Product Description

Zelda is terrified that her love affair is about to end, and she prays for something - anything - to prevent the inevitable heartbreak. Then she is told that her father has hanged himself. His death brings back intense memories of her childhood and all that remains unspoken in her family. Zelda hides much from her mother, even the lover she would give anything to keep. With questions she can no longer ignore, Zelda for the first time begins to search for her father's truth and pieces together clues to his suffering. And by confronting her dark and disturbing memories, she opens up to intimacy with her family, with her lover, with herself.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #604022 in Books
• Published on: 1998-08-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Sunday Telegraph
'Utterly satisfying ... beautifully structured and almost painfully tender'

Daily Mail
'Step into the world of family secrets, lies and whispers in the dark ... compelling and an extremely good read'

Guardian
'Vivid characterisation ... true, honest and powerfully realised'

Customer Reviews

Remembrance of things past
Zelda, the first person narrator of this story lives a bohemian life in York with her female lover. Her unresolved conflicts with her family and memories of her childhood only serve to intensify her present insecurities. The structure of the book is formed of flashbacks interlaced with present events. This is a popular technique in contemporary fiction and the author handles this to good effect here. (In some books this is badly structured and becomes irritating to the reader).

Her childhood on the surface has an Arcadian, almost Enid Blyton-ish feel to it with descriptions of tree-houses and mother baking cakes. However it soon becomes evident that Zelda's childhood was far from happy with various skeletons coming out of the cupboard to haunt her present relationships. Under the surface there is bitter sibling rivalry, jealosy and a withholding father who conceals a gruesome history which casts a dark shadow on the whole family and on Zelda's upbringing.

This quiet, reflective and rather tragic novel lacks the compelling tension and narrative excitement of her later "Deep Blue Bliss". However it provided an interesting read on the perennial theme of the past haunting the present. And there are some unconventional surprises thrown in as well.

A memorable story, well written, moving and disturbing
I really enjoyed this book. It was well written, although uncomfortable reading at times, Lesley Glaister does not shy away from the more questionable aspects of human nature. The 'coming-to-terms' theme was extremely well done.