Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Lover
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: London, England
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: British
https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/anna-raverat *
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2012116770
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/no2012116770
HEADING: Raverat, Anna
000 00338nz a2200133n 450
001 9081889
005 20120831074512.0
008 120830n| acannaabn |n aaa c
010 __ |a no2012116770
035 __ |a (OCoLC)oca09289845
040 __ |a NjP |b eng |c NjP
053 _0 |a PR6118.A387
100 1_ |a Raverat, Anna
670 __ |a Signs of life, 2012: |b t.p. (Anna Raverat)
PERSONAL
Children: three.
EDUCATION:King’s College, studied English.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Consultant in organization and team development and leadership.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
British writer of women’s fiction, Anna Raverat, grew up in North Yorkshire and studied English at King’s College, Cambridge University. She is a consultant in organization and team development and leadership. She lives in London with her three children.
Signs of Life
In 2012, Raverat published her debut novel, Signs of Life. In the psychological thriller, Rachel was in a long-term relationship yet had an affair. That was ten years ago, and now she is trying to piece together memories of the affair that left devastating consequences on her life and that of her family. She sits at her window and tries to write down the fragments of her recollections into a coherent explanation, but she knows her memory is not always reliable yet she strives to be honest and truly understand. Written out of chronological order, the story makes the reader connect the pieces.
On the Independent Website, reviewer David Evans observed how the book is both a “suspenseful psychological thriller and a sophisticated meditation on the act of writing,” and explores the concept of the compulsion to write in order to make sense of life’s hodgepodge of events.
Lover
Raverat’s next novel Lover is a first-person account of a woman’s desire to find meaning in work, family, and marriage. The story focuses on London-based Kate Pedley, a wife, mother of two daughters, and hotel company senior executive who stumbles into discontentment. Concerning her ten-year marriage, she discovers from her husband Adam’s email and cell phone records that he is having an affair. He moves out and her parents help raise the girls. At her Palazzio Hotel Corporation, she is caught within Machiavellian struggles for power and position as two, green young executives try to oust the older, more experienced and successful boss. Trying to cope and suffering from acute insomnia, Kate obsessively buys self-help books but has no time to read them. “For such a heartbreaking narrative, Raverat’s …fastpaced novel pulls readers along with self-deprecating humor,” according to Melissa Keegan in Library Journal.
In providing an elegantly drawn woman alternating between rage, hope, and despair, who comes to terms with the new direction in her life, Raverat creates “a memorable character, rooted in a story as old as the hills yet still on point today,” noted Poornima Apte in Booklist. A Kirkus Reviews contributor praised the insider view of the hospitality industry and the feel for the rhythm of work-life balance. The contributor concluded: “There are amusing moments and passing insights into the unraveling of upper-middle-class marriages. In the end, though, the novel lacks the originality and spark to differentiate it.”
Commenting on the beautiful, fast-paced story, a Publishers Weekly reviewer said: “Raverat’s prose is lyrical and to-the-point, punctuating Kate’s transformation with vivid memories, wisdom from friends, and revelations from unexpected sources.” Writing online at the Guardian, Hannah Beckerman remarked that Raverat’s elegant prose offers emotional insight, humor, sense of identity, and self-awareness, which sets her common story of marital disintegration apart. Beckerman added: “With grace and humour, she immerses the reader in Kate’s psychological disorientation,” and provides a skillfully observed and evocative novel.
On the Nudge Book Website, a reviewer observed: “Kate was a very believable character, albeit at the end of her tether; Adam was less so. Although he comes over as a caring father the rest is just him and his Ducati left to absent himself from family life.” In a review online at Random Things Through My Letterbox, a writer declared: “Told with warmth and lightness, even as it also mines real depths of sorrow, Lover is a novel about the hand that life can deal you, and how to play it with grace. Beautifully observed, full of wisdom, poetry and humour, it asks what it means to be true in all things, and in so doing, how to live.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, February 15, 2017, Poornima Apte, review of Lover, p. 28.
Library Journal, December 1, 2016, Melissa Keegan, review of Lover, p. 89.
Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2017, review of Lover.
Publishers Weekly, January 23, 2017, review of Lover, p. 51.
ONLINE
Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/ (April 17, 2016), Hannah Beckerman, review of Lover.
Independent Online, http://www.independent.co.uk/ (February 24, 2013), David Evans, review of Signs of Life.
Nudge Book, https://nudge-book.com/ (January 11, 2016), review of Lover.
Random Things Through My Letterbox, http://randomthingsthroughmyletterbox.blogspot.com/ (March 8, 2016), review of Lover.
10/9/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1507605012635 1/6
Print Marked Items
Raverat, Anna: LOVER
Kirkus Reviews.
(Jan. 1, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Raverat, Anna LOVER Sarah Crichton/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Adult Fiction) $26.00 3, 17 ISBN: 978-0-374-
19365-2
In her American debut, English novelist Raverat describes the ordeal of a woman who learns her husband of 10 years
has been unfaithful after she peruses his email.Kate, who lives in London, has two young daughters and a fast-paced
career in the hotel business. Devastated by what she discovers (not only on email, but in cellphone records), she seems
disinclined to forgive husband Adam, interrogating him about his transgressions, even phoning the two women who
figure in his secret life. Eventually Adam moves out, and Kate's parents appear to help mind the girls. Though
emotionally depleted and suffering from insomnia, Kate must try to maintain her equilibrium at work in the face of
fast-moving events--specifically, the forcing out of the benevolent head of the Palazzio Hotel Corporation by two
younger executives who may or may not know what they're doing. The author, a mother of three, has a nice feel for the
rhythm and detail of family life, and the scenes with 6-year-old Milla and her two-years-younger sister, Hester, ring
true. The insider view of the hospitality industry--the endless chatter about the "Guest Experience" and fostering brand
loyalty--is similarly engaging, though this material seems to hover between satire and reality. More problematic is the
(over) familiarity of Kate's predicament. What's more, her haranguing of the feckless Adam and her petulant behavior--
she literally puts the jewelry he's given her down the drain--make him more sympathetic at times, which was probably
not the author's intent. There are amusing moments and passing insights into the unraveling of upper-middle-class
marriages. In the end, though, the novel lacks the originality and spark to differentiate it from the many cheating-heart
sagas that have preceded it.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Raverat, Anna: LOVER." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Jan. 2017. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA475357455&it=r&asid=6f78fbdb5219690ce3e9aae564505c90.
