Possibly one of the most celebrated first novels of the past twenty years, this moving, episodic study of a family's story as recalled initially by one member and later by an omniscient narrator, remains as fresh and appealing as it was on publication. Considering the sheer sense of life which is evoked, this is an unusually disciplined performance.
Amid the noise of children at play lovingly watched over by their mother, is the tension experienced by this determinedly cheerful, heroic figure, keeping everything together as her petulant, drinker husband moves from mood to mood. Subtle touches convey the passing of the years. The book is uniquely Minot's own, yet the comparisons with Woolf's classic elegy To the Lighthouse (1927) only serve to emphasis Minot's compelling achievement.
Eileen Battersby