A Natural CuriosityRich in character and incident, A Natural Curiosity sweeps the reader from smart London townhouses to a run-down embassy in the Middle East, from the splendours of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris to drowsy afternoons in the hills of sunny Italy, as we re-encounter Alix, Liz, and Esther, three erudite, middle-aged, Cambridge-educated women living in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain. The story opens in 1987, when Alix, a conscientious social worker, befriends a convicted killer, when a dazed housewife begins an affair with a stranger after her husband’s suicide, and a comfort-loving TV executive undertakes to rescue a friend who’s been kidnapped by terrorists. A Natural Curiosity is wondrous and astute, and in Margaret Drabble’s hands, the seemingly improbable becomes vividly real. |
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Alix Bowen Alix's Angela anyway asked baby Baldai Beaver Bicester Brian Brigantes Carla Davis Celia chariot burials Charles Headleand Cliff Harper Clive Enderby dark dead Dirk Davis dogs door drink Edward Esther eyes Fanny Kettle feel gaze grey hair Hansborough head Hestercombe Howard Beaver interest Ivan Janice Jonathan Kentish Town knew laugh live Liz Headleand Liz's London look Lucan mind Miss Fawcett mother murderer Musée d'Orsay never Northam Ogham Oxenholme party Paul Whitmore perhaps Perry Blinkhorn pink Pol Pot Porston remember Robert Holland Sam Bowen says Alix says Liz says Shirley seems Shirley Shirley Harper Shirley's sister sits slightly smell smiled South Yorkshire speak St John's Wood stares Stephen Cox Steve Stocklinch sure Susie Enderby talk television tell thing thought told Tony Kettle wanted watched woman wonder Xanthe young