A traveller on an InterCity train returning to London smells the burn of brakes as it hisses to a stop in the middle of the countryside. He sees a white-faced woman leap from the train and race to the aid of a sheep stranded on its back in a field, unable to rise. Righting it, the woman turns, and he sees her face is full of tragedy.
Considering tragedies of his own, he does not intrude, but the image lodges in his mind: a strange but familiar despair, unable, despite itself, to ignore the desperation it recognizes in others. From these seeds Mary Wesley draws out a plot of an unforgettable impact: of loss, of release, of a necessarily comic acceptance of fate, of love — “the imaginative experience.”
Rich in character and wit, and powerfully moving, this is a novel of the heart’s pain and deliverance.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author:
Mary Wesley was born near Windsor in 1912. Her education took her to the London School of Economics and during the War she worked in the War Office. She published her first novel (Jumping the Queue) at the age of seventy, and went on to write a further nine novels. Mary Wesley died in 2002.
From AudioFile:
Mary Wesley creates a real atmospheric piece, and Samuel West's clear reading enhances it. The reader shares the main character's pain at the loss of her child and betrayal by her husband and mother. Her "savior," Sylvester Wykes, is also entirely plausible in spite of the melodramatic way in which he and Julia meet and relate. The title is apropos, but the excellent reading makes the potentially sensational story seem logical and believable. Anyone who loves good character development, especially the works of Anita Brookner or Barbara Pym, will appreciate this story. S.G.B. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherVintage Books
- Publication date2007
- ISBN 10 0099499096
- ISBN 13 9780099499091
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages240
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Rating