One of the things Dale does so well here is to let the reader in on what the Evanses are up to, slowly but surely as the narrative unfolds. For more details, please consult the latest information provided by Royal Mail's International Incident Bulletin. while it’s very obvious this was written in the 60’s and some of the old british terms went right over my head, this story fully unnerved me. While Maisie proceeds to wear down Mrs Fingal by restricting her movements, Josh can be equally sinister in his own chilling way, neglecting his charge for other, more interesting activities.

Mrs Fingal, a wealthy widow, finds the couple a refreshing change to her resentful niece and their understanding and sympathy to her situation, her loneliness and need for companionship, makes them the perfect people to look after her. This time it looks like an old copy has been scanned and retypset by computer (mistaking e's for c's, missing off the first speech mark, and so sticking in the second in a section of narrative, mistaking 'fl' for a capital H. What Dale does so well here is to subtly reveal to the reader the true malice behind the Evanses’ actions.Excerpts and links may be used, provided that the material is credited and referenced to JacquiWine’s Journal with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. It’s a little like a form of sleep paralysis when your mind starts to wake from a dream but you can’t move your body because it’s still in sleep mode. On the back cover there's a blurb from the Buffalo News that most perfectly describes A Helping Hand as "A little gem of a thriller . Soon after, they are on holiday in Italy, and encounter the disgruntled Lena Kemp and her aunt Cynthia Fingal. Funnily enough, Fremlin popped into my head as I was reading this, even though I’ve yet to try her myself.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Elder abuse, before the term was commonplace, seems to be Celia Dale's writing theme across her work. As Maisie soon discovers, Lena feels she has been saddled with taking care of her aunt – a burden she so clearly resents as it prevents her from living a more exciting life. Make mine a third vote for Celia Fremlin, as I, too, thought of her work (read several, but some time ago.After all, the Evanses don’t want Lena getting a whiff of what’s actually happening back at the house in case she disturbs things. During their break, Maisie and Josh attach themselves to another pair of British holidaymakers – the elderly widow Cynthia Fingal and her rather selfish niece, Lena. Right from the very start, Dale hints at the Evanses’ true motivations for befriending these fellow Brits, with Maisie targeting Lena while Josh works his magic on Mrs F. I can most certainly recommend this one, and my thanks to Valancourt for bringing it back into print.

Central to the novel are former nurse Maisie Evans and her husband Josh, a middle-aged couple living quiet lives in the heart of suburbia. A middle aged couple take in an elderly woman they befriend in Italy, with no good motive behind their actions.I read this in one day and loved it for the way the author was able to depict the horrible ordinariness of a certain kind of evil. Maisie and Josh, the abusers, are both deeply unlikable, but Maisie's hard and no-nonsense approach to care and nursing is recognizeable and at times even feels right. It is natural, therefore, when they meet Mrs Fingal on holiday in Rimini that Mrs Fingal comes to live with them and stays in Auntie Flo's old room. Mrs Fingal takes a liking to Mr Evans, and soon the suggestion is made that she move out of Lena's house in Reading, and into the room at the Evans's recently vacated by Auntie Flo.