About the Author

Penelope Lively grew up in Egypt but settled in England after the war and took a degree in history at St Anne's College, Oxford. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and a member of PEN and the Society of Authors. She was married to the late Professor Jack Lively, has a daughter, a son and four grandchildren, and lives in Oxfordshire and London.Penelope Lively is the author of many prize-winning novels and short story collections for both adults and children. She has twice been shortlisted for the Booker Prize; once in 1977 for her first novel, The Road to Lichfield, and again in 1984 for According to Mark. She later won the 1987 Booker Prize for her highly acclaimed novel Moon Tiger. Her novels include Passing On, shortlisted for the 1989 Sunday Express Book of the Year Award, City of the Mind, Cleopatra's Sister and Heat Wave. Many of her books, including Going Back, which first appeared as a children's book, and Oleander, Jacaranda, an autobiographical memoir of her childhood days in Egypt, are published in Penguin.Penelope Lively has also written radio and television scripts and has acted as presenter for a BBC Radio 4 programme on children's literature. She is a popular writer for children and has won both the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Award.

Reviews

The chance discovery of a long-buried photograph and an accompanying love note gives Glyn Peters evidence of a recent affair between his dead wife and her sister's husband. The discovery causes him to question everything he believes about the past. Although the photographic evidence is unclear-a couple is seen from behind holding hands-the note leaves no doubt that the two were romantically linked. As Glyn shares the discovery with his sister-in-law, the two injured spouses behave as if this were a fresh betrayal. Glyn is a landscape historian accustomed to digging under the surface, and the photograph leads him on a journey through the past to learn whether the affair was a one-time dalliance or part of a pattern of betrayals. As successive layers are peeled back, the revelations create a ripple effect in the lives of those close to the couple and shed light on the mystery of how Glyn's wife died. This captivating novel will please Lively's longtime fans and may win her new ones. Recommended for all public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 3/15/03.]-Barbara Love, Kingston Frontenac P.L., Ont. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Lively likes historians. Her most famous novel on this side of the Atlantic, the Booker Prize-winning Moon Tiger, told the story of a popular historian; her latest narrates the quest of a "landscape historian" in search of what Proust called "lost time": the living past of his dead wife. Glyn Peters, a famous British archeologist, discovers a compromising photograph of his wife, Katherine Targett, sealed in an envelope in a closet at home. Peters specializes in excavating the long defunct gardens, buried fields and covered-over roads of the British landscape. Reverting to professional habits, he treats Kath's infidelity as a sort of archeological dig. The photo depicts Kath and Nick Hammond, the husband of Kath's sister, Elaine, surreptitiously holding hands on some outing, with Elaine and Mary Packard, Kath's best friend, in the background. Glyn decides to interview this cloud of witnesses, beginning with Elaine. Elaine is a successful, and somewhat cold, landscaper; Nick, her polar opposite, is a man one degree away from being a Wodehouse dilettante. Lively, who is never shy of letting us know her opinion of her characters (like Trollope), makes her disapprobation of Nick plain. Elaine, after learning of the affair, kicks Nick out. He takes refuge with Polly, their daughter, in London, and goes rapidly downhill. Glyn, meanwhile, has searched out Nick's ex-business partner, Oliver Watson, who took the photograph, and Mary Packard. Lively is always a discerning, keenly intelligent writer. This, for instance, is how she describes, in three irrevocable words, Elaine's pregnancy: "She is pregnant: heavy, hampered, irritable." Unfortunately, Kath, a demon-haunted beauty with little depth, remains unconjurable. Her insubstantiality and the much-foreshadowed nature of her death, not revealed until late in the novel, drains this story of its full emotional impact. 5-city pre-pub tour. (June 2) Forecast: Lively has strong name recognition, but her sales on this side of the Atlantic continue to be modest. Her latest is unlikely to break the mold, but her steady, reliable output (this is her 13th novel) should help keep her on readers' radar screens. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

"Blessed with the gift of being to render matters of great importance with a breath, a barely audible sigh, a touch. The result is wonderful writing."
One of Livelys most satisfying novels: cleverly conceived, artfully constructed and executed with high intelligence and sensitivity. ("Los Angeles Times") An ingenious premise for a novel and Penelope Lively... spins it out with expert skill. ("The Washington Post") Engrossing... engaging. ("San Francisco Chronicle") Livelys [novel] maintains the high standard her fans have come to expect. Its another shining winner. ("The Boston Globe") Original... bracingly intelligent. Rarely has a subject as elusive as lifes messiness been pursued with such unflagging rigor. ("The Atlantic Monthly")
One of Livelyas most satisfying novels: cleverly conceived, artfully constructed and executed with high intelligence and sensitivity. ("Los Angeles Times") An ingenious premise for a novel and Penelope Lively... spins it out with expert skill. ("The Washington Post") Engrossing... engaging. ("San Francisco Chronicle") Livelyas [novel] maintains the high standard her fans have come to expect. Itas another shining winner. ("The Boston Globe") Original... bracingly intelligent. Rarely has a subject as elusive as lifeas messiness been pursued with such unflagging rigor. ("The Atlantic Monthly")
One of Lively s most satisfying novels: cleverly conceived, artfully constructed and executed with high intelligence and sensitivity. ("Los Angeles Times") An ingenious premise for a novel and Penelope Lively... spins it out with expert skill. ("The Washington Post") Engrossing... engaging. ("San Francisco Chronicle") Lively s [novel] maintains the high standard her fans have come to expect. It s another shining winner. ("The Boston Globe") Original... bracingly intelligent. Rarely has a subject as elusive as life s messiness been pursued with such unflagging rigor. ("The Atlantic Monthly")
One of Lively's most satisfying novels: cleverly conceived, artfully constructed and executed with high intelligence and sensitivity. ("Los Angeles Times") An ingenious premise for a novel and Penelope Lively... spins it out with expert skill. ("The Washington Post") Engrossing... engaging. ("San Francisco Chronicle") Lively's [novel] maintains the high standard her fans have come to expect. It's another shining winner. ("The Boston Globe") Original... bracingly intelligent. Rarely has a subject as elusive as life's messiness been pursued with such unflagging rigor. ("The Atlantic Monthly")