- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Methuen Publishing Ltd; New edition edition (19 Jan 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0413775569
- ISBN-13: 978-0413775566
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,981,543 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Synopsis
Zeke is twenty-nine, a man who looks like a Raphael angel and who earns his living as a painter and carpenter in London. He reads the world a little differently from most people and has trouble with such ordinary activities as lying, deciphering expressions, recognising faces. Verona is thirty-seven, confident, hot-tempered, a modestly successful radio show host, unmarried, and seven months pregnant. When the two meet in a house that Zeke is renovating, they fall in love, only to be separated, when Verona leaves abruptly, without explanation, for Boston. Both have complications in their lives. Verona involves her brother, Henry, who is tied up in shady financial dealings. Zeke has his own troubles, yet he finds himself following Verona to Boston. As he pursues her, and she pursues Henry, both are forced to ask the perplexing question: Can we ever know another person?
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
margot livesey writes elegant, fluid prose, without any of the high-handedness of those up-their-own-bottoms literary types. the subject matter is compelling, the plot both credible and surprising, and i was absolutely glued to the page throughout.
her characters are quirky but utterly convincing, and the story is surprisingly complex, given the ease with which the reader is led through the book.
having AS myself, i was (slightly) in trepidation about another novel with a major character who has the condition, but Livesey handles this with both honesty and senstivity: it's accurate without being patronising or dull.
this is an utter gem, and i shall be reading more by this author asap. a beautiful book.
her characters are quirky but utterly convincing, and the story is surprisingly complex, given the ease with which the reader is led through the book.
having AS myself, i was (slightly) in trepidation about another novel with a major character who has the condition, but Livesey handles this with both honesty and senstivity: it's accurate without being patronising or dull.
this is an utter gem, and i shall be reading more by this author asap. a beautiful book.
Format:Paperback
This is one of those books you fall into and look up hours later dazed with delight. The writing has a remarkable touch of witty veracity combined with deep emotional and psychological insight.
Zeke has problems - Asperger's Syndrome - for which he was treated as a child and helped and supported to gain useful employment as a painter and decorator. He has to do a lot of counting in order to control his panic attacks, and sometimes it takes him five or six efforts to leave the house, but his work is excellent and he has an employee Emmanuel, who treats him as if he is just like everyone else. But Zeke looks like a Raphael angel, so there are compensations.
One day a young pregnant woman, Verona, appears at the house where he is working, pronounces that she is the owner's niece (they are away at the moment) and she's come to stay. Then she climbs into a spare pair of overalls (Emmanuel has, yet again, called in sick) and helps with the decorating. The following day she buys him a fried egg sandwich and before long they are lovers.
The novel proceeds in alternate chapters telling Zeke's story, and then Verona's. Verona is not who she appears to be. Her brother Henry is in trouble and menacing figures appear at her flat looking for information on his whereabouts. The plot takes a darker turn when Verona flees to America to find Henry, and the love-struck Zeke follows. Things conspire against them, but the book ends on an upbeat note with much manoeuvring and mixed connections in between.
A sheer, unadulterated pleasure to read, Margot Livesey combines mystery, adroit character creation and development with a lively pace and an intriguing plot that keeps you glued to the page in this wonderful book.
Zeke has problems - Asperger's Syndrome - for which he was treated as a child and helped and supported to gain useful employment as a painter and decorator. He has to do a lot of counting in order to control his panic attacks, and sometimes it takes him five or six efforts to leave the house, but his work is excellent and he has an employee Emmanuel, who treats him as if he is just like everyone else. But Zeke looks like a Raphael angel, so there are compensations.
One day a young pregnant woman, Verona, appears at the house where he is working, pronounces that she is the owner's niece (they are away at the moment) and she's come to stay. Then she climbs into a spare pair of overalls (Emmanuel has, yet again, called in sick) and helps with the decorating. The following day she buys him a fried egg sandwich and before long they are lovers.
The novel proceeds in alternate chapters telling Zeke's story, and then Verona's. Verona is not who she appears to be. Her brother Henry is in trouble and menacing figures appear at her flat looking for information on his whereabouts. The plot takes a darker turn when Verona flees to America to find Henry, and the love-struck Zeke follows. Things conspire against them, but the book ends on an upbeat note with much manoeuvring and mixed connections in between.
A sheer, unadulterated pleasure to read, Margot Livesey combines mystery, adroit character creation and development with a lively pace and an intriguing plot that keeps you glued to the page in this wonderful book.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was a very well-written book about Zeke, a painter and decorator who has mild Asperger's Syndrome, and Verona, a single pregnant woman, a decade older than him. After spending a short time with her, Zeke falls in love with her and follows her to America, where Verona has gone in search of her wayward brother.
Zeke is an extremely endearing character and this novel is as much about his problems with human relationships, as about him and Verona.
Highly recommended.
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