Penny Blue

‘Penny Blue’
By Vanessa Brooks

“Bob and Marion live with their rebellious daughter Pen in a cockroach-infested tower block. Dougie and Petula are old friends who years before emigrated to Australia in search of a better life. Dougie and Petula have made it big Down Under and now live the Australian Dream — luxurious home, designer labels and kidney-shaped swimming pool — while Bob and Marion have continued to live a modest life in England. When Dougie and Petula arrive for a reunion back in the Old Country, home (and abroad) truths burst through the surface as the veneers are stripped off and old wounds are re-opened. As the tequila flows a little too freely, tongues loosen and the pent-up jealousies of seventeen years finally come pouring out, with disastrous — and hilarious — results. But where does the Penny Blue fit in? In a stamp collection, brought back from Australia, which holds the promise of an instant fortune for Bob and Marion . . .”