Accessed 9 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A475357455
10/9/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1507605012635 2/6
Lover
Poornima Apte
Booklist.
113.12 (Feb. 15, 2017): p28.
COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
Lover. By Anna Raverat. Mar. 2017.352p. Farrar/Sarah Crichton, $26 (9780374193652).
Kate Pedley swears by self-help books. Whether it's Your Beautiful Baby and Toddler--Food for the Foundation Years
or The Secrets to Decluttering, she leans on them as tools to sculpt a perfect life. Now if only there were one titled
What to Do When Your Husband Cheats. Increasingly, Adam has been becoming unmoored at work. As a result, Kate
has served as ballast for them and their two young girls. But when Kate discovers her husband's infidelity, she is
blindsided and understandably struck by profound rage and later, grief. Carrying such emotional baggage would be
difficult enough on its own, but in Raverat's debut, Kate must also juggle the responsibilities of a hospitality-executive
job which slowly drains her emotionally. The elegantly drawn portrait of a woman who alternates between anger, hope,
despair, and acceptance is a familiar one. Rudderless on many counts and coming to terms with her newly rebooted
life, Kate is a memorable character, rooted in a story as old as the hills yet still on point today.--Poornima Apte
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Apte, Poornima. "Lover." Booklist, 15 Feb. 2017, p. 28. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA485442494&it=r&asid=cf16817a2998c77a1867a0e077bea82d.
Accessed 9 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A485442494
10/9/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1507605012635 3/6
Raverat, Anna. Lover
Melissa Keegan
Library Journal.
141.20 (Dec. 1, 2016): p89.
COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution
permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
Raverat, Anna. Lover. Farrar. Mar. 2017. 352p. ISBN 9780374193652. $26; ebk. ISBN 9780374715687. F
Kate and Adam have been married for ten years and have two young daughters. When Kate first finds an email
between her husband and another woman, where he is referred to as Prince Charming, she thinks it could be an
innocent correspondence between coworkers. But when she starts to dig deeper she finds 84 more questionable
exchanges between the two. This evidence is all she needs to take a closer look at her life. While her career as a senior
executive at a hotel chain is all about the guest experience and making visitors feel right at home in their hotels, she
ironically is beginning to feel like a stranger in her own home. With her husband now living elsewhere, Kate must find
a way to pick up the pieces of her life and juggle single motherhood, a career, and hiding her self-help titles from the
cute cashier at her favorite bookstore. VERDICT For such a heartbreaking narrative, Raverat's (Signs of Life) fastpaced
novel pulls readers along with self-deprecating humor as Kate finds her voice. A great choice for book clubs.--
Melissa Keegan, Ela Area P.L., Lake Zurich, IL
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Keegan, Melissa. "Raverat, Anna. Lover." Library Journal, 1 Dec. 2016, p. 89. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA472371186&it=r&asid=e77584165fba229a0ea3e8805c68abcd.
Accessed 9 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A472371186
10/9/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1507605012635 4/6
Lover
Publishers Weekly.
264.4 (Jan. 23, 2017): p51.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Lover
Anna Raverat. FSG/Crichton, $26 (336p) ISBN 978-0-374-19365-2
A woman searches for her true self amid the wreckage of a crumbling marriage and the hollow successes of a
burgeoning career in British writer Raverat's beautiful, fast-paced U.S. debut. Kate Pedley is blindsided when she finds
emails written by her husband, Adam, to another woman. She probes their recent past, uncovering secrets she cannot
ignore, lies she cannot forgive, and mistakes--on both sides--that she cannot undo. Kate's career as an executive at a
hotel chain becomes a refuge from everything, including her young daughters, who struggle to navigate their new
normal. But even Kate's job is treacherous. As a corporate power game escalates, Kate must stop being a bystander in
her own life and decide if she's the type of person who mends what is broken or makes something new. Raverat's prose
is lyrical and to-the-point, punctuating Kate's transformation with vivid memories, wisdom from friends, and
revelations from unexpected sources. To leave the place where "being seen in despair [is] more painful than the despair
itself," to reach the "outer reaches of love," Kate strives to find the self she has walled away beneath habit and
complacency. Raverat's portrayal of Kate's "excavation, unswerving," into the forgotten, unsung corners of
independence is a realistic and moving tale of finding oneself in the tatters of romantic and professional strife. (Mar.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Lover." Publishers Weekly, 23 Jan. 2017, p. 51+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA479714141&it=r&asid=bfca5ebca28cd6a8db653d8a4d3e74eb.
Accessed 9 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A479714141
10/9/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1507605012635 5/6
5 bookseller choices: March
Steven Cooper
The Bookseller.
.5698 (Jan. 15, 2016): p22.
COPYRIGHT 2016 The Bookseller Media Group (Bookseller Media Ltd.)
http://www.thebookseller.com
Full Text:
(1) BEN WILSON
HEYDAY: BRITAIN AND THE BIRTH OF THE MODERN WORLD
W&N, 9780297864103, 10th March, HB, 25 [pounds sterling]
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
The 1850s are brought to life in this globe-spanning account of a decade of electrifying change. It's fascinating how
much of our modern world is rooted in this transformative time, and Wilson is an entertaining teacher.
(2) Harry PARKER
ANATOMY OF A SOLDIER
Faber & Faber, 9780571325818, 3rd, HB, 14.99 [pounds sterling]
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
War novel written by a former British Army captain, which also happens to be completely remarkable, bringing an
originality that creates the most visceral and moving piece of writing. I expect few novels to be as celebrated as this in
2016.
