'Family Album' by Penelope Lively
4 May 2023
Penelope Lively’s 2009 novel ‘Family Album’ is a beautifully constructed series of snapshots of an eccentric English family. The opening chapter introduces us to the family as foreign affairs journalist Gina brings her new partner to meet her parents at the family home in which she grew up. But the following chapters start to flick backwards and forwards in time to show us the family’s history from the points of view of nine family members. It is impressive how Penelope Lively manages to make such a large cast of principal characters so distinct and well drawn: by the end of the novel you really feel you know them all. And her prose is gorgeous: a short passage describing walking down the staircase past photos of the children at various ages acts as a filmic montage of their childhoods. There are plenty of skeletons in the family’s cupboards (and their cellar) and much sadness in their stories. But this is a warm family portrait, drawn with love.
Labels: Books
posted by Robin Simpson @ 5:06 pm
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