The Gingerbread House

About the Book

The Gingerbread House tells the story of Marian Fletcher, a reclusive, single, middle-aged professional fabric designer, who lives in the converted stone-built barn that her grandfather had transformed into the family home and named it "Shilling Cottage", although to Marian, it would always be her "gingerbread house" because her beloved grandfather had always called it that when he spoke of it to his only granddaughter. One rainy day when Marian is returning from the Mainland to her home on the Isle of Wight, she notices someone ahead of her, struggling against the deluge and on impulse, she offers a lift to the stranger. As they travel towards the Lymington ferry, the lad explains that whilst he was asleep at a homeless shelter, someone walked off with his belongings, leaving him with only the contents of the rucksack that he'd been using as a pillow. He tells Marian that he is looking for work, having thumbed a lift from London where he had lived and worked until his employer died. Unable to find work in London, he hoped to find work at the docks in Southampton or Portsmouth. As he explains in his broad London accent, it appears that he also is an artist in his own field and Marian, feeling that he is a kindred spirit, offers to take him to her home for a good meal and a night's sleep while his clothes dry out. Having someone else in her home, she realizes how reclusive she has become since the death of her grandfather and parents and how dependent she has become on her dog, Juno. As the story unfolds, a mutual respect and friendship develops - and also heartbreak, anger and reconciliation, as so often seems to happen in life...

About the Author

Rosalind Stenner, the daughter of John Stenner, a former London freelance newspaper reporter, was born in London, but moved to Middlesex when she was six. She was educated at Harrow Weald County School and after leaving school, pursued a variety of jobs until her retirement when she and her late husband moved to the north of Scotland. In 1993 they moved to the Isle of Wight which the author has always considered to be her true home, having always had relatives living there. She began writing her first novel, The Gingerbread House in 1997 at Appley Park on the Island, but didn't complete it until after she was widowed, when she hand-bound two copies to lend to friends. Her second novel, Travelling Light was published in 2002 and her third, Across the Threshold was published early in 2004. Since then she had been revising and updating The Gingerbread House.