(3) ANNA RAVERAT
LOVER
Picador, 9781447271307, 10th, HB, 12.99 [pounds sterling]
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Signs of Life, Anna Raverat's debut, was good: this is better. A detailed observation of love, work and life told through
a woman's crumbling marriage. the first-person voice is so compelling, it almost reads like a thriller. Addictive.
(4) HIDEO YOKOYAMA
SIX FOUR
Quercus, 9781848665255, 3rd, HB, 16.99 [pounds sterling]
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
This crime novel sold a million copies in six days in Japan. A press officer, suffering his own personal nightmare,
begins to dig around in a cold case still very much on the nation's mind: cue a series of dazzling twists. sublime--it
10/9/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1507605012635 6/6
could well be the next crime phenomenon.
(5) HELEN BABBS
ADRIFT: A SECRET LIFE OF LONDON'S WATERWAYS
Icon, 9781848319202, 3rd, HB, 16.99 [pounds sterling]
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Slightly niche, perhaps, but perfect for anyone who enjoys a lazy walk along the banks of London's canals. Babbs is an
excellent nature writer, evoking the lives and emotions tied to the water. charming.
STEVEN COOPER
WATERSTONES
CENTRAL EVENTS TEAM MANAGER
Waterstones 203/206 Piccadilly, London W1J 9HD
May titles should be sent to the panel by 12th February
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Cooper, Steven. "5 bookseller choices: March." The Bookseller, 15 Jan. 2016, p. 22+. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA440059311&it=r&asid=ff9a586b1b09ddcc2ba278c896cbdad5.
Accessed 9 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A440059311
Skip to main content
Advertisement
sign in
become a supporter subscribe search jobs US edition
The Guardian - Back to home
home › arts › books
art & design
stage
classical
movies
tv & radio
music
games
home
US
politics
world
opinion
sports
soccer
tech
arts selected
lifestyle
fashion
business
travel
environment
browse all sections
Fiction
The Observer
Lover by Anna Raverat review – a broken marriage, skilfully dissected
Anna Raverat’s story of a husband’s infidelity is full of elegant prose and emotional insight
A marriage breaks down when an email flirtation comes to light in Lover.
A marriage breaks down when an email flirtation comes to light in Lover. Photograph: Alamy
View more sharing options
Shares
6
Comments
0
Hannah Beckerman
Sunday 17 April 2016 05.00 EDT Last modified on Wednesday 20 September 2017 06.04 EDT
Kate and Adam have been married for 10 years and have two young daughters. When Kate discovers an email flirtation between Adam and an unknown woman, she’s forced to question the stability of her marriage, and is confronted both by her husband’s lies and her own self-deceptions.
What sets Lover apart from other marital breakdown novels is Raverat’s elegant prose and emotional insight. With grace and humour, she immerses the reader in Kate’s psychological disorientation – insomnia, reliance on self-help books, and juggling her children, job and sanity. There are questions here not only of fidelity but of identity, fulfilment and self-awareness: “People don’t always know the contents of their own hearts; we are such secrets, even from ourselves.” As an anatomy of a broken marriage, Lover is a skilfully observed, evocative and affecting novel.
Lover is published by Picador (£12.99). Click here to buy it for £10.39
Since you’re here …
… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too.
I appreciate there not being a paywall: it is more democratic for the media to be available for all and not a commodity to be purchased by a few. I’m happy to make a contribution so others with less means still have access to information.
Thomasine F-R.
If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps to support it, our future would be much more secure.
Become a supporter
Make a contribution
Topics
Fiction
The Observer
reviews
Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Google+
Reuse this content
Advertisement
Most popular in US
California wildfires: 10 killed in 'unprecedented' wine country blaze
Actor Romola Garai felt 'violated' after Harvey Weinstein encounter
Inside the CIA’s black site torture room
Melania Trump chides 'self-serving' Ivana over first lady claim
'Our minds can be hijacked': the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia
promoted links
from around the web
Recommended by Outbrain
About this Content
The Absolute Best Sheets You Will Ever Find. Period.
The Absolute Best Sheets You Will Ever Find. Period.
BUSINESS INSIDER
The Most Important Map of America You Will Ever See (See Map)
The Most Important Map of America You Will Ever See (See Map)
BANYAN HILL PUBLISHING
Step by Step: Build Your Own Free Website with Wix
Step by Step: Build Your Own Free Website with Wix
WIX
Ready For A Bra That Fits?
Ready For A Bra That Fits?
THIRDLOVE
5 Benefits Of Weight Loss That No One Talks About
JENNY CRAIG ON U.S.NEWS
Locate anyone in the US on your computer, enter a name
TRUTHFINDER
Want Less Stress Today? Try Walmart's Grocery Pickup Service
WALMART
Why This Shirt Company Is Causing so Many Guys to Switch
GQ
most viewed
The Guardian back to top
home
US
politics
world
opinion
sports
soccer
tech
arts selected
lifestyle
fashion
business
travel
environment
all sections
arts
› books
› fiction
jobs
become a supporter
make a contribution
guardian labs
about us
work for us
contact us
advertise with us
solve technical issue
terms & conditions
privacy policy
cookie policy
securedrop
complaints & corrections
all topics
all contributors
facebook
twitter
subscribe
digital newspaper archive
© 2017 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
0
News
Voices
Sports
Culture
Indy/Life
Tech
Daily Edition
CultureBooksReviews
Paperback review: Signs of Life, By Anna Raverat
David Evans Sunday 24 February 2013 00:00 GMT0 comments
0
Click to follow
The Independent Culture
Rachel was in a long-term relationship in her early twenties, but had an affair with a friend that ended badly. 10 years later, she takes up the pen in order to make sense of her behaviour and its tragic consequences for those she loved.
