Synopses & Reviews
The Booker Prize?winning author?s sweeping saga of three generations of women ?One of the most accomplished writers of fiction of our day? (The Washington Post ) follows the lives and loves of three women?Lorna, Molly, and Ruth?from World War II?era London to the close of the century. Told in Lively?s incomparable prose, this is a powerful story of growth, death, and renewal, as well as a penetrating look at how the major and minor events of the twentieth century changed lives. By chronicling the choices and consequences that comprise one family?s history, Lively offers an intimate and profound reaffirmation of the force of connection between generations.
Review
"At its center shimmers the idea of resiliency, of the continuity of humankind as embodied in one family, shattered and reconstituted, fragile, stubborn, enduring." New York Times
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"[A] bold, lovely book, unsparing yet never gratuitously unkind." Los Angeles Times
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"Penelope Lively has worked within the tradition of humane, realistic, cultivated women writers who flourished in England in the second half of the 20th century....It is a dwindling tradition, sadly, which makes a writer like Ms. Lively all the more worth treasuring." Wall Street Journal
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"Lively takes the long view of history, and at the same time animates idiosyncratic characters with zest and quick strokes." Seattle Times
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"Lively shows how even a trip to somewhere you've never been can feel like a homecoming." Newsday
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"Lively neatly contrasts conventional and unconventional lives, considers the ironies of womanhood and the pitfalls of marriage, and celebrates creative endeavors." Booklist
About the Author
Penelope Lively is the author of twelve novels, most recently The Photograph. Her short stories have appeared in Good Housekeeping, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and The Observer, among others. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a member of PEN and the Society of Authors.