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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
Barely any
Some World War II violence; a death in combat is a central event
Language
Barely any
Mild language; Lively's prose is elegant and precise
Sexual Content
Some
An adult love affair is central to the narrative; handled with literary restraint
Substance Use
None
No substance use
Emotional Intensity
Some
The meditation on a life fully lived, the love that defined it, and the approach of death creates a sustained melancholy
What this book is about
Penelope Lively's Booker Prize-winning 1987 novel follows Claudia Hampton, a brilliant and difficult historian dying in a hospital, as she narrates her personal history: a love affair with an officer who died in North Africa in World War II, her competitive relationship with her brother, and her unsentimental view of her own life. Lively's formal innovation — shifting between first and third person, present and past — is beautifully executed. A literary meditation on memory, history, and what we carry with us.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
World War II death central to narrative
Confrontation with mortality
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