My first novel from this writer, I was reminded of other writers such as Margaret Drabble, Iris Murdoch etc. But maybe that’s unfair to Howard’s originality!
It was very easy to get into this novel and the main plot is pretty simple: a marriage story, an affair, and the denouement unfolding in an England that seems slightly timeless and vague.
There are elements of the novel that are troubling, but the darkness is kept at bay by a strained cheery domesticity. This is a world where wives spend their days planning elaborate meals that include aspic (after dead-heading some roses and running errands) and married people enjoy pre-dinner drinks together.
There’s a few interesting parallel stories that eventually converge, and here are where some of the darker stuff lives. I wish the story would have dwelled there more.
The novel looks at intimacy and marriage in a very clearheaded way. Some of the descriptions are brutal (in a good way). I like the overlapping perspectives.
Hard to know what the novel is trying to “say”, if anything. There’s messages here about delusion, privilege, and complacency.
I wasn’t sure about the final few chapters and story developments, but it’s always hard to wrap a novel such as this.
Adding the author’s autobiography and biography to my reading list.
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