Descrip­tions

A black comedy with an outrageous heroine as well as a vivid evocation of life in old ageThis skillfully wrought examination of character and relationships opens with macabre impact, as a bland newspaper report describes the discovery of two dead women—one of them a skeleton—in a North London house. The women are revealed to be the sister and sister-in-law of the man who shared the house. The story of these characters' lives is told through a blend of powerful characterization and social satire, and summons the mingled tragedy and humor of old age to powerful effect. The author teases the reader toward the known and awful ending by cutting backward and forward in time, and gradually constructing the complex pattern of feelings and events that define even the most mundane-seeming lives. He plays a similar and equally skillful game with our perceptions of and judgements on the characters, creating believable, fallible, and ultimately highly engaging individuals.