| ‘How it All Began’ by Penelope Lively | ||
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A+ Excellent (97%) | Summary of the Reviews: | |
| A very well-written novel describing how the mugging of an elderly woman can have unexpected consequences for some very different people, told in a funny, yet profound, manner. It’s a Prosenotes Pick! | ||
| ISBN: 978-0670023448, Pages: 240 | ||
| Fiction | Literary Fiction | Prosenotes Pick | ||
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THE BOOK JACKET:
A vibrant new novel from Penelope Lively-a wry, wise story about the surprising ways lives intersect. When Charlotte Rainsford, a retired schoolteacher, is accosted by a petty thief on a London street, the consequences ripple across the lives of acquaintances and strangers alike. A marriage unravels after an illicit love affair is revealed through an errant cell phone message; a posh yet financially strapped interior designer meets a business partner who might prove too good to be true; an old-guard historian tries to recapture his youthful vigor with an ill-conceived idea for a TV miniseries; and a middle-aged central European immigrant learns to speak English and reinvents his life with the assistance of some new friends. Through a richly conceived and colorful cast of characters, Penelope Lively explores the powerful role of chance in people’s lives and deftly illustrates how our paths can be altered irrevocably by someone we will never even meet. Brought to life in her hallmark graceful prose and full of keen insights into human nature, How It All Began is an engaging, contemporary tale that is sure to strike a chord with her legion of loyal fans as well as new readers. A writer of rare wisdom, elegance, and humor, Lively is a consummate storyteller whose gifts are on full display in this masterful work. |
THE REVIEWS:
| Susann Cokal – New York Times | |
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One of our most talented writers has written an elegant, witty work of fiction, deceptively simple, emotionally and intellectually penetrating, the kind of novel that brings a plot to satisfying closure but whose questions linger long afterward in the reader’s mind. |
| Stephan Lee – Entertainment Weekly | |
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How It All Began is light fare, this deftly paced novel remains compulsively readable throughout. |
| Carol Herman – Washington Times | |
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Three cheers for this gorgeous writing. |
| Amanda Craig – The Telegraph | |
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How It All Began is another compulsively enjoyable novel by a writer whose eye and craft remain as needle-sharp as ever. |
| Alfred Hickling – The Guardian | |
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The novel contains some of Lively’s funniest and most enjoyable character studies[...] |
| Katherine Bailey – Star Tribune | |
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Lively’s novel is skillfully constructed, with a thoroughly engaging plot. |
| Valerie Ryan – Seattle Times | |
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The characters in this novel are, each and all, well drawn and fully conceived. |
| Michael Prodger – Financial Times | |
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There is a politeness to Lively’s prose and a tea-and-cake comfortableness to her mises-en-scène that can make her seem old-fashioned at times, but she is a writer of craft and sagacity and such old-fashioned virtues trump the chic but meretricious every time. |
| Freya McClelland – The Independent (UK) | |
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The unravelling of this decision-making process makes for an engaging and warm read full of keenest human insight. |
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