This first novel by Lively, author of the 1987 Booker Prize-winning
Moon Tiger, has remained unknown to American readers since it was
written over ten years ago-a pity, since it's rich and subtly
contrived. As with subsequent Lively offerings, though, its
concerns are narrow and not out of the ordinary; indeed, here the
subject is an aberrant year in a middle-aged Englishwoman's life, a
year when Anne Linton, wife of barrister Don, in the village of
Caxing, looks off the straight, signposted road of her existence
and finds some temporary solace. What motivates her is her
80-year-old father's sudden decline in health. Thus, trips north to
a Lichfield nursing home, where he struggles for life, become her
weekly routine, during which she meets a young friend of her
father's, David Fielding. They fall in love, as Anne sorts through
her father's desk, organizes his lonely house, plants flowers in
his overgrown garden, watches David fish for trout. Counterpointed
with their interludes are Anne's deliberations back in Cuxing over
the fate of an old cottage, which preservationist friends urge her
to help protect from a developer. But what Anne ultimately decides
is that parts of the past aren't worth saving (as with the cottage
and the facts she uncovers about her father's infidelity to his
late wife), and that other parts must simply be left out in any
chronological history - which is what will become of her liaison
with David once she returns to being the faithful suburban wife. An
auspicious debut, in retrospect: it works gently, but is deeply
felt and thoughtful. (Kirkus Reviews)
Ann Linton leaves her family in Berkshire and sets up camp in her father's house when he is taken into a nursing home in distant Lichfield. As she shares his last weeks she meets David Fielding, and the love they share brings her feelings into sharp focus.
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