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Goldsboro Books

9780571168514

The Laughter of Fools

The Laughter of Fools

by Charlotte Cory

Publisher Faber & Faber

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  • Book Condition & Notes

    All of our books that a have dust wrapper are covered in clear protective, removable film and are packed professionally in bubble wrap and a box for shipping so that they reach you in perfect condition.

About the book

Who was the mysterious Rosa? Why did she visit the large house where Jeannie's mother works? What dark secret was she hiding? What hold did she have over the rich old lady upstairs, and Jeannie's hardworking mother downstairs?

How different the history of the world might have been if Rosa's father, poultryman Pegglar, creator of Pegglar's Fancy' and 'Pegglar's Pride', had not defied his elder sisters one year by going to the Annual Exotic Poultry Show alone!

When his prize hen breaks loose on the London Underground, attracted by the red plume in a fashionable hat, Pegglar impulsively marries the pretty wearer of the hat and transfers his attentions from chickens to children.

It is only after Pegglar's death that Rosa discovers what an astonishing man her father was - and only after Rosa's own death can Jeannie piece together the bizarre fragments of Rosa's free-ranging life to discover the curious, tragic truth.

About the Author

Charlotte Cory

Charlotte Cory was born in 1956 in Bristol, England.


She read English at the University of Bristol and studied for a D.Phil. in Medieval English at the University of York. She is the author of three novels, The Unforgiving (1991), The Laughter of Fools (1993) and The Guest (1996), the story of the events surrounding the death of a mysterious stranger in a hotel in a small provincial English town. Her radio play, The Day I Finished Off Charlotte Bronte, was broadcast on Radio 4 in 2002.


Charlotte Cory's latest books are The Visitors (2007); Thinking of Leaving Your Husband?: A True Cautionary Tale of Internet Dating, a reworking of one of Cory's radio plays (2011) and Capturing the Brontes: The Brontes and Photography (2013).


Charlotte Cory is also a freelance artist, specialising in woodcuts, and illustrated Pamela Gillilan's The Turnspit Dog, published in 1993. She lives in Manchester.



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