Reading a Rose Tremain book is always a pleasure and not a guilty one. I devoured this book in one sitting, on a Friday night at home. There may have been wine.
The beauty of Tremain’s writing was not unexpected, but the plot was. I ended the book after thoroughly enjoying the journey and revelling in the unexpectedness it contained.
Absolutely & Forever stayed on my bedside table after I read it, which was unusual because I like to lend books I’ve loved to people I love, but I wasn’t quite ready yet to part with this book for a while.
1960s setting
Set in 1960s London and Paris, Absolutely & Forever has first love, dressmaking and drinking. It’s about loving people who hurt us and hurting people we love. The story follows lead character, Marianne through school, work, and marriage, which sounds mundane but in Tremain’s hands, is not. The narrative drive is electrifying while at the same time, the story is all very English with character names like Lavender, Marigold, and Petronella.
Rose Tremain writes at an electifying pace. PHOTO: Jerry Bauera
Marianne is fifteen when she falls in love with Simon who owns a Morris Minor and has a dazzling future ahead of him. Desperate to escape the stifling 1950s suburbs she grew up in, Marianne believes she will be able to find true happiness with him.
Plot twists
A twist of fate sees Simon’s glittering future dashed and with it, Marianne’s dreams. He flees the country and Marianne moves to London to reinvent herself. For years, while Simon is in Paris, nursing a secret that will change everything, Marianne cannot let go of that all-encompassing first love
Throughout the many twists the story takes, the book is also a period piece, evoking the high style and domestic quirks of 1960s London and England.
A well-written book of fiction is a gift and a respite, a sliver of time away from reality, when you’re home on a Friday night with no plans and an open bottle of wine calling your name.
I cherish the memory of a softly perfect evening and a perfectly written story about imperfect people and their audacious lives.
Absolutely and Forever is published by Vintage and retails for $22.99. This reviewer’s copy came from Berkelouw Books in Eumundi, Queensland.
