The London Train
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Product Description
Review
"Tessa Hadley is a writer whose antennae are almost indecently attuned to the interior static of private lives."
--The Independent, Emma Hagestadt, January 2012
[A] page-turner biography of the capital, full of amazing facts and anecdotes, a book that anyone wanting food for thought about social history or human nature will treasure --Evening Standard
Sober yet incisive in his assessments, comprehensive in his coverage, and gimlet-eyes in his choice of detail, he offers an invigorating yet thoughtful tour through London's most extraordinary and bracing of centuries --Sunday Times Culture
--The Independent, Emma Hagestadt, January 2012
[A] page-turner biography of the capital, full of amazing facts and anecdotes, a book that anyone wanting food for thought about social history or human nature will treasure --Evening Standard
Sober yet incisive in his assessments, comprehensive in his coverage, and gimlet-eyes in his choice of detail, he offers an invigorating yet thoughtful tour through London's most extraordinary and bracing of centuries --Sunday Times Culture
Book Description
A compelling and beautifully written new novel from the acclaimed Tessa Hadley: a remarkable portrayal of a man and woman whose lives collide on the Cardiff to London train.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I had been looking forward to reading this book.I had read the reviews when it came out in hardback, and was waiting for the paperback publication.I even put it on my wish list-a rare occurence- I found the story rather flat.There seemed to be a great deal of potential for the novel to be really good and riveting.The characters seemed lacking in depth,and the idea of writing two separate stories linked by the train from Cardiff to London -I wondered where the train was going to come in there had to be more significance than just a means of transport-for me did not particularly work.At first when Cora and Frankie appeared I thought I must have missed something in the first part of the novel.
Overall disappointing,not a bad book, but one that failed to fire my imagination,and left me rather unsatisfied.
Overall disappointing,not a bad book, but one that failed to fire my imagination,and left me rather unsatisfied.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Tessa Hadley is that rare thing, a quietly virtuoso writer, who thinks deeply about her craft and its relationship with traditions of realist fiction. THE LONDON TRAIN is shaped as a diptych, the two panels facing one another - but asymmetrically. It concerns an abortive love affair, between Paul and Cora, which began in a chance meeting on the London train - but the relationship is over when the novel opens and the first section, which is Paul's story, hardly mentions it. Only in Cora's story, which occupies the second panel, do we see retrospectively what lay hidden behind Paul's narrative.
So this is a novel of aftermaths and ambiguities: in each panel there are journeys to London, up and down the line; there are losses and disappearances. The characters are seen through a complex lens that registers their preoccupations, desires and choices when not in one another's orbit. This is a device as intelligent as it is elliptical, throwing the work of interpretation on to the reader. And the mesmerising,suspenseful puzzle of the novel stays with you long after you have put the novel down. Tessa Hadley is an accomplished writer of the short story - and the obliquity of her narrative owes something to the subtle craft of this form. On the level of characterisation, minor characters are peculiarly arresting: Paul's elder daughter, in her lonely, estranged and needy situation, making a demand on her father's heart that he is at last able to answer.
A lovely novel from one of our most distinguished writers.
So this is a novel of aftermaths and ambiguities: in each panel there are journeys to London, up and down the line; there are losses and disappearances. The characters are seen through a complex lens that registers their preoccupations, desires and choices when not in one another's orbit. This is a device as intelligent as it is elliptical, throwing the work of interpretation on to the reader. And the mesmerising,suspenseful puzzle of the novel stays with you long after you have put the novel down. Tessa Hadley is an accomplished writer of the short story - and the obliquity of her narrative owes something to the subtle craft of this form. On the level of characterisation, minor characters are peculiarly arresting: Paul's elder daughter, in her lonely, estranged and needy situation, making a demand on her father's heart that he is at last able to answer.
A lovely novel from one of our most distinguished writers.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
This story is divided into two sections - Paul is narrator of the first half - and seldom has a more selfish, self-absorbed character stepped out of the pages of a novel. Financially dependant on his second wife but obviously not feeling any obligation to remain faithful to her, nor to help her with running their household and a neglectful father of the daughter of his first marriage, his equilibrium is disturbed first by his mother's death and then by hearing that his daughter, Pia, has disappeared from his first wife's home.
On tracking her down, he finds her pregnant and sharing a flat in King's Cross with a Pole, Marek, and his sister, Anna. In typical English fashion he distrusts these foreigners to do right by his daughter but, ironically, it is Marek and Anna who are finally abandoned by Paul and Pia.
Cora's narrative drives the second half of the book. She has just left her husband - a stuffed-shirt (but sympathetic) high-flying bureaucrat and is camping in her deceased parents' home in Cardiff. The train in the title is that on which Paul and Cora meet.
This book is a slice of life - we meet, part, grieve, behave badly, occasionally do good to those we encounter and depart this life with our scoreboard waiting to be tallied. Let's hope most of us can do better than the egregious Paul.
On tracking her down, he finds her pregnant and sharing a flat in King's Cross with a Pole, Marek, and his sister, Anna. In typical English fashion he distrusts these foreigners to do right by his daughter but, ironically, it is Marek and Anna who are finally abandoned by Paul and Pia.
Cora's narrative drives the second half of the book. She has just left her husband - a stuffed-shirt (but sympathetic) high-flying bureaucrat and is camping in her deceased parents' home in Cardiff. The train in the title is that on which Paul and Cora meet.
This book is a slice of life - we meet, part, grieve, behave badly, occasionally do good to those we encounter and depart this life with our scoreboard waiting to be tallied. Let's hope most of us can do better than the egregious Paul.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Mainly missed the boat.
This a book of two halves, the first disappointing and the second an improvement. The overall result was an unsatisfactory read. Read more
Published 1 day ago by Kilronan
Frustrating!!
This is a story of two halves and the end leaves much unresolved, very annoying considering the very promising start to the story.
Published 5 days ago by lip81
Stuck in a siding
This book came with strong recommendations, not least from my wife, who said she couldn't put it down. Read more
Published 11 days ago by R. Carter
Terrific find!
I loved this book - it was beautifully written, relevant, contemporary - just great! I have now ordered a further book by her, which turns out to be short stories, again... Read more
Published 12 days ago by Kate
The London Train
I found this book disappointing - the story had the potential to go somewhere and ended up going nowhere. Read more
Published 1 month ago by salsay
Subtle and gripping
I adored this book by Tessa Hadley - much as I love all her other books. Her subtle, elegant prose doesn't shout for attention, preferring to quietly get under your skin. Read more
Published 1 month ago by wordfan
Subtly Rewarding
Tessa Hadley is the mistress of understatement, and this book is one of her most subtle and elegant. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Kate Hopkins
Er...?
I don't normally write reviews, but I am so annoyed by some of the inane cloth-eared readings on this page that I just have to stick up for this little gem of a novel. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Booglerize
Dreadfully dull
In this book, nothing happens in a thoroughly unentertaining way.
I read this book carefully noting the dull observations that Tessa Hadley made, expecting at least some... Read more
I read this book carefully noting the dull observations that Tessa Hadley made, expecting at least some... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mr. Oliver C. L. Gordon
Utterly mediocre
I wonder whether some reviewers read a different book to me. Never mind the hype, this is an utterly mediocre compendium of two tales. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Gerald Price
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