Anna Raverat's assured debut novel is told in fragments, as Rachel grapples with difficult – and perhaps unreliable – memories ("Here's the story: there are holes in it"). The reader must reassemble these chronologically jumbled scenes in order to make sense of Rachel's account – and to assess her guilt.
The book works as both a suspenseful psychological thriller and a sophisticated meditation on the act of writing; at its centre is the idea that the impulse to write stems from a desire to gain purchase on life's slippery surfaces.
0
Reuse content
by Taboola Sponsored Links
Remember Macaulay Culkin? Well, You Should See Him Now
Ice Pop
Marie Osmond's Daughter Finally Confirms The Rumors
HeraldWeekly
Baked to Order, Delivered Warm!
Tiff's Treats
Pay 0% APR Until December 2018 With This Card
NextAdvisor
Do You Come From Royal Blood? Your Last Name May Tell You.
Ancestry
Colin Kaepernick Destroyed By His Mom. She Called Him A Disgrace To Family And US
SportsChew
Don't Buy Furniture Until You See This Site
Wayfair
Symptoms of Cancer You Should Never Ignore
Cancer Signs | Search Links
Matthew McConaughey's House Is Far From What You'd Expect
LoanPride
COMMENTS
Login
0 Comments
SubscribeRSS
If music gives you goosebumps, your brain might be special
Isis just claimed responsibility for Theresa May's cough
Several news sites are reporting the world is about to end on Sunday
The worst death scene ever has been found, and oh wow
23 photos that prove your parents were once so much cooler than you are
MOST POPULAR
Promoted Links
18 Hysterical Cat Shaming Photos That Went Viral
Give It Love
After Losing 220lbs Precious Is Gorgeous Now!
PsychicMonday
There Are 10 Types of Irish Last Names - Which One Is Yours?
Ancestry
Pay 0% Interest Until 2019 With These 3 Cards
NextAdvisor
Vote: The All-Time Greatest Bruno Mars Song
Thierry Henry believes there is only one 'world class' striker in the Premier League
by Taboola
SPONSORED FEATURES
Beard or no beard? How best to edit your style
What you can do to help prevent HIV transmission
Meet the ex-TV producer living a rich life
Brent Hoberman and his mentee discuss how to build a successful business
Caroline Rush mentors textile artist in Progress 1000 pairing
VIDEO
Melania Trump has just attacked Donald's first wife
May warns British public not to expect Brexit deal until last minute
Pity Dove – all they want women of colour to do is lighten up
Follow us:
User Policies
Privacy Policy
Cookie Policy
Code of Conduct
Complaint Form
Contact Us
Contributors
All Topics
Archive
Newsletters
Jobs
Subscriptions
Advertising Guide
Syndication
Evening Standard
Novaya Gazeta
Install our Apps
Advertisement
Close menu
Skip to content
more Nudge
The Nudge Shop
More Ways to be nudged
nb magazine
Nudge Update
Book of the Year 2017
Competitions
Ones to Watch Out for
Other themes
Best Books of the 21st Century
Around the World in 80 Books
I’m a Writer . . .
OIR: Our Intrepid Reporter
Author meets Reviewer
What We Are Thinking
Voices
Love Your Indie
Contact Nudge
Bloggers and Links We Like
Real Readers
Real Readers: browse titles reviewed
BookHugger
BookNoir
BookChap
BookDiva
BookGeek
BookLife
Search Nudge
Search for:
Search … including "phrases in quotes"
Nudge
Skip to content
more Nudge
BookHugger
BookNoir
BookChap
BookDiva
BookGeek
BookLife
">
ONE TO WATCH OUT FOR: Lover by Anna Raverat
Facebook Twitter Google
Review published on January 11, 2016.
Gentlemen, if you are the only man in your reading group and this book is suggested for discussion then I strongly recommend that you keep your own counsel until the rest of the group have had their say. Lover is the breakdown of the marriage between Adam and Kate seen from her perspective. I am not the first man to wonder at the workings of the female mind, but here one can be in no doubt as to the depths of despair that Kate explores.
We begin in a tiresome meeting of an international hotel chain where Kate holds an important and senior role, responsible for the ‘visitor experience’. The unraveling of the hotel chain’s fortunes will run parallel to our heroine’s story but for the moment she zones out and worries about some emails she has found on her husband’s computer.
With a determination that would be the envy of Poirot, Morse and Rebus she uncovers a deeper and deeper web of deceit. Her need to know all the details borders on the obsessive and although I haven’t been through this experience, I can’t help thinking that most men would just want to hold up their hands, plead guilty and get it over with. However, this just isn’t enough for Kate. She rings up two of the ‘other women’ only for it not to be the resolution or closure she was hoping for.
So we follow Kate’s descent into a sleepless existence where she buys increasing numbers of self help books, but appears not to have the time or inclination to read them. Gradually, normal service is resumed and I obviously can’t tell you the ending. However, Kate was a very believable character, albeit at the end of her tether; Adam was less so. Although he comes over as a caring father the rest is just him and his Ducati left to absent himself from family life when it doesn’t suit. Trish, Kate’s ladder climbing boss, is more of a villain in many ways. The cover of the proof I read had this quote from her (and was why I picked it up): “There is no such thing as a broken heart. The heart is a muscle not a vase.” Truly, the boss from hell.
As a subject, men who cheat on their wives is like throwing red meat into a reading group’s cage and if you are the only man, then remember to take a tin hat.
Guy Pringle
Personal 4
Group 5!
Lover by Anna Raverat
Picador hbk Mar 2016
otwof
Previous:
HMR: New Finnish Grammar by Diego Marani
Next:
Winchester Bookworms Book of 2015
You may also like
14JUN
THE VERDICT IS IN: A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale 5
Article on BookDiva
This is the first of Patrick’s novels that I’ve read – the extract in newbooks ......
02MAY
Written Off by Paul Carroll
Review on BookDiva
Doesn’t everyone have a book in them? But how many win the hard won battle ...
