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Original poster

Anyone want a chat/nit pick about The Shell Seekers?

38 replies

MorrisZapp · 06/10/2019 13:10

I saw this book on my granny's shelf many years ago and assumed to be like a Mills and Boon, but then a friend recommended it so I bought it from amazon.

It's wonderful, a true family saga that wafts and weaves back and forth in time and between places. A true comfort book packed with lush British scenery, cultured characters and social history.

But christ it's long. There's a full page description of a man changing a lightbulb and two pages given to a toddlers birthday party.

I admit I started scanning over some pages. Her biggest crime though is the character of Danus Muirfield.

Muirfield is a golf course, not a surname, and according to the voters roll Danus isn't a name at all. I could forgive that if he didn't live in Heriot Row and keep an 18 year old model at arms length because he has 'nothing to give her yet'. Lol for days at that one.

I suppose it's weird that to us, it's a double period piece. It features the war, and the eighties. When it was written, it was contemporary with a forty year throwback.

I couldn't work out how Penelope's children grew up to be so different, or how she managed to produce such a repellent son. I thought this would be answered but it wasn't. Names matter a lot to me in books, and he wasn't a Noel in my judgement. Olivia was the only one who truly inhabited her name.

Anyway I'll keep my eyes peeled in charity shops for her other stuff, it's a perfect autumn treat.

OP posts:
Original poster
MorrisZapp · 11/10/2019 08:40

Good morning fiction lovers!

OP posts:
Deecaff · 11/10/2019 09:00

Hello! I did try reading it a few years back and it seemed rather dated . There was a long description of a kitchen that was supposed to be the the most amazing kitchen,& would have been in the 80s) but would be a standard new kitchen these days. Other than that I still didn't get why it is so popular and gave up on it.

howdoyousolvethisproblem · 11/10/2019 09:14

Pilcher did write shorter books, always amazed me with the speed in which hero/heroine found themselves in love/engaged. If you want to find out more about Noel look out for charity shop copies of September. But my favourite is Coming Home. And because it is set during the Second World War it means you can enjoy description more as it is further removed ifyswim?

roseapothecary · 11/10/2019 09:15

I love the shell seekers! Her books are my go-to comfort reading. My favourite is coming home so keep a look out for that one

babybythesea · 12/10/2019 21:39

I love this book! But I love it because it was one of my grandmother's favourite books and I think it was because she saw herself in it. She married in the war and lost her husband six months later so I think she saw a lot of parallels between herself and Penelope. I'll admit that makes it harder for me to just see the book for itself, but it is a go-to comfort read. I've got it on audio too - a bit too heavily abridged for my liking but better than nothing on a winter afternoon, with a good jigsaw to do!

BestIsWest · 12/10/2019 23:21

I loved it when I read it in the 80s and read it again a few years ago when it turned up on the bookshelf in a holiday cottage. I don’t think I’ve read Coming Home but there was one set in Scotland that I quite liked.

BigcatLittlecat · 12/10/2019 23:25

If I liked the shell seekers and coming home, what else would I like?

Kudukudu · 12/10/2019 23:32

I too read it in the 80s, in my teens, in a holiday cottage in Italy. Our first copy had been incorrectly bound and was missing 40 pages, which at the time was hugely frustrating as we couldn't get another until the holiday was over! I return to it every so often as the ultimate comfort read, and the relationship between Penelope and Richard still ranks among my favourite literary romances.

PerkingFaintly · 12/10/2019 23:37

Yes yes, a perfect cosy-treat read.

I've had my copy out again recently, just to re-read the visit of Mr Brookner.

Was slightly disappointed with further Pilchers, as it just felt like she was trying to write the same novel over and over. But it's been a while since I read any now, so maybe I've just misremembered or had struck unlucky.

PerkingFaintly · 12/10/2019 23:43

BigcatLittlecat, the prose style is different, but you might like Rumor Godden's multi-generational family dramas, which also switch backwards and forwards in time.

A Fugue in Time covers three generations. With China Court she explores the structure further and covers five (I prefer this one).

