Chocolate Mousse And Two Spoons

Lorraine Jenkin’s zany novel encompasses so many recognizable life experiences and emotions. Most of us have been there at some point, so we cant help but feel empathy with her characters. The story is set between the town of Glan Llanfair in the lee of the mid-Wales mountains, where a lonely Dougie resides, yet to find his life’s partner, and Lyme Regis, where a pretty 35-year-old woman called Lettie waits on tables in order to keep the wolf from the door. Her true vocation is that of an artist. Sadly, Lettie too finds herself alone (although she has two fascinating characters as lodgers in her cottage) when she breaks up with her latest love. `What would the seventeen-year-old Lettie have thought about what the thirty-five year-old Lettie was doing now? Whatever happened to the dreams of world travel, degrees in Zoology, and a job doing something impressive with the Great Barrier Reef? Serving milkshakes, all be they real fruit, to disinterested grockles and living five-hundred yards down the road from her mother had not been part of the master plan. Nor had indulging in Classified Ads . . .’ Lettie and Dougie, having spoken over the phone and indulged in a short correspondence, decide to meet. ‘He would wear a red carnation and carry a copy of The Brecon and Radnor, so that if she felt he was hideously ugly, she could walk straight by.’ Both Lettie and Dougie have an entourage of family and friends, plus Rizzo and Lisa, the lodgers, who are also busy trying to sort out their lives; they all manage to cause plenty of confusion in the couple’s budding romance. Chocolate Mousse and Two Spoons depicts these many lives with compassion and humour; all in all a very enjoyable read. Norma Penfold It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council. Gellir defnyddio’r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru. — Welsh Books Council