Cherry Trees Lane

An illuminative story that one would expect from an incredible collaboration between James Paterson and the late Miss Read to hatch up about the misdeeds of East End gangsters, wild fruit foragers and the put-upon Mrs. Noah along a country lane inhabited by a bunch of naughty old dears.

With military precision and resilient teamwork, Lady Rosalie, Miranda, Beatrix and the other spirited trustees of the charity Primroses, the elderly widows in this story, explore every avenue to raise funds to help their kind who have unfortunately found themselves in financial distress. In this quaint setting, men are not despised nor envied, they are merely seen as a means to an end, workhorses to make life comfortable and to be put out of unnecessary misery when their best days are behind them. It is a battle to preserve a way of life and to retain rights won by previous generations of women in a changing world that seems to have missed the point on what control and influence should bring.

If you are wanting a romantic comedy, look elsewhere. Well, perhaps in a droll and ironic roundabout way it is found here as there is an element of redemption and rediscovered love for Mrs. Noah, a woman who suffocates under the pressure of living with a husband exhibiting irrational behaviour while she suffers the pain of an estrangement with her only daughter.

As if this were not enough, criminals from the big smoke take an interest in this fertile spot rich in natural and human bounties to get their hands on swag to raise a pension pot big enough for future needs to satisfy the most pessimistic financial prediction.