Summer's Lease
Encyclopedia
Summer's Lease is a novel, set predominantly in Italy, by Sir John Mortimer, author of the Rumpole novels. It was first published in 1988 and made into a British television
mini-series, first shown in 1989. The name "Summer's Lease" comes from William Shakespeare
's Sonnet 18
. The relevant line is And summer's lease hath all too short a date. The novel is divided into six parts: "Preparations, Arrival, First Week, Second Week, Third Week, The Return".
Molly Pargeter is a forty-something wife and mother of three girls, who leads a stable but dull life in 1980s West London. She feels overweight and there is no passion in her relationship with her husband Hugh, who is secretly seeing another woman. For most of her life she has found escape in detective novels and books on art, especially about the fifteenth century Italian fresco painter Piero Della Francesca
.
Then in a newspaper's small adds Molly sees the details of a villa in Tuscany
, Italy
to let and after travelling to Italy to view the villa "La Felicita" she decides to take it for the family's August holiday. The villa is conveniently located for the art-centres of Florence
and Siena
and also for Urbino
, a days drive away across the "Mountains of the Moon" where possibly the world's greatest small picture awaits Molly: Piero's "Flagellation"
.
In the first week of the holiday the water disappears; the swimming pool is empty and there is no running water in the villa. Then, in the second week, when the body of the ex-pat letting agent is discovered also in an empty swimming pool, Molly suspects foul play. She becomes more involved with life in Mondano and its society: an aristocrat, a wealthy socialite, several ex-pats (who all seem to be hiding something) and the figure of the villa's owner - the mysterious "S. Kettering".
The search for the truth behind the disappearing water, the corpse and S. Kettering's identity becomes an obsession which leads Molly across the "Mountains of the Moon" for more than just the small painting.
in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
, WGBH
-Boston and Television New Zealand
. It was directed by Martyn Friend and produced by Colin Rogers. The screenplay was by the author, John Mortimer. It featured an Emmy Award
-winning performance from John Gielgud
, and its soundtrack, composed by Nigel Hass was awarded the Television and Radio Industries Club
award for best television theme. It was filmed on location in London and Italy and first aired in the UK in 1989 on BBC2.
Principal cast:
British television
Public television broadcasting started in the United Kingdom in 1936, and now has a collection of free and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channelsTaking the base Sky EPG TV Channels. A breakdown is impossible due to a) the number of...
mini-series, first shown in 1989. The name "Summer's Lease" comes from William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's Sonnet 18
Sonnet 18
Sonnet 18, often alternately titled Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?, is one of the best-known of 154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare...
. The relevant line is And summer's lease hath all too short a date. The novel is divided into six parts: "Preparations, Arrival, First Week, Second Week, Third Week, The Return".
Novel summary
Piero della Francesca
Piero della Francesca was a painter of the Early Renaissance. As testified by Giorgio Vasari in his Lives of the Artists, to contemporaries he was also known as a mathematician and geometer. Nowadays Piero della Francesca is chiefly appreciated for his art. His painting was characterized by its...
.
Then in a newspaper's small adds Molly sees the details of a villa in Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
to let and after travelling to Italy to view the villa "La Felicita" she decides to take it for the family's August holiday. The villa is conveniently located for the art-centres of Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
and Siena
Siena
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...
and also for Urbino
Urbino
Urbino is a walled city in the Marche region of Italy, south-west of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially under the patronage of Federico da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino from 1444 to 1482...
, a days drive away across the "Mountains of the Moon" where possibly the world's greatest small picture awaits Molly: Piero's "Flagellation"
Flagellation of Christ (Piero della Francesca)
The Flagellation of Christ is a painting by Piero della Francesca in the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche in Urbino, Italy. Called by one writer an "enigmatic little painting," the composition is complex and unusual, and its iconography has been the subject of widely differing theories...
.
In the first week of the holiday the water disappears; the swimming pool is empty and there is no running water in the villa. Then, in the second week, when the body of the ex-pat letting agent is discovered also in an empty swimming pool, Molly suspects foul play. She becomes more involved with life in Mondano and its society: an aristocrat, a wealthy socialite, several ex-pats (who all seem to be hiding something) and the figure of the villa's owner - the mysterious "S. Kettering".
The search for the truth behind the disappearing water, the corpse and S. Kettering's identity becomes an obsession which leads Molly across the "Mountains of the Moon" for more than just the small painting.
TV adaptation
In 1989 the novel was adapted for television in four parts by the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
, WGBH
WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...
-Boston and Television New Zealand
Television New Zealand
Television New Zealand, more commonly referred to, and stylized as TVNZ, is a government-owned corporation television network broadcasting in New Zealand and parts of the Pacific. It operates TV1, TV2, TVNZ7, TVNZ Heartland, TVNZ U and new media services....
. It was directed by Martyn Friend and produced by Colin Rogers. The screenplay was by the author, John Mortimer. It featured an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
-winning performance from John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
, and its soundtrack, composed by Nigel Hass was awarded the Television and Radio Industries Club
Television and Radio Industries Club
The Television and Radio Industries Club is a British institution chartered in 1931 to "promote goodwill in the television and radio industries"...
award for best television theme. It was filmed on location in London and Italy and first aired in the UK in 1989 on BBC2.
Principal cast:
- John GielgudJohn GielgudSir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
- Haverford Downs - Susan FleetwoodSusan FleetwoodSusan Maureen Fleetwood was a British stage, film and television actress, best known as a star of the classical theatre companies of England. She received popular acclaim in the television series Chandler & Co and The Buddha of Suburbia.-Personal life:Fleetwood was born in St...
- Molly Pargeter - Michael PenningtonMichael PenningtonMichael Vivian Fyfe Pennington is a British director and actor who, together with director Michael Bogdanov, founded the English Shakespeare Company...
- Hugh Pargeter - Leslie Philips - William Fosdyke
- Rosemary LeachRosemary LeachRosemary Leach is a British stage, television and film actress.She was born at Much Wenlock, Shropshire. Her parents were teachers related to Edmund Leach. She attended grammar school and RADA...
- Nancy Leadbetter
External links
- Fantastic Fiction entry about the novel