Tread Softly  (English, Hardcover, Perriam Wendy)

Lorna, thirty-nine, is married to conventional Ralph, who in turn is wedded to his twenty-seven pipes and his artificial turf business. In fact the menage a trois is between Ralph, Lorna and her Monster, a gleefully sadistic personification of her panic attacks. The Monster has a field day when, after some botched foot surgery, Lorna is sent to convalesce among the deaf and demented inmates of a nursing home from hell. But, despite her surroundings, she starts to blossom, making new friends, discovering untapped talents and even a reawakened interest in sex, thanks to the attentions of an ardent young care worker. She even gets offered a challenging new job. Meanwhile Ralph is being sued by a vindictive business client and fears he will lose his house, his livelihood and - ultimately - his wife. In another of her wickedly black comedies Wendy Perriam takes a swipe at the medical profession and the worst examples of nursing homes. She graphically illustrates the plight of elderly people, while her chronicle of an unusual marriage demonstrates the bonds that can develop between two people who have experienced a 'lost childhood'.