To the NorthAn unlikely, but irresistible, love affair provides the framework for this absorbing novel of passion and solitude. Quiet, aloof and consciously solitary, Emmeline is unprepared for the violence of her attraction to Markie; but once she has succumbed to it, she far surpasses him in the depth and generosity of her surrender. The affairs of Cecilia, Emmeline's vivacious and gregarious sister-in-law, provide a sparkling counterpoint to Miss Bowen's main theme. There is also the girls' worrisome aunt, Lady Waters, a character Evelyn Waugh would be proud to claim, who "enlarged her own life into ripples of apprehension on everybody's behalf." Cool, clear, and wonderfully witty, To the North nonetheless combines passion and perception in the unique manner familiar to admirers of The Death of the Heart and The Heat of the Day. |
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afternoon anxious asked aunt Blighs bore Cecilia clients clock cold dark dear Devizes dinner door Dorothea drawing-room dress Eiderdowns Elizabeth Bowen Emmeline Emmeline's expect eyes face Farquharson Farraways feel felt Finchley Road fingers flat friends garden Georgina Gerda Gilbert girl glanced glass hand happy heard heart Henry Henry Summers hung idea Julian knew Lady Waters letter light looked lunch mantelpiece Marcelle Markie Markie's marriage marry meline mind Miss Tripp never nice niece night Oh yes once Oudenarde Road Paris party Pauline paused Peter Peter Lewis Pleach ROBERT GRANJON round seemed sense Serbs shadow sherry shut silence Sir Robert smiling someone sorry stood Summers suppose Switzerland talk Tatler taxi telephone tell there's things thought to-night told took touch turned Umbria walked week-end window wish Woburn Place woman wondered young