A Friend from England - Tapa dura

When Rachel became involved in the lives of the Livingstones it was with an acute appreciation of the engulfing warmth of their home - rooted, furnished and nourished as if it was by an opulent domesticity, fuelled by ferocious central heating. Uxorious Oscar watched appreciatively as solicitous Dorrie served tea in elegant cups, their daughter Heather in attendance, as if impenetrably complacent. The attitude of all three towards the good fortune of their wealth was one of melancholy submission: a sadness seemed to go with every acquisition. Their conversation was largely meaningless, and this Rachel found restful. Although the two young women had nothing in common, the Livingstones seemed to encourage Rachel's association with their daughter, as if it were a precaution against anyone taking advantage of |Heather. They looked to Rachel as the true adult, sturdily independent and in command of her fate - self-reliant with her own small business and her discreet worldliness. No one knew much of the affairs of Rachel's heart, of the reasons for her vigilant self-control, of her cynicism - of her fear of drowning. She had long ago decided to live her life on the surface, to avoid entanglements and dangerous friendships. She was aware of her limitations. If the truth were known, Rachel found the privileged childishness and opacity of Heather exasperating, though she had her own reasons to continue to seek the family's hospitality. She stood by while Heather was swept into an unsuitable marriage followed by a second which Rachel deemed just as ill-advised in its own way. She would measure her own unencumbered, carefully gauged liberty against what she saw as Heather's irresponsible abandon and take it upon herself as a duty to force an unforgettable confrontation. From London to Venice this elegant, revealing, beautifully controlled study builds to a startling unmasking of its protagonists and their motives. Rachel, for all her ken observation and assumptions about others, is destined for a self-exposure she does not foresee. Powerful in conception, rich in execution, A Friend from England is Anita Brookner at her most poignant and thought-provoking.