This slim novel is written in epistolary style, as Eliza Peabody writes letters to her former neighbor who is presumably off on some world-wide adventure. As time goes on and Eliza tries to relate what is happening in the neighborhood it becomes clear to the reader that she is not fully connected to reality. At times the work is poignant, other times quite funny, occasionally puzzling, occasionally horrifying and mostly entertaining (if you can consider watching someone descend into madness as entertaining).

I’ve read a number of Gardam’s works and I really appreciate the way she draws her characters. But I felt I didn’t really get to know Eliza, her husband, or any of the other characters that populated this work. It just missed the mark for me as compared to other books by her that I’ve read. I liked it, but didn’t love it.

The novel won Britain’s Whitebread Award for Best Novel of the Year in 1991. ( )

Housewife, suburbia, loneliness, England ( )

This book somewhat grew on me as you have to read carefully. It to miss any clues. The ending was very surprising and I a, still not sure that I know what is going on. I found parts of it somewhat pretentious though. ( )

Generally speaking, I have an aversion to stories told from the perspective of mentally ill characters, stories that have parts that are fantasies of a character, and the reader is tricked into believing they are factual events in the story and magical realism. This belongs in the first category. ( )

A wonderful, wonderful read -- smart, wincing, a surprisingly large scope. Sentence to sentence, one of the best writers I've read. In her artistry and skill reflecting her characters' emotions, on the level of [a:Hillary Mantel|8294944|Hillary Mantel|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-a7c55399ea455530473b9f9e4da94c40.png]. This is also fabulous for anyone who loves reading -- or aspires to write -- an epistolary novel. Through her increasingly crazed letters to Joan, Eliza comes out a fascinating, disturbed, hilarious and very, very funny person. ( )