Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Penelope Lively's latest novel is an exploration of the chaos theory - how one small, seemingly insignificant, event can begin a series of reactions that quickly spiral beyond any prediction or pattern. The trigger is when Charlotte Rainsford, a retired English teacher, is the victim of a random mugging. Suffering a broken hip, she must go and live with her middle-aged daughter Rose and her detached, predictable husband.
Get money off this book at the Independent bookshop
The narrative weaves between this diverse cast of characters as they collide "in a human version of a motorway shunt", but the effects are not purely negative. Confined to Rose's house, Charlotte agrees to teach the enigmatic but lost Anton from her Adult Learning class. Rose is drawn to his sad past, bewildering present and to his "dark eyes... eyes with forests in them".
But it's Charlotte who first recognises a depth in the soft-spoken Anton that reaches beyond "nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, connectives". Instead, they read a selection of rich, allegorical children's fiction beginning with Where the Wild Things Are. It is through these that Anton begins to flourish and find his way again. A consummate novelist who is approaching her 80th birthday, it is Lively herself who is the authority on the power of stories to instruct, captivate and heal.
The tone of the book is that of gentle satire. Lively presents the characters' flaws and foibles with skill, wit and a perception that is the work of a lifetime's observation. With the modern cultural references as well as the backdrop of a London facing financial crisis, crippling debt, youth crime and issues of migrant workers, it all feels familiar and relevant. The frustrations, indignities, folly and wisdom of old age, as seen through Charlotte and Lord Peter, provide the particular mix of humour and pathos that most define the novel.
To use a human equivalent of the chaos theory to frame events is an interesting conceit, but there is crucial difference. Lord Peter's strain of history as a series of "random casuality" and "erratic sequences" is discredited: as humans, the characters must choose how to respond to chance, whether or not to exercise self-discipline, kindness and moral integrity. The unravelling of this decision-making process makes for an engaging and warm read full of keenest human insight.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments