Cleopatra's Sister

Penelope Lively

Suzz, I changed my mind again and finished this book off. I just can't get the hang of this business of throwing books away half-finished and the idea of sending it 4000 miles away not fully read made it even harder to do. So finish it I did and then I posted it on to you.

But you won't thank me for it. I thought it was a really terrible book from an author I've always been keen on. It's the story of Howard Beamish and Lucy Faulkner who are thrown together in a hostage situation in an invented country in North Africa which Penelope Lively has called Callimbia. The first half of the book is the separate story of Howard and Lucy and how they end up on the plane trip. Tacked onto that in little page and a half chapters is the invented history of Callimbia. Ugh! I do dislike invented countries in novels, it seems such a dated and comic device. This is trying to be a serious novel.

Anyway, the second half of the book is taken up with the hostage situation itself and the rather gruesome and utterly unconvincing love affair which quickly grows up between Howard and Lucy. A love affair which is so wooden I can hardly believe it came from such a competent novelist with many published books already in her CV.

The only thing going for this book if you're a barner is that the protagonist is called Howard. Make of it what you will.