Not Funny Not Clever

As schoolgirls, theyd sprawled on Elizabeths bedroom floor, hour after hour surveying the future, populating it with handsome princes and silken palaces. Now here they were, in this plain little house, together again, this time contemplating the ostensibly featureless plain of middle age. Jo Veritys fourth novel takes a long, hard look at the unique topography of mid-life its constraints, compromises and consolations; the potential pitfalls and rewards of the choice between freedom and flexibility, or stability and limitations. Lifelong friends Elizabeth and Diane, both now forty-nine, have trodden very different paths towards maturity. After losing her beloved husband at the age of only twenty-two, Diane has made a life for herself as an artist and a fly-by-night, careering from one relationship and crisis to another and always, somehow, coming up smelling of roses. She leans heavily on her friendship with Elizabeth, who has gone for the safer option of a solid and comfortable marriage with lawyer Laurence mortgage, two kids, two cars and a cat called Stevens. So, now theyve reached the fateful juncture of nearly-fifty, will Diane finally commit to a relationship with the warm and devoted Carl, and will Elizabeth risk a holiday dalliance with a seductively attractive Welshman? Like Veritys last novel, Sweets from Morocco, this is a great door-stopper of a book, though the narrative here takes a little longer to really get into its stride. Once it does, youre away, your sympathies shifting from one character to another, and a voice in your head screaming for the uptight, conventional, endlessly critical Elizabeth to at least let her hair down, if not her knickers. Or maybe not. Maybe youd prefer her to keep her hair and her knickers on, and for Diane to grow up and follow her eminently sensible example. So, which camp will you be in when you hit fifty, and will you want to be there? Veritys psychological perspicacity shines through once more. Suzy Ceulan Hughes It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council. Gellir defnyddio’r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru. — Welsh Books Council