Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday




"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.


The London Train by Tessa Hadley

"The London Train" is a novel in two parts, separate but wound together around a single moment, examining in vivid detail two lives stretched between two cities. Paul lives in the Welsh countryside with his wife Elise, and their two young children. The day after his mother dies he learns that his eldest daughter Pia, who was living with his ex-wife in London, has moved out from home and gone missing. He sets out in search of Pia, and when he eventually finds her, living with her lover in a chaotic flat in a tower block in King's Cross, he thinks at first he wants to rescue her. But the search for his daughter begins a period of unrest and indecision for Paul: he is drawn closer to the hub of London, to the excitements of a life lived in jeopardy, to Pia's fragile new family. Paul's a pessimist; when a heat wave scorches the capital week after week he fears that they are all 'sleep-walking to the edge of a great pit, like spoiled trusting children'. In the opposite direction, Cora is moving back to Cardiff, to the house she has inherited from her parents. She is escaping her marriage, and the constrictions and disappointments of her life in London. At work in the local library, she is interrupted by a telephone call from her sister-in-law and best friend, to say that her husband has disappeared. Connecting both stories is the London train, and a chance meeting that will have immediate and far-reaching consequences for both Paul and for Cora. "The London Train" is a vivid and absorbing account of the impulses and accidents that can shape our lives, alongside our ideas; about loyalty, love, sex and the complicated bonds of friends and family. Penetrating, perceptive, and wholly absorbing, it is an extraordinary new novel from one of the best writers working in Britain today.



4 comments:

Eden said...

That's an awesome cover! Stories set in London always sound so exotic :P

Here's my WoW.

Christy @ TheReaderBee said...

This book sounds really good! I will have to check it out. Thanks for sharing!

Marla said...

Thanks for stopping by. In many respects, Tyger Tyger is a good book: it has a great plot and an interesting premise. If you're familiar with Irish mythology, however, some details will probably bug you. LOL I'll probably have a review ready for tomorrow. I hope you'll stop by and check it out. Have a fantastic Wednesday!

Anonymous said...

What an interesting book! I hadn't heard about it and am so glad you featured it. Nice choice!