The Enlightenment of Nina Findlay: A Novel - Softcover

Gillies, Andrea

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1590517296 ISBN 13: 9781590517291

Publisher: Other Press, 2015

Synopsis

What happens when you can’t see that the man you married is actually the one you love?

For her whole life Nina Findlay has been in a love triangle with two Italian brothers, Paolo, whom she married, and Luca, with whom she was always in love and who remained her best friend throughout her marriage. Now Nina faces the future alone—estranged from Luca and separated from Paolo, she escapes to the tiny Greek island where she honeymooned twenty-five years earlier. After an accident she finds herself in the hospital telling her life story to an eagerly attentive doctor. As their conversations unfold she comes to understand the twists and turns of her romantic life and the unconscious influence of her parents’ marriage on her own.

About this title

About the Author:

Andrea Gillies lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her debut book was the memoir Keeper: One House, Three Generations, and a Journey into Alzheimer’s (Broadway, 2010), which won the Wellcome Book Prize and the Orwell Prize. Her first novel, The White Lie (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Mariner), was published to critical acclaim in 2012. The Enlightenment of Nina Findlay is her second novel.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Their main courses arrived, and Luca ordered more wine, and they ate and talked about other things. Nina steered the conversation elsewhere, into their respective trips and what they’d seen and eaten. But when the plates were taken, Luca reverted. 

“Promise me one thing. If ever you decide you need a divorce, you think of me first.” He thought he saw in her eyes that she took him seriously. What else could it be, that strange intense look in them? He went on, “But you’re right, of course you’re right. Our marriage is only perfect because it never happened. We haven’t had to deal with dishwashers and bills and recycling and dull sex.” 

“Dull, is it? That’s a shame.” The back of her neck felt as if it was seizing up.

“Francesca lost interest years ago. Even before she got ill. The cancer has been a big sex drought, and now she’s losing interest in me in general, I think.” 

“Oh I see, you’re in need of a cinq à sept.” It wasn’t possible to smile. “On the way home from the office.” 

“I think the French are an enlightened nation. Shall we say five o’clock tomorrow? But I’m getting on a bit. I may not need two hours.” 

She hid her disappointment in him in checking her phone. “A quickie on the way home. Lovely.” 

“It’s these little adjustments in life that make it tolerable.”

“I’m glad I know that you’re joking.” 

Luca could have joined her there. It might still all have been salvageable but instead he said, “We should get another bottle.”

About this edition

• Publisher: Other Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1590517296
• ISBN 13: 9781590517291
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416