Claudia Hampton, a beautiful, famous writer, lies dying in hospital. But, as the
nurses tend to her with quiet condescension, she is plotting her greatest work:
a history of the world and in the process, my own'. Gradually she re-creates th
e rich mosaic of her life and times, conjuring up those she has known.
There
is Gordon, her adored brother; Jasper, the charming, untrustworthy lover and fat
her of Lisa, her cool, conventional daughter; and Tom, her one great love, both
found and lost in wartime Egypt. Penelope Lively's Booker Prize-winning novel we
aves an exquisite mesh of memories, flashbacks and shifting voices, in a hauntin
g story of loss and desire.