01SEP
The Honey Farm on the Hill by Jo Thomas
Review on BookDiva
In true Jo Thomas style, The Honey Farm on the Hill has a wonderful location, ...
03DEC
Jessica’s Ghost by Andrew Norriss
Article on BookDiva
Can’t rate this highly enough: intelligent, thoughtful and funny ghost story that morphs into a ......
Search Nudge
Search for:
Search … including "phrases in quotes"
The Nudge Shop
News from Book2Book
Stop hawking books on Amazon at such drastically slashed prices
August 14, 2017
Colm Tóibín Wins Award That Celebrates The Power Of Lit...
July 13, 2017
Writers Worldwide Mourn Death Of Writer-activist Liu Xiaobo, A Perman...
July 13, 2017
Irina Ratushinskaya, Soviet dissident who turned captivity into poetr...
July 13, 2017
How Amazon, Once Again, Is Driving Down The Value Of Books And Underm...
May 8, 2017
New Books on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Welcome to a place where booklovers can once again browse and discover the world of books. Where communities of discerning readers like you can reach beyond the bestseller lists to seek out hidden gems, uncover breakthrough authors and get the inside story on their favourite types of read.
© 2015 AMS Digital Publishing LtdSave
Random Things Through My Letterbox
HOME MY REVIEW POLICY BLOG TOUR ORGANISING / ADMIN SERVICES ALL REVIEWS A-Z MY LIFE IN BOOKS - SPECIAL FEATURE BLOG TOURS NON-FICTION REVIEWS A-Z
TUESDAY, 8 MARCH 2016
LOVER BY ANNA RAVERAT
When Kate discovers emails from her husband Adam - aka 'Prince Charming' - to another woman, she takes a long look at her long marriage. And once she starts, she finds all kinds of things she had been doing her level best not to see.
As her home life unravels, Kate's work - at a global hotel company - and her nightmare boss become increasingly demanding. She wants to protect her young girls, but her own foundations have been knocked away. Who was the man with whom she spent all those years?
Told with warmth and lightness, even as it also mines real depths of sorrow, Lover is a novel about the hand that life can deal you, and how to play it with grace. Beautifully observed, full of wisdom, poetry and humour, it asks what it means to be true in all things, and in so doing, how to live.
Lover by Anna Raverat is published by Picador on 10 March 2016. Back in February 2012 I read and reviewed Anna Raverat's previous novel Signs of Life here on Random Things. Although it's over four years ago, I still remember that story so well, it's a remarkable debut and I was thrilled to get a pre-publication of Lover to review. Thrilled but also a little apprehensive, and praying that this one would be as good as her first. It is. I'm so pleased. I have been totally consumed by Lover.
"There is no such thing as a broken heart.
The heart is a muscle, not a vase."
These are the words spoken by Kate's boss Trish. Kate would like to disagree with Trish as the pain that she is feeling, deep inside, feels pretty real to her. It started when she found the emails addressed to 'Prince Charming' on her husband Adam's computer, and it hasn't gone away.
In Lover, Anna Raverat has told the story of the break-down of a long and seemingly happy marriage. Kate and Adam and their two children have a fairly ordinary life, they are busy with work, with school events, with the elderly dog Charlie, just busy, like thousands of families across the UK.
Yes, there have been difficult and trying times. When Adam had a break-down because he couldn't bear his job any more. When he started up a new business, working for himself, Kate supported him and was there for him. Their two small girls are bright and funny and sometimes their demands can be stressful, and Kate's new job is important and pressurised. She often works away for days at a time, but Adam is always there for her. Well, that's what she thought, what she really believed.
Anna Raverat's superbly observed telling of the sudden impact of realisation, and the physical effects on Kate's body and brain is really excellently done. The way that Kate's whole world seems to fly up into the air and rain down on her in jagged and sharp pieces is at times, extremely painful to read, yet there is also a subtle humour in the words, that prevents this novel from descending into continuous despair and pity.
Most women who read Lover will recognise aspects of Kate's behaviour and feelings. That slow dawning of realisation and dread that can make you question everything that you have ever believed in. Lover is told in the first person and Kate's voice never wavers, her feelings for Adam turn from love, to hate, and back again and again, and her recollection of the time that she set eyes on him for the very first time, whilst short is quite overwhelming. Those words say everything about her shock, despair and total enveloping fear about their crumbling, almost dead relationship.
Alongside the break down of Kate's family is the devastation being wrought by her boss to the company that Kate loves and is loyal too. The reader can compare and contrast the pain that Kate feels when her colleagues are mistreated and double-crossed, and the startling similarities to her personal life add depth to the story. Whilst Kate is the main voice, the lead character, and the centre of Lover, the author has also created some wonderfully realistic and complementary supporting characters. From the back-street, second-hand goods dealers, to the wonderfully perceptive book shop assistant to Kate's cold Mother, each of them contribute hugely to this haunting, compelling and witty novel.
My thanks to Francesca at PanMacmillan, Picador who sent my copy for review.
Anna Raverat grew up in North Yorkshire and now lives in London with her three children.
Her first novel Signs of Life was selected for the 'Waterstone's 11', a list of the eleven top debut authors of the year, as chosen by Waterstone's booksellers.
Her second novel, Lover is published by Picador
POSTED BY ANNE
NO COMMENTS:
POST A COMMENT
Newer Post Older Post Home
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
When I was a small child at primary school I ordered a book called 'Free Stuff for Kids', and that's when my obsession with receiving things through the post began. Now I'm 50 and I still receive random items on a weekly basis. Books, hair dye, loaves of bread, stop-snoring devices are just a few of the delights I've opened recently. So, I thought I'd share my delights with everyone else. I'm not talking about bills and takeaway menus - everyone receives those. I'll review the books, test out the products - or get someone to test them for me. If you'd like to send something to arrive through my letter box, please do and I'll let you know what I think of it. I work at at our local Hospice, and also do some freelance PR and Admin for publishers. I live in Lincolnshire. I've been married to Martin since 1998, we have two rascal cats, Costa and Nero. If you would like me to review anything for you; books, music, food - most anything (although I don't read ebooks), then please drop me a line, either via my Twitter account @annecater, or via email; anne.lcdp@hotmail.co.uk I hope you enjoy my ramblings.
