The Handyman

This impeccably crafted novel from the author of The Pumpkin Eater belongs to that familiar English genre of witty but mild drama which Barbara Pym and Anita Brookner keep on perfecting.

What does a woman in her 60s do when her husband unexpectedly dies? Here, the widow Phyllis devises a "formal dance" to make her son feel in charge of his father's funeral (while at the same time relieving him of all responsibility). Then, at her daughter's request, she moves to a cottage in a small village. But her neighbor is a dried-up writer in hiding who dislikes any creature that disturbs her gardening; her daughter Sophia and her son Michael are both too busy (her daughter with her children, and her son with his publishing work) to visit her. And so it is only the handyman, Fred, who comes regularly to fix up her bathroom and stays a bit every time to chat, who dispels her utter loneliness. She becomes more and more attached to him...

-- Kirkus