Synopses & Reviews
In her most accessible, commercial novel yet, the “supremely perceptive writer of formidable skill and intelligence (
New York Times Book Review) turns her astute eye to a dramatic family reunion, where simmering tensions and secrets come to a head over three long, hot summer weeks.
With five novels and two collections of stories, Tessa Hadley has earned a reputation as a fiction writer of remarkable gifts. She brings all of her considerable skill and an irresistible setup to The Past, a novel in which three sisters, a brother, and their children assemble at their country house.
These three weeks may be their last time there; the upkeep is prohibitive, and they may be forced to sell this beloved house filled with memories of their shared past (their mother took them there to live when she left their father). Yet beneath the idyllic pastoral surface, hidden passions, devastating secrets, and dangerous hostilities threaten to consume them.
Sophisticated and sleek, Rolands new wife (his third) arouses his sisters jealousies and insecurities. Kasim, the twenty-year-old son of Alices ex-boyfriend, becomes enchanted with Molly, Rolands sixteen-year-old daughter. Frans young children make an unsettling discovery in a dilapidated cottage in the woods that shatters their innocence. Passion erupts where its least expected, leveling the quiet self-possession of Harriet, the eldest sister.
Over the course of this summer holiday, the familys stories and silences intertwine, small disturbances build into familial crises, and a way of life—bourgeois, literate, ritualized, Anglican—winds down to its inevitable end.
With subtle precision and deep compassion, Tessa Hadley brilliantly evokes a brewing storm of lust and envy, the indelible connections of memory and affection, the fierce, nostalgic beauty of the natural world, and the shifting currents of history running beneath the surface of these seemingly steady lives. The result is a novel of breathtaking skill and scope that showcases this major writers extraordinary talents.
Review
“Subtle....A story that doesnt overreach, about a character who feels real, told in prose that isnt ornate yet is startlingly exact. The effect is a fine and well-chosen pileup of experiences that gather meaning and power….Stella may not stand out, but Tessa Hadley certainly does.” Meg Wolitzer, < i=""> New York Times Book Review <> , on < i=""> Clever Girl <>
Review
“A British writer whose work probes the dangers and joys of family life, Tessa Hadley writes like a dream, even if some of her stories can haunt you like a nightmare….Hadleys measured, perfectly controlled prose masterfully chronicles her characters turmoil; these stories are gemlike and unforgettable.” Kate Tuttle, < i=""> Boston Globe <> , on < i=""> Married Love <>
Review
“Powerful…. Ms. Hadley has a talent for the canny detail…. There are platoons of novelists producing work about middle-class marriages in disarray, most of it very dull. Ms. Hadley is one of the gifted exceptions, and the calm acuity with which she depicts these fractured relationships is haunting.” Sam Sacks, < i=""> Wall Street Journal <> , on < i=""> The London Train <>
Review
“Tessa Hadley recruits admirers with each book. She writes with authority, and with delicacy: she explores nuance, but speaks plainly; she is one of those writers a reader trusts.” Hilary Mantel, author of < i=""> Wolf Hall <> and < i=""> Bringing Up the Bodies <>
Review
“Few writers have been as important to me as Tessa Hadley. She puts on paper a consciousness so visceral, so fully realized, it heightens and expands your own. She is a true master, and The Past is a big, brilliant novel: sensual, wise, compellingand utterly magnificent.” Lily King, author of < i=""> Euphoria <>
Synopsis
Winner of the Windham Campbell Prize - A Washington Post Best Book of the Year - A Time Best Book of the Year - A San Francisco Chronicle Top 10 Book of the Year - A Huffington Post Best Fiction Book of the Year - A New York Times Editors' Choice
In her most accessible, commercial novel yet, the "supremely perceptive writer of formidable skill and intelligence (New York Times Book Review) turns her astute eye to a dramatic family reunion, where simmering tensions and secrets come to a head over three long, hot summer weeks.
With five novels and two collections of stories, Tessa Hadley has earned a reputation as a fiction writer of remarkable gifts. She brings all of her considerable skill and an irresistible setup to The Past, a novel in which three sisters, a brother, and their children assemble at their country house.
These three weeks may be their last time there; the upkeep is prohibitive, and they may be forced to sell this beloved house filled with memories of their shared past (their mother took them there to live when she left their father). Yet beneath the idyllic pastoral surface, hidden passions, devastating secrets, and dangerous hostilities threaten to consume them.
Sophisticated and sleek, Roland's new wife (his third) arouses his sisters' jealousies and insecurities. Kasim, the twenty-year-old son of Alice's ex-boyfriend, becomes enchanted with Molly, Roland's sixteen-year-old daughter. Fran's young children make an unsettling discovery in a dilapidated cottage in the woods that shatters their innocence. Passion erupts where it's least expected, leveling the quiet self-possession of Harriet, the eldest sister.
Over the course of this summer holiday, the family's stories and silences intertwine, small disturbances build into familial crises, and a way of life--bourgeois, literate, ritualized, Anglican--winds down to its inevitable end.
With subtle precision and deep compassion, Tessa Hadley brilliantly evokes a brewing storm of lust and envy, the indelible connections of memory and affection, the fierce, nostalgic beauty of the natural world, and the shifting currents of history running beneath the surface of these seemingly steady lives. The result is a novel of breathtaking skill and scope that showcases this major writer's extraordinary talents.
About the Author
Tessa Hadley is the author of four highly praised novels: Accidents in the Home, which was long-listed for the Guardian First Book Award, Everything Will Be All Right, The Master Bedroom, and The London Train, which was a New York Times Notable Book. She is also the author of two short-story collections, Sunstroke and Married Love, both of which were New York Times Notable Books as well. Her stories appear regularly in The New Yorker. She lives in London.
Tessa Hadley on PowellsBooks.Blog
Tessa Hadley is a British novelist and short story writer who is highly praised by critics, frequently published in the
New Yorker, and regularly compared to Alice Munro and Colm Tóibín. But I am convinced she remains underread in this country. Hadley quietly and brilliantly illuminates seemingly ordinary lives in stories that shine with emotional depth...
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