Summary
FAMILY ALBUM by Penelope Lively (Fig Tree) NOW aged 76, Penelope Lively is an author who never tires of exploring new writing territory, even while dealing with a familiar subject. In her 16th novel, she focuses on the mysterious workings of family life through a series of snapshot memories and viewpoints, building up a portrait of a seemingly happy family that is dysfunctional at its core.
The setting is a large, shabby suburban house, Allersmead, where fanatically home-minded mother Alison brings up a brood of six children while her aloof writer husband Charles retreats to his study. When the grown-up children return intermittently from their far-flung lives, the old house brings back childhood memories. But Alison's stifling domesticity has left them wary of starting their own families -- Gina is a roving TV reporter, Sandra a brittle fashionista, anorexic Clare a dancer, and the oldest, favourite son Paul, a drug-taking drop-out.See the full content of this document
Extract
Literary Fiction [Eire Region]
Lively skilfully mingles past and present, as she peels away the layers to uncover a family secret of which no one speaks. What se...
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