Roy, a retired milkman and Reggie, a former RAF Squadron Leader, are widowed on the same day. To assuage their grief, the vicar arranges for Roy to move in with Reggie as his unpaid manservant. To their surprise, they form an unusual alliance, based on obedience, need and the strangeness of single life. Then Reggie meets Liz, a vibrant but near-bankrupt woman of irresistible appeal, while Roy and his son's family grow gradually closer. Marriage, it seems, however far from ideal, can be a great protector against isolation. 'A brilliant tragi-comedy...a sharp and truly sympathetic writer' enelope Fitzgerald, Evening Standard 'Sweeps the reader along on a tide of good humour...This book is remarkable for its shrewdness, pathos - and its high spirits' Observer 'A portraitist whose visual descriptions and observations are exact and often moving...already a novelist of distinction, with this novel she proves that her reach is universal' Scotland on Sunday 'Warm, well-observed and often very funny' Time Out 'Angela Lambert is not afraid of telling a straightforward story and in going right to the heart of her characters...A Rather English Marriage is observant, wry and ult