The Girls

A wry, macabre tale of simple country living, brutal murder, and a reasonably happy couple, from our most startlingly offbeat suspense novelist (Gore Vidal). In their lovely old Cotswolds village, Janet and Susan are known to all the other villagers as the girlsa fixture. Partners in love and work, co-proprietors of a picturesque shop specializing in the work of local artisans and farmers, they lead an enviable, enviably settled life. So its no catastrophe when Sue, the younger of the two, feels the need to take a month to travel on her own, leaving Jan alone to run their stall at the Inland Waterways Rally Craft Fair. Nor is it any real threat when a kindly gay man named Alan lends Jan a hand in Sues absence, or when the two wind up sharing some wine and even a bunk for the night. If Jan turns out to be pregnant some weeks after Sues return to the nest, whats that but cause for joy? And when Alan happens to come visiting, by and by, finding the delighted girls raising a beautiful baby boy, who can blame him for wanting to share in a small part of their bliss? Yes, theirs is an enviable, enviably settled life. And the girls will defend it with every tool at their disposal.