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Overview
The Booker Prize?winning author?s sweeping saga of three generations of women?One of the most accomplished writers of fiction of our day? (The Washington Post ) follows the lives and loves of three women?Lorna, Molly, and Ruth?from World War II?era London to the close of the century. Told in Lively?s incomparable prose, this is a powerful story of growth, death, and renewal, as well as a penetrating look at how the major and minor events of the twentieth century changed lives. By chronicling the choices and consequences that comprise one family?s history, Lively offers an intimate and profound reaffirmation of the force of connection between generations.
Synopsis
Consequences is a love-story-times-three that opens on the eve of the Second World War, with a chance meeting in St. James's Park, London. Told in Lively's incomparable prose, it is a powerful story of growth, death, and rebirth and a study of the previous century—-its major and minor events, its shaping of public consciousness, and its changing of lives.
Los Angeles Times Book Review
A bold, lovely book.
Editorials
Nancy Kline
… Consequences, despite its shadows, is also a joyous ever-widening dance. At its center shimmers the idea of resiliency, of the continuity of humankind as embodied in one family, shattered and reconstituted, fragile, stubborn, enduring.— The New York Times
New York Times Book Review
Joyous . . . At its center shimmers the idea of . . . the continuity of humankind as embodied in one family, shattered and reconstituted, fragile, stubborn, endearing.Los Angeles Times Book Review
A bold, lovely book.San Francisco Chronicle
An often beautiful novel of astute observations.Publishers Weekly
Booker and Whitbread prize–winner Lively begins her 14th novel, a multigenerational love story, in a London park in 1935, ends it nearly 70 years later after covering several lifetimes of love and heartbreak. The story starts when Lorna Bradley and Matt Faraday meet in St. James Park; they are instantly drawn to one another despite her upper-crust upbringing and Matt's "tradesman" profession. After their marriage, they settle in the country where Matt works as an engraver and Lorna fulfills her domestic role as a wife and mother to their daughter, Molly. It is an idyllic situation until Matt is drafted and sent to Egypt, where he is killed in action. Lorna and young Molly relocate to London, and Lorna works with Matt's friend Lucas at his small printing press. Predictably, Lucas and Lorna marry, but she dies giving birth to Simon. The narrative diverges as grown-up Molly finds employment as a library assistant and has an affair with a wealthy man who fathers her child, Ruth. Grown and with children of her own, Ruth's curiosity about her ancestors sends her on a journey that brings the novel full circle. Lively (A Stitch in Time; Moon Tiger) has crafted a fine novel: intricate, heartbreaking and redemptive. (June)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business InformationLibrary Journal
This new novel by award-winning British author Lively (Moon Tiger) begins in the 1930s as Londoners Lorna and Matt meet, marry, and move into a rural English cottage, where daughter Molly is born. When Matt dies in battle during World War II, the shattered Lorna moves back to London to live with Lucas, Matt's business partner and friend. When subsequent loss occurs, the narrative shifts to Molly, now a smart, independent young woman looking out for her younger brother and stepfather while making her way in the working world. Later, as Molly negotiates midlife, the narrative shifts again, settling on Molly's daughter, Ruth, a journalist who is married with two children and yet yearns for happiness. Both in linear progression and through the resonance of past and present, this story pulls the reader along with captivating characters whose lives seem achingly familiar. Additionally, the story has a subtle thread about how family legacy can deepen one's perception and appreciation of life. Recommended for both public and academic libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ2/15/07.]
—Maureen Neville