Women's Fiction

Homework

Name: Homework
Author: Margot Livesey
ISBN: 9780312420444

by Margot Livesey

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Overview

Celia Gilchrist believes that she has finally found the right man in Stephen, but when she moves in with Stephen and his young daughter Jenny, things begin to go subtly, menacingly wrong. Money disappears, a sweater is ruined, small, common-place lies escalate into awkward confrontations. Livesey’s debut novel, now back in print, is a chilling portrait of jealousy and fear, devotion, and the wish to be loved.

Synopsis

Los Angeles Times

An artful narrative...rife with Hitchcockian suspense and a vivid recreation of terror worthy of the master himself.

About the Author, Margot Livesey

"Margot Livesey is one of my favorite contemporary writers," reflects Julia Glass, author of the National Book Award winner, Three Junes. "For her keen wit and wise heart, for her mingling of the tender with the diabolical -- never mind her knack for holding the reader in thrall to a suspenseful story -- she is a master, pure and simple."

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Editorials

From the Publisher

“Arresting...Homework skillfully infuses psychological fright into the ordinary routine of living.” —Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times

“[An] artful narrative...rife with Hitchcockian suspense and a vivid re-creation of terror worthy of the master himself.” —Brett Singer, Los Angeles Times

New York Times

Arresting...Homework skillfully infuses psychological fright into the ordinary routine of living.

Los Angeles Times

An artful narrative...rife with Hitchcockian suspense and a vivid recreation of terror worthy of the master himself.

Washington Post

The careful symmetry of Livesey's characters and he generous use of symbolism reflect the sensibilities of a short-story writer....Livesey's prose is clear and her subject-matter compelling.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A child's capacity for evil, favorite subject of much popular entertainment, is the theme of Livesey's ( Learning by Heart ) drably pedestrian though cleanly written tale. In order to escape a painful entanglement with an unfaithful lover in London, Celia Gilchrist, a thirty-something editor of unremarkable attributes, accepts a job in Edinburgh. Her life seems blissfully transformed when she embarks on a warm, trusting relationship with Stephen, a high school teacher separated from his wife. But this Edenic interlude proves short-lived: Stephen's wife, Helen, accepts a job in Paris, leaving their 10-year-old daughter, Jenny, to live with Stephen and Celia, who becomes convinced that Jenny is conniving at her removal. Because Stephen refuses to hear ill of his daughter, Celia is helpless to stymie Jenny's onslaught of petty tricks. Yet it's difficult to empathize with her plight, as Celia--like all of the characters here--is superficially drawn and surrounded by bland descriptive prose that makes her story even drearier. This first novel displays workmanlike construction rather than promise. (Feb.)

Library Journal

Though initially it appears to be a simple love story, this is a sinister if well-conceived tale, fraught with the terror created by the presence of evil. Livesey's spare prose skillfully highlights nuances, augmenting that terror. Unmarried lovers Celia and Stephen attempt to create a home and build a life together, but their efforts are challenged by Stephen's nine-year-old daughter, Jenny, a malevolent child consumed by jealousy, hatred, and despair. Though Celia, a textbook editor, is intelligent, sensitive, and caring, she is emotionally hampered by low self-esteem and limited expectations and fails to acknowledge Jenny's cruelty until it is almost too late. The final agony triggers subtle changes in the lives of all concerned. Highly recommended.-- Ellen R. Cohen, Rockville, Md.