A Family Romance
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd
Published:3rd Nov '16
£15.99
Available to order, but very limited on stock - if we have issues obtaining a copy, we will let you know.
'Literature for me was a magnificent destiny for which I was not yet fully prepared.'
Paul and Henrietta Manning and their solitary, academic daughter Jane have nothing in common with Dolly, widow of Henrietta's brother. Corseted and painted, Dolly is a frivolous, superficial woman, who has little time for those without that inestimable quality - charm.
Jane, in particular, falls into this category, especially after the death of her parents. But Jane has money - and a conscience - and these bind her to Dolly. Through disagreements, disappointments and disapprovals, Jane and Dolly are enmeshed in an uneasy alliance in which history and family create closer ties than friendship ever could.
The novel is nearly as perfect an instance of its genre as it is reasonable to ask. * Frank Kermode, Spectator *
This is vintage Brookner: all exquisite understatement, acute observation and razor-sharp dissection of motive. * Time Out *
This small history unfolds slowly, with delicious wit or bitter pathos, and finally with a marvellous, lingering human resonance. * Sunday Express *
Compelling . . . some classic Brookner quality stays in the mind; questions hover, polite but uncomfortable, long after the final page. * Times Literary Supplement *
ISBN: 9780241979426
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 14mm
Weight: 159g
224 pages