Recommended on BBC’s A Good Read, and I had never read any of hers before. Good, but I struggled to understand the underlying theme.
Set in Moscow in 1913 (and she has done her historical research wonderfully) the central figure is an English owner of a printing press whose (English) wife leaves him with the 3 kids, who are subsequently returned to him. He thinks she has gone back to England but this is unclear. He carries on running his life in Moscow, interacting pretty normally with Muscovites, and although a young woman moves in as effective nanny and it is unclear whether they fall in love/have an affair. She leaves him near the end and his wife reappears at the end of the book.
I enjoyed it, but struggled to understand the narrative logic. Should read another of her late books, which I gather are the best.
Comments