Geraldine Murfin-Shaw

Two Years on the English Gulag Geraldine Murfin-Shaw

It's 1979 and Val is ready for a new challenge. Answering an ad in The Caterer, she gets the job of Head Chef at Brownsea Castle in Poole Harbour. Once there she has to cope with a staff of six unruly lads, all but one pushing six foot. She bonds over a curry with her boss, a blustering, red-faced ex-colonial who thinks he runs the Castle while his level-headed wife strives to keep his feet on the ground and his nose to the grindstone. Read about Tony, the gangling teenager from Liverpool who makes blue cakes for tea, Briggs the recalcitrant Scotsman with his catchphrase 'If it's burrnt they cannae say it's not kewked' and the delectable Jimmy who poses in his football shorts outside her room on hot afternoons. Coming back for the return match in 1980 Val's heart is gladdened by the arrival of a team of divers. She finds a passionate lover in the boat's engineer, whom she dubs the Red-Bearded Dwarf. A laugh, a delight from start to finish, you will enjoy the escapism of this island where anything goes.