The Photograph
The Photograph by Penelope Lively
One day, whilst searching in a cupboard, Glyn finds a sealed envelope with the words ‘Don’t Open – Destroy’ scrawled on it by his wife, Kath. Compelled by curiosity to ignore her instruction, he breaks the seal to find a photograph showing Kath holding hands with another man. Suddenly this one act of betrayal – hidden, concealed for many years – obsesses Glyn as he tries to get to the root of Kath’s infidelity. But what other lives will be torn apart as he recklessly delves into the past, and what is the truth about Kath?
Reviews
"Only read the first chapter. Didn’t feel the need to read anymore."
"Interesting and well written, but, not really my cup of tea."
"I thought when I started this book, that this was a quirky kind of story, but after a few chapters it was hard work to keep up the interest. I like a book with more action."
"Read pages 1 to 100 but, found the story rather tedious. Not my type of story."
"I did not read the whole book. I found her style of writing to be tedious. Too many short sentences as if she were writing a précis of a longer novel."
"I’d never read a novel by Penelope Lively before, but, I’ll certainly look out for other titles. I really enjoyed this. It’s not a story of exciting adventures – it’s about getting to know someone who died in retrospect. It reminded me a lot of the assumptions we make about real life glamorous women, how they seem to have everything because they are beautiful, but, they maybe insecure inside."
"I read this novel for a reading group I attend. It is a beautifully written, very readable study of the nature of relationships but also a heartbreaking story about the effect one person has on many lives."
"I found this book an easy, interesting read. It raises a lot of questions about relationships, marriage and how well we really know the people we are closest to. Why do we always assume beautiful people are happy? The central character, Kath, suffers through this assumption and is ultimately very unhappy – a state that her relatives and friends are seemingly unaware of. The story tragically unfolds into an intriguing read which possibly raises more questions than it answers."
"A wonderful description of different people’s perceptions of a single event. The subject character was so enigmatic and the book beautifully written with plenty of twists and turns."