#BOOKCONNECTORS
#BookConnectors
UK BLOG AWARDS 2017
UK BLOG AWARDS 2017
Arts & Culture Finalist
TOTAL PAGEVIEWS
881,330
Follow annecater on Twitter
Follow on Bloglovin
SEARCH THIS BLOG
SEARCH
FOLLOW BY EMAIL
Email address...
SUBMIT
BLOG ARCHIVE
► 2017 (197)
▼ 2016 (246)
► December (17)
► November (18)
► October (21)
► September (21)
► August (17)
► July (20)
► June (12)
► May (27)
► April (26)
▼ March (31)
Cold Calling by Russell Mardell
The Night That Changed Everything by Laura Tait & ...
The Missing by C L Taylor
The Long Count by JM Gulvin ** GUEST REVIEW FROM...
My Life In Books ~ talking to author Dani Atkins
Tastes Like Fear by Sarah Hilary
In Place of Death by Craig Robertson *** GUEST R...
My Life In Books ~ talking to author Tammy Cohen
The Song Collector by Natasha Solomons *** BLOG ...
In Her Wake by Amanda Jennings *** BLOG TOUR ***...
My Life in Books ~ talking to Antonia Honeywell, a...
My Life In Books ~ talking to author Vanessa Lafay...
Thin Ice by Quentin Bates *** BLOG TOUR ***
Wicked Game by Matt Johnson *** BLOG TOUR ***
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
My Life In Books ~ talking to author Caroline Wall...
The Catalyst by Boyd Morrison ** GUEST REVIEW **
Bone By Bone by Sanjida Kay
My Life in Books ~ talking to author Elizabeth Hay...
Coffin Road by Peter May ** Guest Review from Ba...
Eleanor by Jason Gurley *** BLOG TOUR ***
When We Were Alive by C J Fisher
My Life In Books ~ talking to author David Mark
Lover by Anna Raverat
My Life In Books ~ talking to author Ruth Dugdall
Brooklyn ~ Book v Film ~ Special Feature
Anatomy of a Soldier by Harry Parker
The Travelers by Chris Pavone *** BLOG TOUR ***...
Hester and Harriet by Hilary Spiers *** BLOG TOU...
Peter Duggan's Artoons
The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell *** BLO...
► February (20)
► January (16)
► 2015 (169)
► 2014 (186)
► 2013 (184)
► 2012 (95)
► 2011 (94)
All materials on this blog were produced and/or compiled by Random Things Through My Letterbox. No images, text and/or designs from this site may be copied or reproduced without written permission. *Authors and publishers may use parts of reviews for quotations.*
MyFreeCopyright.com Registered & Protected
POPULAR POSTS
The Angel by Katerina Diamond @TheVenomousPen @AvonBooksUK #BlogTour #TheAngel
THE TRUTH WON’T STAY LOCKED UP FOREVER When a burned body is found in a disused signal box, suspicion falls on lonely teenager ...
Sleep No More : Six Murderous Tales by P D James #BlogTour @FaberBooks
The acknowledged 'Queen of Crime', P. D. James, was a past master of the short story, weaving together motifs of the Golden Ag...
My Name is Leon by Kit de Waal
A brother chosen. A brother left behind. And a family where you'd least expect to find one. Leon is nine, and has a perfect baby br...
Double-Edged Sword ~ The Simonne Butler story @SimonneButler @ngaiomarshaward
Double-edged Sword is a survival story like no other. In 2003 Simonne Butler’s violent partner, Antoine Dixon, high on methamphetamine, cu...
The White City by Karolina Ramqvist @Ramqvist @AtlanticBooks @atlanticbooks1
Karin knew what she was getting herself into when she fell for John, the high-flying criminal and love of her life. But she never ...
FIND RANDOM THINGS ON FACEBOOK
Random Things Through My Letterbox
Promote your Page too
FOLLOWERS
STATCOUNTER
ANNE CATER. BLOG DESIGN BY RAINY DAY
Login | RegisterHOMEBOOKS
GET PUBLISHED
REVIEWS
PICTURE PERFECT
FIVE BOOKS OF INFLUENCE
CHILDREN'S BOOKS
FILMTVTHEATREFOODMUSICPEOPLE
SOPHIA'S COLUMN
INTERVIEWS/PROFILES
QUOTESWINCS LIVE
Culture Street
BOOKS
Lover by Anna Raverat
On March 15, 2016
By Sophia Whitfield
Raverat’s second novel is a carefully crafted tale about the disintegration of a marriage. The beauty of the novel lies in Raverat’s ability to puncture the sorrow with moments of humour.
Kate is ten years into her marriage, a working mum with two young daughters, Hester and Milla. When she discovers her husband Adam has been sending emails to a woman on an online dating site she is devastated. She confronts her husband who admits to some of his misdemeanors.
The cheating Adam has been attempting to prop up his declining business while Kate earns the money to keep their family afloat. When everything falls apart, Kate is lost. She questions everything, and sleep becomes elusive.
Her mother, who arrives on the scene to help, dismisses the affair, after all her husband had one and she forgave him. But can Kate forgive Adam and move on?
As Kate’s home life begins to unravel, her job in a global hotel chain becomes more demanding. She is desperate to make everything right for her children while holding down a job she needs.
This novel has a delightful supporting cast of characters who add colour and complexity to the story of heartbreak. The hotel scenes create entertaining interludes in the midst of Kate and Adam’s collapsed marriage.
Lover is witty and wise and well worth adding to your reading list. Buy the book here.
