Not a long book, but lots of great discussion
subjects. Penelope Lively is a master at
characterization.....you can picture each
character in detail.

A 10-year widower (Glyn), while looking for something packed away in boxes, uncovers an envelope marked "do not open - destroy". Not recognizing it, he did what any person would do - he opened it. Inside is a photograph of his late wife (Kath), her sister (Elaine), Elaine's husband (Nick) and a few other friends. Glyn is NOT in the picture. The photograph shows his wife and Nick standing in the midst of the group picture, but their entwined hands and flushed faces were not as invisible to the camera as they thought. Thus begins a husband search for the truth and a remedy to the sense of betrayal that now floods his heart and mind.

This book had a hint of Daphne Du Mauier's "Rebecca", in the respect that it gave you insight to the presence and impact that this now non-living person had and still has on those she knew. The book also had touches of Liane Moriarty's "What Alice Forgot", when a person is forced to look how they have let people, work and circumstances alter the directions they've taken in their lives.

I will admit that I nearly put this book down several times. I felt that it wasn't really going anywhere and, in the end, what purpose was going to be served by finding out that your spouse had been unfaithful to you years ago when they aren't there to defend their actions? In addition, this was the first book I have read by this author and her writing style was difficult for me to follow at times. At times the story line (especially conversations with a person? a memory? a phone call?) seemed a bit fragmented and disorderly, so much so that I pondered putting it aside. In the end I was glad I finished the story and was left with the knowledge that betrayal works both ways. And sometimes betrayal can come, not from what was done to us, but what wasn't.