Ellmau · 12/10/2019 23:52

You might like Elizabeth Jane Howard's Cazalet Chronicles.

BigcatLittlecat · 13/10/2019 10:19

#perkingfaintly is China court a stand alone novel? I've found it on amazon!

PerkingFaintly · 13/10/2019 11:25

Yes, completely stand alone. BUY IT! Grin

(I'm a Godden fan, and like to share the love!)

The novels share a structure but aren't otherwise related at all, IIRC.

Clawdy · 14/10/2019 08:50

I re-read The Shell Seekers a couple of years ago, and found myself sympathising a bit more with Noel and Nancy this time! Antonia and Danus were a bit too perfect. One thing that seemed odd was the bit where Penelope goes off to London with her small child, and says goodbye to her beloved and ailing father. It says it was the last time she ever saw him, because he died a year later. Surely she would have paid a visit at some time?

dementedma · 14/10/2019 08:59

I loved this book and rather liked the spiky Olivia. Also loved Coming Home. I didnt like September quite so much although recently met a chap who actually lives in Balmerino and i cant hear that without thinking Arche Balmerino.

LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett · 14/10/2019 09:28

Oh I love Pilcher, yes she has dated quite badly but I can forgive her that. I'd completely forgotten about Coming Home (have dog-eared copies of September and Shell Seekers lying around) - must rebuy it, it will be perfect for my current mood.

Noel I think is meant to just take after his father, and Nancy has been spoiled by the mother in law - agree it's fairly simplistic. September is worth a read because Noel redeems himself, eventually.

TheCanterburyWhales · 14/10/2019 09:40

I've just read Winter Solstice (recommended as a comfort food book on here) and as I loved September and quite liked the SS I gave it a bash.
I think RP's problem was that she tried to be a bit clever with her names and tenuous links. One of the Winter Solstice characters lives on Ranfurly Rd for example, which (years since I read the other two) but I damn sure a SS character lives there as well.

I do need to reread SS and September, but agree about the length.

WS's biggest plot hole (without wanting to give spoilers) is that someone has Something Really Bad happen within a chapter or two, and yet a couple of months later is in lurrrrrve with someone else and beyond gazing into space every so often he doesn't seem to give a flying fuck. I don't think she writes grief and sadness very well. I think she starts from the old trope of introduce characters-big event which shocks everyone-development-everyone lives happily ever after.

BertrandRussell · 14/10/2019 09:43

I was just about to use an Audible credit on the Shell Seekers- hoping it would be as good as The Cazalets....will I be disappointed?

Trewser · 14/10/2019 09:45

I really really hated this. I think i thought it was going to be like the wonderful Cazelet chronicles. Thought the writing was shocking in parts, everyone drinks the same drink (whisky), thought the story was trite.

Sorry!

Trewser · 14/10/2019 09:46

BertrandRussell

We've had our differences in the past but for the love of God don't do it.

BertrandRussell · 14/10/2019 09:52

Thank you!

Maybe I’ll just listen to the Cazalets again..I can thoroughly recommend the audiobooks by the way.

missclimpson · 14/10/2019 09:55

Interesting. I read it and loved it when it came out (I was probably about 35) and don't have a problem with it feeling dated now. Some of the characters remind me of members of my family and I think she captures very well the way the war completely fractured families (Coming Home is good for that too). I recognise a lot of that from my own childhood.
I think Noël is so unpleasant because he takes after his father.
It rambles a bit in places and the characters are a bit one-dimensionally good or bad, but it is still a comfort read for me.

Trewser · 14/10/2019 09:58

betrtand have you read any rosamund lehmann? I loved invitstion to the waltz and the weather in the streets

SolitudeAtAltitude · 14/10/2019 18:14

why did I not find this thread earlier? it should be buzzing with a hundred replies!

SolitudeAtAltitude · 14/10/2019 18:16

I love how much i can dislike Nancy, and how awful Granny Keeling is. Nancy is such a snob and so easy to dislike, and so satisfyingly gets her comeuppance time after time Grin

I love Penelope going for dinner and not wearing stockings

I love the wartime romance

It's the details I love, I can picture it all (Ibiza!)