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“A powerful book, rich with empathy and charged with beautiful, atmospheric writing.”—Tana French
A nice house in a tony neighborhood. A hardworking husband. A private school for the children. From the outside, Diana has a perfect life. But her sensitive and observant young son notices that the other kids’ mothers are not like his own. They dress differently. Byron’s father prefers that his wife dress formally, in slim skirts and pointy heels. He gives Diana a Jaguar so neighbors will sit up and take notice. And they do.
Then, one morning, during a shortcut to school through a poor neighborhood, something happens that Byron cannot shake and his mother refuses to acknowledge. Until she has no choice. In the weeks that follow, the façade of a happy family shows signs of distress. Diana makes a questionable friend, and an increasingly tense dance begins—between guilt and resentment, envy and regret—all leading to a tragedy and a shattering revelation.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
January 14, 2014 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780804164177
- File size: 325946 KB
- Duration: 11:19:03
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Paul Rhys draws the listener in with his measured, detached narration of Rachel Joyce's latest novel. Moving smoothly between time, he slowly exposes the layers connecting past and present. In the past, James Lowe and Byron Hemmings were classmates drawn into friendship by their mutual quirkiness. In the present, Jim is a loner, struggling to readjust to a world he has to re-enter when the sanatorium that has been his home for years closes. Rhys keeps his narration impersonal, relating events and describing characters without emotion. The listener is kept engaged by curiosity, wondering what connects JAMES, BYRON AND JIM and how that connection will be revealed. An intriguing tale that makes one wonder at the subtle ways we are connected to our world. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine -
Paul Rhys draws the listener in with his measured, detached narration of Rachel Joyce's latest novel. Moving smoothly between time frames, he slowly exposes the layers connecting the past and present. In the past, James Lowe and Byron Hemmings were classmates, drawn into friendship by their mutual quirkiness. In the present, Jim (a third character) is a loner who struggles to readjust to the world he has to re-enter when the sanatorium that has been his home for years closes. Rhys keeps his narration impersonal, recounting events and describing characters without emotion. Curiosity about what connects James, Byron, and Jim and how that connection will be revealed keeps the listener engaged. An intriguing story that makes one wonder at the subtle ways we are connected to our world. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
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September 16, 2013
An 11-year-old boy makes an error that brings tragedy to several lives, including his own, in Joyce’s intriguing and suspenseful novel. One summer day in a small English village in 1972, Byron Hemmings’s mother, Diana, is driving him and his younger sister to school when their Jaguar hits a little girl on a red bicycle. Diana drives on, unaware, with only Byron having seen the accident. Byron doesn’t know whether or not the girl was killed, however, and concocts a plan called “Operation Perfect” to shield his mother from what happened. Previously, she has always presented the picture of domestic perfection in trying to please her martinet banker husband, Seymour, and overcome her lower-class origins. After Byron decides to tell her the truth about the accident, she feverishly attempts to make amends by befriending the injured girl’s mother, but her “perfect” facade begins to splinter. Joyce sometimes strains credibility in describing Diana’s psychological deterioration, but the novel’s fast pacing keeps things tense. Meanwhile, in alternate chapters, Jim, a psychologically fragile man in his 50s, endures a menial cafe job. Joyce, showing the same talent for adroit plot development seen in the bestselling The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, brings both narrative strands together in a shocking, redemptive (albeit weepily sentimental) denouement. The novel is already a bestseller in England.
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