This novel is quite simply, moving beyond words and a truely great book. It is deep on so many levels and the more times you read it, the more you draw out of it. It stays in your mind for a long time after you have read it. The characters are extremely well written - you may not particularly like all of them, but you understand them and why they are how they are. You become so involved with them you actually feel you are going to miss them when the novel ends. The use of flashback with the thoughts of different characters is inspired. Penelope Lively is a favourite author and this is her best novel. Nearly all her novels are concerned with thinking about the past and how the past affects the present. This novel is her masterpiece and she brings all her ideas into perfection. The main character Claudia, lies dying in hospital and as she lies there, she looks back on her life and we see how different people have brought out different qualities in her and how she has affected different people - some love her, some are intimidated by her, some envy her, some pity her. Her time in Egypt in WW2 is the most significant period of her life and these chapters are the best in the novel- she draws the country at that time with imagination and we see a much softer Claudia. We are constantly surprised by the different elements of Claudia's character and although you may not approve of how she treated some people, the author has written her with such depth, that you understand her.
Read it and you won't regret.

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