CAT & FIDDLE

A delightfully comic and wry multicultural saga in the vein of Zadie Smith's White Teeth.

CAT & FIDDLE centres on two families whose lives become entwined at the country estate of Bourne Abbey in rural Wiltshire. While Dr Choudhury is busy advising Henry Bourne on the restoration of the abbey to its former glory, his wife Mrs Begum's main concern is marrying off their two daughters, whose chances of good matches seem to be dwindling by the day. While her daughter Rohimun has been cast out from the Bangladeshi community, Shunduri has her own ideas about love and marriage. Meanwhile, their brother, Tariq, a former fundamentalist, is wrestling with his identity. Thankfully, for Mrs Begum, the royal family always has a solution to all her problems: how to marry off a reluctant son; how to manage a difficult father-in-law; and, of course, how not to deal with an inter-faith relationship.

Then there's the Bourne family. Henry's wife, Thea, is having somewhat of a crisis now that she's got the lifestyle she's always longed for. His elder brother, Richard, a successful London barrister, finds himself increasingly drawn to the family home - the inheritance that he's given up. Henry just wants to keep the peace, but little does he know how unlikely that is, with the Choudhurys as neighbours...

And then there is Bourne Abbey itself, family home of Richard and Henry and the key to social success for Thea. And the repository of an ancient mystery that links the histories and cultures of the Bournes and the Choudhurys in a way that no one could have anticipated.

Drawing together this cast of unforgettable characters, Lesley Jørgensen provides a brilliant portrait of the cultural and generational clashes in today's society. Astutely observed and told with irresistible charm, CAT & FIDDLE heralds the arrival of an exceptional new voice.

Winner of the 2011 CAL Scribe Fiction Prize.

Lesley Jørgensen trained as a registered nurse while also completing simultaneous arts and law degrees, and has worked as a medical negligence lawyer in Australia and England. While in England, she married into a Muslim Anglo-Bangladeshi family. She now lives in Adelaide with her two children. CAT & FIDDLE is her first novel.