An intricate and revealing portrait of a dysfunctional marriage as it unravels in midlife crisis and estrangement, and the fallout from one summer, twenty-five years ago.
When Conrad fails to return home from a conference one evening, Eleanor's first thought is one of relief. Their marriage has been a sham for over a decade, held together only for their children and by their separate lives in Cambridge. But when she is unable to contact him over the following days, Eleanor begins to worry. Conrad hasn't used his credit card, has left no message; he has just disappeared. As her investigation mounts, secrets from one summer, twenty-five years before, start to reveal themselves, as does Conrad's covert work as a whistleblower, unravelling both of their lives...
Conrad and Eleanor is a sensitive, evocative portrait of estrangement, midlife crisis, and how love in a marriage, pushed to its limit, can endure.
Industry Reviews
'Rogers displays a knack for drawing on life's subtle and uncanny parallels' (praise for Hitting Trees with Sticks) * Times Literary Supplement *
'Roger's prose flows elegantly and with effortless power.... Intricately plotted, with the ability to repeatedly surprise' (praise for The Voyage Home) * Observer *
Warm, wise, insightful, sharply observed and beautifully written. -- Marina Lewycka
Her observation of our species is tender, precise, illuminating. -- Hilary Mantel
A really clever, reflective and dispassionate scrutiny of a marriage in trouble * Daily Mail *
Rogers recognises the coincidences of opposites, of irreconcilable drives, at the quick of human experience. It is this that powers Conrad & Eleanor and keeps the reader engrossed... The sequence is a microcosm of the novel's structure, the roiling tempest in Conrad's mind coming to rest in exhausted affirmation. It's brilliantly done - a sustained exploration of the polarities at the enduring heart of love. * Guardian *
This is a portrait of modern middle-class matrimony, well-crafted and full of insight into the compromises and imbalances of long-standing relationships. * Mail on Sunday *
A gripping account of a marriage based on role-reversal... Throughout this fast-paced, thriller-like narrative, dialogue both external and internal crackles with authenticity... And the issues they tackle give the story terrific momentum. * Book Oxygen *
This is an extraordinary novel about an ordinary situation; the unravelling of a marriage. Jane Rogers writes with delicacy and insight about the death throes of a long relationship... This is a dissection of a relationship that cuts to the bone. * The Times *
Jane Rogers' Conrad and Eleanor [has a] strong narrative vivid characters and a twist of the unexpected... * Spectator *