The Pumpkin Eater

The Pumpkin Eater

Summary

'Peter, Peter, Pumpkin eater
Had a wife and couldn't keep her...'

In this extraordinary, semi-autobiographical novel, Penelope Mortimer depicts a married woman's breakdown in 1960s London. With three husbands in her past, one in her present and a numberless army of children, Mrs Armitage is astonished to find herself collapsing one day in Harrods. Strange, unsettling and shot through with black comedy, this is a moving account of one woman's realisation that marriage and family life may not, after all, offer all the answers to the problems of living.

Reviews

  • Beautiful ... almost every woman I can think of will want to read this book
    Edna O'Brien

About the author

Penelope Mortimer

Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more