Un'ondata di caldo

There are lots of authors who I really enjoy who get me happily from one end of a book to the other, with all kinds of interesting plots, characters and relationships, but who never write a really memorable sentence that makes me sit back and think. Penelope Lively is not one of those authors. Her p Leggi tutto

This was my second Penelope Lively novel and I loved it as much as my first, Moon Tiger. This is a more contained novel, about the relationships between a middle aged mother and her grown up daughter (and young mother now herself) and son-in-law. Over the course of a summer's heatwave living in clos Leggi tutto

A masterfully written book. One of my all time favorites. I have turned to this book time and time again for a lesson on subtle writing.

I bought a copy of this novel last year, attracted by the striking artwork on the front cover and the promise of a perceptive portrayal of ‘a fragile family, damaged and defined by adultery’. Fortunately, the book itself very much lives up to this impression, unfolding over a dry, claustrophobic sum Leggi tutto