After Leaving Mr Mackenzie (Paperback, New Ed)

This is another one of Jean Rhys' forlorn monochromatic sketches of a woman approaching forty but does it really matter. The lines are strongest around the eyes and the mouth. Julia is the same woman who has appeared in all her books (Good Morning Midnight, 1970, her best; Quartet, 1971, a little stronger than this one) in different but no better circumstances. Her marriage did not work out; she lost a baby because she didn't have the money to keep it alive; she has been living off one man or another in Paris for about ten years - most recently Mr. Mackenzie who leaves her with a "sore and cringing feeling" and a few francs. Triste, indecisive but somehow faintly expectant - she hopes for just what? She goes back to London briefly - no one really wants to see her and her mother is too far gone to recognize her. She returns to Paris and when last seen is walking some street in "the hour between dog and wolf, as they say." Miss Rhys, in her understated fashion, was a remarkable precisionist and in this fine rain you can almost count the drops. (Kirkus Reviews)

After being left by Mr Mackenzie (and not the other way around) Julia faces facts. Once glamorous and sought-after she is now down-at-heel after a string of unsuccessful affairs and leads a jaded, faded life in a tawdry Paris hotel. Then the maintenance cheques stop and she is forced to change her circumstances. She makes a decision: to return to London to her paralysed mother and worthy, martyred sister. It is to be a new leaf and a new life. But standing on her own is more difficult than she thought - she is restricted by the very existence she has created. After Leaving Mr Mackenzie is a brilliant, yet brutal, portrait of a woman struggling to retrieve both life and love.

General

Imprint:	Penguin Classics
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Series:	Penguin Modern Classics
Release date:	August 2000
First published:	August 2000
Authors:	Jean Rhys
Introduction by:	Lorna Sage
Dimensions:	198 x 129 x 11mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	176
Edition:	New Ed
ISBN-13:	978-0-14-118394-7
Categories:	Books > Fiction > General & literary fiction > Modern fiction Books > Fiction > Special features > Classic fiction
LSN:	0-14-118394-2
Barcode:	9780141183947

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