C   U   C   K   O   O

Frances is on a fertility drug and sizing up the
milkman. Charles is struggling between
shocked disapproval and guilty desire
for his own illegitimate daughter - a
15-year-old secret who arrives and
takes over the nest. Their sterile and
  rule-ridden marriage (where even sex
requires timetable and rule-book) begins
to fall apart. In desperation, Frances
seeks an escape route, in a wild attempt
to change the cold climate of her life.




Cuckoo is a study of relationships in conflict:
teenage rebellion versus middle-aged
repression, sexual abandonment versus
puritan restraint. Yet against the
odds, Frances, the would-be mother,
and Magda, the adolescent cuckoo
in the nest, finally find freedom.

Her exceptionally ebullient and amusing
second novel fully lives up to the promise of her
much acclaimed first ... it confirms that
Perriam is a real find. She has that magical
combination of a brisk, lively style
and a literate intelligence. The story
itself is devilishly entertaining and
surprisingly touching; the characters
vibrantly realistic; the understanding of
human hopes, selfishness and absurdity
sympathetic, but sharp and funny; the
dialogue twists absolutely right. Wendy
Perriam is a very welcome discovery.
Sunday Express

A funny-sad, sexy book which takes
a hard look at modern marriage.
She

Once you begin you won't stop . . .
Observer

"I wrote Cuckoo when I was undergoing fertility treatment myself, so I knew only too well the traumas and frustrations Frances has to go through. At the same time, I was bringing up my two stepchildren, and although they were nothing like as infuriating as Magda, it made me realise how difficult it is to forge a relationship with children not your own."