Homework - Hardcover

Livesey, Margaret

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670830003 ISBN 13: 9780670830008

Publisher: Viking, 1990

Synopsis

As Celia recovers from a failed romance, she finds Stephen, and her new relationship with him seems perfect until his fiercely jealous nine-year-old daughter arranges a series of unsettling incidents

About this title

Reviews

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.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0670830003
• ISBN 13: 9780670830008
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352