Penelope Lively’s timeless, Booker Prize-winning novel explores the shifting nature of reality and identity through the many lives of its narrator.
A respectable married man becomes unstuck in Penelope Lively’s witty take on love, literature and the dangers of middle-aged folly.
Mark is working on the life of Gilbert Strong - a writer about whom he thinks he knows everything. A happily married man, dedicated to a life of letters, Mark somehow manages to fall in love with Strong’s granddaughter, a vague young woman more interested in bedding plants and alpines than books or passion. As the summer of Mark’s obsessions steams along, he begins to understand that nothing is ever exactly what it seems - certainly not Gilbert Strong. And not himself either.
Penelope Lively
About the Author
Penelope Lively won the Booker Prize in 1987 and has also been shortlisted twice - in 1977 and 1984. She was born in Cairo and is the author of many prize-winning novels and short story collections for both adults and children.Other nominated books by Penelope Lively
Through the life-changing experiences of 40-year-old Ann, Penelope Lively offers a subtle exploration of memory and identity, chance and consequence.