An illusionless novel about the loss of illusions (and their interminable allure). Terribly well-written, if rather depressing, this long view. The backwards narrative, taking you further into the main characters' past with each episode, is put to very good effect here. That way the dreary ‘end’ of the story the novel starts with suffuses any more cheerful episodes (by then long in the past) that will follow. And of course that dreary ‘end’ is in a sense more of a middle, since the main character is only in her early forties then; but as her life has in a way come full circle – she having now to deal with two barely grown-up children who are starting out in life and marriage, much like she is at the end of the book, which is the beginning of the story – the starting point is extremely well chosen.