Set

Coda for Shirley

by Geoff Page

Published 2 August 2011
Coda for Shirley is the sardonic yet poignant sequel to Geoff Page's successful 2006 verse novel, Lawrie & Shirley: The Final Cadenza. The earlier work presented an autumnal romance between an 82 year - old former 'ladies' man' and a 70 year - old widow who attracts his undivided, and unprecedented, loyalty. Sadly but amusingly, Lawrie's adult son and Shirley's two problematic daughters conspire to disrupt the affair. Coda for Shirley, set ten years later, starts with Shirley's decision to leave her money directly to her two grandsons rather than to her avaricious pair of daughters. Naturally enough, the daughters don't react well. Like its predecessor, Coda for Shirley is a romantic comedy, written throughout in Geoff Page's seemingly effortless rhyming verse.