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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Stayton Public Library | BUCHAN | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... McMinnville Public Library | Buchan, E. | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
This insightful novel, from the author of 'Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman', is about the true meaning of marriage.
Author Notes
Elizabeth Buchan was born in Guildford, Surrey, England. She attended the University of Kent at Canterbury in the 1970's and earned a double degree in English and History. She began working as a blurb writer for Penguin Books in 1974. She did this for 15 years and then went on to become a Fiction Editor at Random House in 1989. After the publication of her third novel, she became a full-time writer. Her novel, Revenge of the Middle Aged Woman, has been made into a television film for CBS. She was the eighteenth elected Chairman of the Romantic Novelists' Association from 1995 - 1997. Her title Separate Beds made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2011.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
When Fanny, 23, first lays eyes on Will, 28, he is making a speech in his bid for a seat in Parliament. They fall in love instantly, and this latest novel by Buchan (Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman, etc.) records the parallel 19-year trajectories of their marriage and Will's political career, the private and the public. Buchan crafts beautiful sentences, which she stacks in airy, digestible paragraphs; yet the novel fails to convey the excitement of the events in Fanny's consciousness that constitute the real plot. She wrestles from first to last page in service of a single question: what exactly does it mean to be good? Fanny wishes to be not just the titular good wife but also a good mother to 18-year-old Chloe; a good daughter to her fiery wine-merchant Italian refugee father, Alfredo; and a good sister-in-law to the alcoholic Meg, who seems to lurk in every doorway. Fanny must also please her husband's political party leaders by appearing in skirts of the correct length and avoiding all substantive talk at state dinners, and she feels duty-bound to reach out to the mother, Sally, who abandoned her at age three to run off to America. Yet these relationships, which constitute the substance of the novel, have scant weight. Even when Fanny makes an impulsive trip to Italy, the story fails to ignite. Buchan's fans will still find much to admire in this thoughtful, intelligent effort, but will hope the author's next springs more vividly to life. (Jan.) Forecast: Viking is attempting to build on the success of Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman by bringing Buchan to the U.S. for a 12-city author tour. Enthusiasm for this novel may be more muted, but Buchan's name recognition should continue to grow. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Buchan again agreeably celebrates a middle-aged woman's use of guile and smartness to score subtle points and victories in taking back her life from a demanding husband. Though Fanny Savage loves Will, the truth is that ever since they married--they even had to cut short their honeymoon because a sudden election was called--she's had to be the loyal political wife: the wife who never knows when he'll be home, who is unable to have her own life because she must be supportive, attend local events, and put up with the aides who virtually live in her house. Will is now a cabinet minister in the British Parliament, dreaming of even higher office and relying on Fanny's unswerving loyalty. Chloe, their only child, is about to graduate from high school, and Fanny realizes that time is passing and that she needs something more in her life than family and politics. She's also tired of coping with Will's alcoholic and divorced sister Meg, who lives with them. Meg is there because she raised Will after their parents died young, but she is opinionated, intrusive, and frequently unreliable. Fanny used to help her own Italian-born father run his wine business, but marriage to Will ended that. Now, feeling restless and resentful, she decides to make some changes--but then her father suddenly dies. Distraught and needing time alone, she takes his ashes back to the Italian village of his birth. There, finding peace and a sense of belonging, she's not only tempted to stay but to have an affair with an old lover, now back in her life. As she ponders what to do, life suddenly gets tough for Will when Meg dies in a drunken fall; he loses an election; and he fears that Fanny won't come back. But Fanny, realizing that she still loves Will, knows how to use his vulnerabilities to gain some advantages of her own. Another winner from the author of, most recently, Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman (Feb. 2003). Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
For 20 years, Fanny Savage has been the perfect wife to her MP husband, Will. She has survived the long weeks alone while Parliament is in session and raised their beautiful daughter, Chloe, largely on her own. But as Chloe prepares to leave for university, Fanny feels stirrings of discontent. She misses the life she gave up for her husband and resents Will and his career for what seem to be ever-increasing demands on her. When Will's political life goes into overdrive after a rumor circulates that he is being considered for Exchequer, it causes a crisis in their marriage, and Fanny takes off for Italy. The story of the wife who subordinates her dreams to those of her husband is hardly a new one, but Buchan's note-perfect observations on marriage and its uncertain rewards have a revealing freshness. Like Allison Pearson (I Don't Know How She Does It BKL S 1 02), Buchan exposes the obstinacy of old-fashioned expectations within a "modern" marriage, and does so with compassion and humor. --Meredith Parets Copyright 2003 Booklist
Library Journal Review
When Fanny Savage married up-and-coming politician Will, she didn't quite grasp what his successful career in Parliament would mean for her future: that every activity in her life, from vacations to the way she dressed, would be measured against how it would play in the eyes of Will's constituents. Now, as Fanny nears her 50th birthday and almost two decades of married life, events conspire to make her reconsider her original commitment. In quick succession, her teenaged daughter decides to take an extended trip to Australia following her graduation from secondary school; Fanny's father dies; and her patience with Will's sister, Meg, who lives with them, comes to an end. It takes a trip to her father's hometown in Italy, a reunion with her first lover, a tragic accident, and an election to force Fanny to make some difficult choices about her marriage and her own future. Unfortunately, Buchan's new novel (following Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman) will disappoint all but her most loyal fans: there are too many one-dimensional characters, too many subplots that go nowhere, and too much uninspired prose. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 9/15/03.]-Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.