This is the story about Teddy, the brother of Atkinson's character in Life After Life.
Teddy is a singularly good man. A bomber
pilot in World War II, he didn't expect to live to see post-war. Teddy
didn't thrill to being a hero, but most definitely was. Everything after
proves a disappointment.
He marries his childhood sweetheart, Nancy, and it's a pleasant,
dutiful marriage, nothing more. His wife dies when their daughter, Vera,
is young and he devotes himself to raising the girl. She's a bundle of
nasty bitterness and gratuitous meanness as well as a terrible mother to
her two children, Sunny (a boy) and Bertie (a girl).
Meanwhile Teddy strives to rescue his grandchildren while soldiering on in
an England changed and on the decline in the years after the
war. This is not what he fought for.
Both Harv and I read the book and enjoyed it. It is beautifully done. It's tender, moving, caustic, and at times,
brilliantly funny. The war passages are intense and impeccably
researched. Then there are moments Atkinson parts the curtain, giving us
a glimpse into the hearts of her worst-behaved characters. There's even
something of an explanation for Vera.
While Atkinson doesn't play with time as she did with "Life After
Life," she does fool with it a bit. The narrative isn't straightforward,
rather it jumps back and forth to give us glimpse of each characters'
future even as we meet them. It's effective. There's point near the end where the author shocks un into remembering that this is just a story. It's fiction at its best.
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