Product Description

When Amy's husband dies on holiday in Istanbul, she is supported by the kindly but rather slovenly Martha, a young American novelist who lives in London. Upon their return to England, Amy is ungratefully reluctant to maintain their friendship, but the skeins of their existence seem inextricably linked as grief gives way to resilience and again to tragedy. Reversals of fortune and a compelling cast of characters, including Ernie, ex-sailor turned housekeeper, and Amy's wonderfully precocious granddaughters, add spice to a novel that delights even as it unveils the most uncomfortable human emotions.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26261 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Review
'A compassionate and devastating tale' Daily Mail 'Jane Austen, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbara Pym, Elizabeth Bowen - soul-sisters all' Anne Tyler 'Elizabeth Taylor had the keenest eye and ear for the pain lurking behind a genteel demeanour' Paul Bailey, Guardian 'How deeply I envy any reader coming to her for the first time!' Elizabeth Jane Howard 'The unsung heroine of British 20th century fiction' Rebecca Abrams, New Statesman 'A wonderful novelist' Jilly Cooper 'How skilfully and with what peculiar exhilaration she negotiated the minefield of the human heart' Jonathan Keates 'An eye as sharply all-seeing as her prose-style is elegant -- even the humdrum becomes astonishing' Daily Telegraph 'Brilliantly amusing' Rosamund Lehman

Paul Bailey, Guardian
‘Elizabeth Taylor had the keenest eye and ear for the pain lurking behind a genteel demeanour’

Daily Telegraph
'Taylor excels in conveying the tragicomic poignancy of the everyday’

Customer Reviews

A writer to discover
Taylor writes about quiet, middle class lives in London and the Home Counties in the 40's 50's and early 60's, the period through which she lived and wrote her novels. Then she fell out of fashion rather as Barbara Pym did, neglected undeservedly many critics, including Phillip Pullman and Jonathan Keates, now agree. 'Blaming' seems to be a wonderfully comfortable and easy read but like all her novels, works its magic quietly, almost subversively.

Her forte is the ordinary, the day to day so carefully observed and made strange and real for the reader. Once having read her books they become part of your memory, like a lived experience. At the heart of all her novels, including 'Blaming' is quiet despair, lives lived in loneliness and frustration, but also humour and bravery when faced with problems and griefs. In 'Blaming' a friendship is explored between the grieving widow Amy, and the rootless American writer, Martha. It is an odd friendship. Martha appears to be using Amy as material for a novel on the English and Amy keeps up the relationship out of a sense of guilt. There are other funny and interesting characters, including the cook/housekeeper Ernie and Amy's selfish son Gareth and wife, embodying early 60's tastes and aspirations.

The style is spare and pointed, beautifully clear and minimal. If you like Ann Tyler or Sagan, it seems to me that Taylor has some of the best aspects of both these writers. Once you have read one of her books you long to find your way back into her world and to read more and more.

Another winner by one of Britain's most underrated novelists
Written with Taylor's typical and occasionally devastating brevity, this is not to be missed. Nobody can interrogate the nuances of motive and behaviour like she can. Very highly recommended.