Estelle in turn is cagey about her lovers, and by the end of the novella we have found out why.ĭorothy provides accommodation in a spare room and food for the creature, and she calls him Larry. She does not confide in Estelle about Larry. She has one friend, Estelle, with whom she has coffee and occasional outings.

She is sure that her husband is cheating on her. Interested? Curious?ĭorothy is very lonely. And she was halfway across the checked linoleum floor of her nice safe kitchen when the screen door opened and a gigantic six-foot-seven-inch frog-like creature shouldered its way into the house and stood stock still in front of her, crouching slightly, and staring straight at her face. She came back into the kitchen fast, to make sure that she caught the toasting cheese in time. He appears in the kitchen in front of Dorothy, an unhappy housewife, in the middle of her preparations for dinner. The story concerns a human-sized green amphibian, who escapes from the Institute of Oceanographic Research. There is much sadness at the story’s heart, grief over the death of a son, a miscarriage and the failing marriage. If Dorothy is Mrs Caliban, who is Mr Caliban: her husband Fred, or Larry the green frogman from the sea? Is it a psychological story, in which Dorothy has hallucinated a more satisfying relationship? This is not resolved. You can take this book seriously at the same time as delighting in its playfulness.

Rachel Ingalls appears to delight in ambiguity.

Mrs caliban ingalls