An Imaginative Experience: A Novel - Hardcover

Mary Wesley was born in Berkshire. She wrote two children's books before publishing her first adult novel in 1983 at the age of 70. Since then she has produced a succession of books dealing with middle-class mores, each written with ironic, detached amusement, and taking an unblinkered, though compassionate look at sexual values. One of the best known is The Camomile Lawn, which considers sexual and emotional relationships in the turmoil of World War II. It, like several of her novels has been made into a television series.

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