Another wonderful book from the incomparable Penelope Lively. Her ability to get you turning the pages when on the surface not a lot is happening is amazing.As with all of her books it's about memory and people coming to terms with their past.
On this occasion there are nine characters: the six grown-up children, their mother and father, and the au pair who (after 30-odd years) has never left. Also central to the story, and almost a character in its own right, is the big shabby Victorian house in whch all the children grew up in and which is still the setting for various family get-togethers.
Different chapters are written from the perspective of each of them. Bit by bit the family secrets are revealed - and the one big secret nobody ever talks about...
I suppose one of the main themes is how when you are a child you view your family as normal (by definition it is the norm against which you measure all other families). But as you grow older you come to realise all the ways in which your family is distinctly abnormal!
Great stuff!
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