SHARE Save
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
BOOKS
Elizabeth Lowrie wants the last word after the success of Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love
We all recognise the name Elizabeth Gilbert. She took us on a journey of self discovery as she declared the end of her marriage and went travelling to find solace...
On March 30, 2015
BOOKS
Jack Reacher is coming to town
The full length trailer for Jack Reacher has just been released. Based on Lee Child’s book One Shot, Tom Cruise stars as the enigmatic ex-military investigator with no regard for...
On October 18, 2012
BOOKS
Review of Australian Fiction
Since January this year the Review of Australian Fiction has been publishing online two stories every two weeks from Australia's best writers. Matthew Lamb, editor of Review of Australian Fiction, joins us...
On October 3, 2012
BOOKS
The Unknown Woman by Jacqueline Lunn
By Sophia Whitfield
On May 19, 2014
BOOKS
The Farm by Tom Rob Smith
By Sophia Whitfield
On February 10, 2014
BOOKS
Mary Bennet by Jennifer Paynter #AWW2012
By Sophia Whitfield
On July 12, 2012
Search...
SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW
YouTube
Twitter
SIGN UP
Sign-Up to The Culture Street Weekly
Your Name
Your Email Address
SUBMIT
INTERVIEWS
Sophia Whitfield in conversation with our featured authors
MOST VIEWED
Film Review: The Age of Adaline
April 16, 2015
Quote of the Day from Mitch Albom
May 8, 2015
Super Green Smoothies for weight loss, energy and vitality
May 4, 2015
Video interview: In conversation with Kate Morton
November 28, 2012
The Flower Factory
LIKE US ON FACEBOOK
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER
Marks and Spencer
Copyright © 2012 - 2017 Culture Street
Contact: info@culturestreet.com.au
ARTICLES
REVIEWS
INTERVIEWS
CATEGORIES
WHAT’S ON
SEARCH …
Join our friends' scheme and support Wales' premier digital platform for cultural debate SUBSCRIBE
DATE: 08.09.12 WRITTEN BY: GEORGINA DEVERELL POSTED IN: REVIEWS, LITERATURE
SIGNS OF LIFE BY ANNA RAVERAT
Signs of Life is Anna Raverat’s debut novel.
It can be read on two levels: as a simple love triangle thriller, or as a meditation on truth. I think its success almost proves to be its downfall: this is a book bursting with inconsistencies and Raverat takes risks in straddling the line that she does. At times I lost patience with it, yet my final impression was favourable. Far from being amateurish, this is in fact a complex, intelligent and triumphant novel.
The subject excited me – the recounting of a love affair, but the blurb aroused suspicion – ‘This is not a confession…is she telling us the truth?’ This book was either going to be immensely gratifying or it was going to make me cringe. I wanted to love it, but worried I might hate it.
The ambivalence was thrilling.
The novel opens with a Plath quotation, and despite the narrator’s insistence that it is not a confession, the style is nevertheless confessional; the voice intimate and direct.
The unapologetically minimalist plot involves Rachel, the narrator, attempting to make sense, retrospectively, of a disastrous affair. A theme emerges – the nature of memory and recollection; how subjective these things are. It’s contemplative; meditative even. But the quality of the writing struck me as inconsistent.
Signs of Life by Anna Ravera review
Signs of Life
by Anna Raverat
239 pages. Picador. £12.99
Forced to examine what was grating on me, my issues turned out to be related to the notion of female vanity. A comment one of my university tutors once made kept coming to mind. I’d submitted something based on my own experience of being nineteen and admired by several men, and this tutor had warned me against the pitfalls of reader alienation. I remember the dismay I felt at agreeing with him, disliking my vain, self-indulgent writing as much as he did.
So the line ‘… I thought how if I lived there I would climb those stairs every day and what brilliantly toned legs and bottom I would have’, elicited a wince: you can’t say that in a serious novel. But the following paragraph recovered its eloquence, and I thought, well, maybe you can.
I began to admire Raverat for ploughing ahead with this honest portrayal of youthful vanity. Having spent two decades avoiding the issue, it felt liberating to see the flesh of something so intuitively familiar laid bare. Raverat seemed suddenly brave, and despite these embarrassing moments, I failed to dislike the book, finding my continuing ambivalence strangely exhilarating. Rachel contains echoes of Helen Dunmore’s narcissistic Nina from Talking to the Dead, and although she feels slightly immature, I forgave her. Who doesn’t sometimes feel immature, after all?
So, there’s some over-writing; details that appear to lack meaning; she employs a deliberately banal vernacular in places. But I realised that what Raverat does, by making Rachel’s voice the only one inhabiting the writing, is she forces us to permit her almost anything, which turns out to be a smart device.
Because if you look outside the deceptively clumsy writing, the structure of the novel is flawless. The various strands are skilfully woven together; it moves beautifully. The themes are clear and astutely observed. Raverat takes an image – the vertigo metaphor, for instance – and layers it carefully throughout the text, so at its best, the writing is very powerful and the punches, when she delivers them, feel vividly real.
About halfway through, I realised I trusted her; that she was constructing something quite advanced, but making it look simple. As the novel unfolds, Rachel acknowledges her excruciating vanity; she investigates and deconstructs the methods she has chosen to tell her story. We see her grappling with subjective and objective truths; the way the relationship with the self shifts over time. Raverat examines what it is to tell a story with or without prejudice. She illuminates the acute fragility and vulnerability of the first-person narrator.
Rachel is recounting a love affair, yet the meanness with which she imbues almost every recollection of her lover Carl is stifling. Whilst questioning Rachel’s integrity, we also recognise the tendency to tarnish events with hindsight. The subtle manipulations of the unconscious mind.
Perhaps Signs of Life is a novel about weaving one’s own myth. A story about someone telling a story, within which there are yet others. It’s about how we ascribe meaning to our actions; apply symbolism; borrow from stories we have learnt; play out fairytales. Raverat is playing with perception; tricks of light. The whole becomes an exercise in distortion. What defines reality from perceived reality. It’s both accessible and esoteric; a city girl trapped in an Angela Carter-esque nightmare.
