Jumping the Queue  Jumping the Queue (1983) is the first novel written by British novelist Mary Wesley, published when the author was seventy years old. The story takes place mainly in Cornwall, England, and follows a middle aged widow's struggle with guilt and self-reproach after the death of her husband and her determination to jump the queue – commit suicide. Mary Wesley had been writing most of her life and had had two children's books published when her husband died in 1970. The years that followed were unproductive and barren and Wesley was troubled by poverty and grief. However, by 1977 she managed to finish the script to "Jumping the Queue", a book about a widow's wish to commit suicide in the wake of her husband's death. The book clearly reflects the depth of Wesley's own despair when she wrote it, and the entire work can be seen as part of the process of grieving. However, Wesley had to wait five years before she found a publisher courageous enough to accept the script, and "Jumping the Queue" was finally published on 28 April 1983. After thirty-five years of writing and rejections her first adult novel had become a reality. The heroine of the novel is Matilda, a widow in her fifties, who lives alone in an isolated cottage in Cornwall, England. Her four children all live abroad and rarely visit her, and troubled by her husband's death she has decided to end it all – commit suicide.Matilda's plan is to go to the beach, swim out and drown herself. However, a gang of youngsters spoil her plan when they show up with the intention of having a party on "her" beach, and Matilda moves on to throw herself off a bridge, only to find that the bridge has been occupied by a young man who has had the same idea as she. Matilda recognises the man, Hugh, as someone who is on the run from the police for having murdered his mother, and she invites him to stay with her in her cottage.In the following days Matilda tells Hugh the story of her life, bit by bit. It is a story about a life filled with lies, adultery, incest and murder. Hugh is constantly worried that she may betray him and call the police, and Matilda partly hopes that he will just disappear and partly hopes he will stay. When he finally does go, Matilda is left alone with her skeletons. The novel was adapted into a TV play in 1989, directed by Claude Whatham.