A recent read--though it was first published in 2002.
Back cover copy:
Recently divorced from her husband and alienated from her three daughters, Candid Wilton is seeking a fresh start late in her life. She moves from a beautiful Georgian house in Suffolk to a two-room flat in a run-down building In London and begins to pour her soul into a diary. In pitch-perfect voice, Candida describes her health club, her social circle, and her attempts at taking risks in her new life. . .
This book captivated me. It's not for everyone, I'm sure, but it's a magnificent example of how a person can be an unreliable narrator of her own life--even to herself.
Candida is wary of relationships, but somehow she falls into them and when she is the beneficiary of a financial windfall, she and an oddly assorted group of acquaintances, take a trip to follow part of Vergil's Aeneas's wanderings. (There is, as one reviewer noted, a scholarly sub-theme, and part of the tour is to the Sybil at Cumae and to Lake Avernus.)
As the trip progresses, we learn more and more about each woman . . .and more and more about Candida.
Or do we? Drabble plays some tricks with the narration but, for my part, the ride is worth it. Candida's struggle to find her place in the world and to come to terms with both her changed situation and her own mortality are painted with delicately beautiful prose.
The book was a NY Times Notable Book and a Chicago Tribune and Newsday Favorite Book of the Year.
I don't believe I've read any other of Drabble's work but that's going to change. Any Drabble fans out there? Any recommendations?
4 comments:
I loved her trilogy, beginning with 'The Radiant Way.' And, of course, knowing that she is the sister of A.S. Byatt always makes me look for the autobiographical (possibly imagined) references.
I read some of the earlier books by Margaret Drabble. She's an interesting writer. She doesn't always stick to the same themes.
I've ordered The Radiant Way. Yes, I'd forgotten she and Byatt (Possession!) are sisters. So much talent.
Bingo! I am huge Drabble fan. Read them all as they came out in the 80s and then reread when closer to the age of recurring characters. I think often of her people - specially the one who commented about how we become observers. I also loved her memoir more recently. And anything I can read of interviews. She’s not warm and cuddly but is wise. Way up in pantheon of beloved British authors. So fun to have you discover her!
Post a Comment