It’s actually so clever it can be irritating. One is reminded of John Fowles and Ian McEwan: writerly writers employing smug technical devices. Raverat presses an exposé of her construction on us, practically inviting us to take part in the editing experience. This self-consciousness, when it works, is nimbly accomplished, but there’s a fine line between understated brilliance and boasting. Raverat makes herself untouchable; protected from objections by occupying the first-person narrative.
But why not, because all she is doing is following Doris Lessing’s Golden Notebooks outside the accepted boundaries of literature. Every time I baulked at her audacity, I held judgment and re-evaluated her as experimental. In chapter thirty-three, there is a list entitled Things there are not. It seemed a brazen liberty for her to place something like the bald beginnings of a poem or personal philosophical musing within a finished novel. And yet I was inspired by it.
Raverat has had the conviction to create a heroine of violent contradictions. Although it’s a novel about sex and desire, it’s not about love. It’s steeped in a hostility that keeps the reader from warming to the heroine. The book’s brutal examination of vanity is what makes it courageous. Her reflections are startlingly unendearing yet nevertheless extremely perceptive. Rachel is memorable because she is convincing: sensitive, self-centred; both shallow and deep.
The nearer I got to the end, the more I appreciated the novel’s Puckish wisdom. It’s a beautiful, poetic book that masquerades as something more gratuitous and accessible. The open-endedness of its conclusion is its strength. Like memory, the material slips through the fingers, elusive and intangible.
There’s darkness there if you want to focus on it, forming shapes out of the void. But there’s light too.
Throughout, Raverat refuses to commit to a commercial or a literary style – whatever that means – but once you’ve accepted it, it stops mattering. The real magic of Signs of Life is that she absolutely manages to pull it off.
SHARE
FURTHER READING
Books | Some Kind of Immortality by Tony Curtis
BOOKS | SOME KIND OF IMMORTALITY BY TONY CURTIS
Literature | 06.10.17
playwriting
WELSH-LANGUAGE FEMALE PLAYWRITING AWARD LAUNCHED
Literature | 05.10.17
Podlediad | Clera Medi
PODLEDIAD | CLERA MEDI
Comment | 02.10.17
clare potter
A.I.R. | INTRODUCING CLARE E. POTTER
Literature | 01.10.17
A.I.R. | Nicky Arscott and Eric Ngalle Charles
A.I.R. | NICKY ARSCOTT AND ERIC NGALLE CHARLES
Literature | 30.09.17
cardiff book festival
LIVE | CARDIFF BOOK FESTIVAL
Literature | 28.09.17
wales book of the year
DATES SET FOR WALES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017
Literature | 27.09.17
A.I.R. | Soft Mutation / Treiglad Meddal
A.I.R. | SOFT MUTATION / TREIGLAD MEDDAL
Literature | 27.09.17
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
soft mutation
EXHIBITION | SOFT MUTATIONS BY NICKY ARSCOTT
Visual Arts | 07.10.17
ENTER YOUR EMAIL TO BE THE FIRST TO GET ALL THE LATEST NEWS FROM WALES ARTS REVIEW
(We never pass on your details to anyone else).
Enter email...
SIGNUP
Exhibition | Helen Pendry reviews our September's A.i.R. latest exhibition: @mothermarypress's 'Soft Mutations'.… twitter.com/i/web/status/91657…
07.10.17 8:55 AM
Swansea Fringe Festival: From a Volunteers' Perspective | Emily Vanderploeg reports back from @FringeSwansea www.walesartsreview.org/swanse…
06.10.17 7:07 PM
HOME
THE BIG READ
A.I.R.
ABOUT US
LIBRARY
FRIENDS’ SCHEME
SPONSORS & FUNDING PARTNERS
SUPPORT US
CONTACT
All content by Wales Arts Review ©2017 Baked by Virtual Pudding
RSS
Frost Magazine Lifestyle, Fashion, Beauty, Books, Parenting, Food, Entertainment, Travel, Restaurant Reviews, Health.
Entertainment
Life & Style
Culture
Beauty & Health
Love
News
Restaurant & Hotel Reviews
Weddings
The Film Set
Parenting
Travel
About Us
The Frost Magazine Team
Search
« Gardening Fun for the Kids30 Days of Gratitude Day Eleven #30daysofgratitude »
MAR
11
Lover by Anna Raverat. A review by Frances Colville
Book Reviews, Culture, Featured by Frostie
899
SHARES
Share
Tweet
Lover by Anna Raverat. A review by Frances Colville book review books good reads
What happens when the relationship you thought was solid, even if not earth-shattering, comes to an unexpected end, leaving you with two young children to care for (and explain things to) at the same time as the job you loved starts to become complicated and untenable? In her new novel, Lover, Anna Raverat tells the story of Kate and how she copes with just that situation. T
he book begins with a Charlie M Schulz quote: Sometimes I lie awake at night, and ask, ‘Where have I gone wrong?’ Then a voice says to me, ‘This is going to take more than one night.’ which sets the scene and tone nicely.
Kate is a well-drawn character with whom it’s not hard to sympathise and her story is told with sensitivity and intuitiveness. And while it’s not a wholly original plot, there is enough individuality here to make this novel a good read.
Lover by Anna Raverat is published by Picador and available in hardback and as an ebook from 10 March 2016
Related posts:
Love You Better by Natalie K Martin Reviewed By Frances Colville
My Stratford Friend – Dominick Reyntiens by Frances Colville
The Secret of the Cathars by Michael Hillier Review by Frances Colville
Journey to Death by Leigh Russell Review by Frances Colville
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara by Frances Colville
Archives
Archives
Follow Frost on Facebook
Copyright
© 2017 Frost Magazine.
Return to top
Powered by WordPress and the Graphene Theme.