Editions

How to Measure a Cow

How to Measure a Cow

‘Compelling…taut and suspenseful’ Guardian

Tara Fraser has a secret.

Desperate to escape herself and her past, she changes her name, packs up her London home and moves to a town in the North of England where she knows no one.

But one of her new neighbours, Nancy, is intrigued by her. And as hard as Tara tries to distance herself, she starts to drop her guard.

Then a letter arrives. An old friend wants to meet up. Struggling to keep her old life at bay, Tara soon discovers the dangers of fighting the past.

Reviews

  • The work of a novelist in her prime… The narrative is taut and suspenseful, the characterization complex and dynamic.

    Stevie Davies, Guardian

  • Brilliantly drawn… Atmosphere and characters linger long after the novel ends

    Sunday Times

  • Deft, intriguing and gripping. Forster never disappoints.

    Kate Williams, Woman & Home

  • This is Margaret Forster's last novel, sadly, and it's full of reminders of what made her such a shrewd and arresting chronicler of women’s lives

    Hephzibah Anderson, Mail on Sunday

  • An exemplary final work … wonderfully well-observed

    D.J. Taylor, The Times

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About the Author

Margaret Forster

Born in Carlisle, Margaret Forster was the author of many successful and acclaimed novels, including Have the Men Had Enough?, Lady's Maid, Diary of an Ordinary Woman, Is There Anything You Want? , Keeping the World Away, Over and The Unknown Bridesmaid. She also wrote bestselling memoirs – Hidden Lives, Precious Lives and, most recently, My Life in Houses – and biographies. She was married to writer and journalist Hunter Davies and lived in London and the Lake District. She died in February 2016, just before her last novel, How to Measure a Cow, was published.

Margaret Forster

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