The American Lover, by Rose Tremain - book review

Vintage £8.99

Some people don’t like reading short-story collections. They resent the fresh effort demanded, each time they start a new story, of moving into a different world and becoming acquainted with a new set of characters. To such people I recommend Rose Tremain’s excellent The American Lover.

Every story welcomes you in without fuss, with impossible-to-resist opening lines such as: “Walter and Lena Parker were in their early seventies when they decided to run away together.” A wide range of settings and situations are covered: Tolstoy’s death in a station master’s cottage in Russia; a drowning man at a beach in Norfolk; a farmer’s field in Normandy where a British fighter plane goes down; an art student’s love affair in post-war Paris.

All are written in the same limpid prose, and pull off the magical trick of conveying a lifetime in a few pages. And all take their leave gracefully; no clumsy morals or messages or twists here, just quiet, calm, open endings that invite you to ponder.