish father and only relative being shot by a frontier guard.

She is adopted by a staid and insensitive Presbyterian Scot, working on a refugee mission. She suffers a lonely and wretched childhood and is forced into a conservative public school, totally unsuited to her gypsy blood.

The book examines her friendship with Marcia and describes their hilarious escapades with a mixture of tragedy and extraordinary humour.

"Eleanor Berry is to literature what Hieronymous Bosch is to Art. As with all Miss Berry's books, the reader has a burning urge to turn the page."

International Continental Review.

RRP: £4.95 (UK)

ISBN: 086303542-6

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Excerpt from The Ruin of Jessie Cavendish

Hermione Heathcoate-Barrow, distinguished Headmistress of a girls' public school, was the daughter of the Archbishop of Canterbury and a certified religious maniac. She had no idea that a practical joke had been played on her by one of the girls, who filled in a form, giving her name and home address, stating that she wished to join the Communist Party.

It was Saturday morning. She was kneeling in her private chapel, praying out loud.

" 'Scuse me, Miss."

The man she saw was about twenty-five with inky black, shoulder-length hair, secured by a Vietnamese mourning band.

"Miss Heathcote-Barrow?" said the man, his voice loud and his accent local.

"This is she."

"I've come about your application to join the Communist Party."

"I beg your pardon?"

He pulled out a form from his pocket, with her forged signature on it.

"This is a shattering, thundering disgrace!" she shouted. "I come from a family of upright muscular christians. I want nothing to do with the Communist Party. Kindly leave."

"Oh, don't be too hard on your poor comrade," said the unwelcome visitor. "Let's forget our different beliefs. How about a bunk-up?"

"A bunk-up? A bunk-up!" boomed the Headmistress. She seized a heavy silver cross and brought it down with full force onto the back of the communist's head. She turned away from him and continued to pray.