I love all Penelope Lively’s writing but this is my favourite. She has beautifully constructed a story spanning three generations from 1935 to the present day. The lives of Lorna, her daughter Molly and granddaughter Ruth are woven together seamlessly, making it a very satisfying read. Ruth’s visit to the Somerset cottage where Lorna and Matt spent their fleeting time together brings the novel full-circle. The fresco Matt painted as an impoverished artist for Lorna has been recently uncovered: a testament to their blissful marriage before War intervened to part them.
The walls. Dancing figures. Pink. Nude, but discreetly so. Male and female. Who hold out their arms to one another, link arms, swirl around the walls of the room.
Why is Penelope Lively one of my favourite novelists?
She writes thoughtfully, beautifully, sparingly.
She turns and there is the postman, so she smiles, and waves.
But the postman is neither smiling nor waving. He has a new look on his face she does not recognise.
But I realise it is her characters I like, time and again. They are kind, sensitive and honourable and that is what draws me back each time.
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