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.
A BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime
When Conrad fails to return home from a science conference, Eleanor guesses he may at last be reacting to her infidelity. Or has he finally tired of his stagnating job in transplant research? Eleanor's own scientific career has forged ahead, while Conrad played main carer to their children. The four children, now adult, fear for their father but seem to have little sympathy for their tough ambitious mother.
Meanwhile, a long way from home, Conrad is alone, scared and on the run
About the Author
Jane Rogers has written nine novels, including Mr Wroe's Virgins (which she dramatized as an award-winning BBC drama serial), Her Living Image (which won the Somerset Maugham Award), Island and Promised Lands (which won the Writers' Guild Best Fiction Award). Her most recent novel, The Testament of Jessie Lamb, was longlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize, and won the 2012 Arthur C. Clarke Award. Her short story collection, Hitting Trees with Sticks, was shortlisted for the 2013 Edgehill Short Story Prize. Jane also writes radio drama and adaptations, and has taught writing to a wide range of students. She is a mentor for Gold Dust (a unique mentoring scheme for writers) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Industry Reviews
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 *
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 *
Her observation of our species is tender, precise, illuminating. -- Hilary Mantel
'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
A really clever, reflective and dispassionate scrutiny of a marriage in trouble * Daily Mail *
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 *
Jane Rogers' Conrad and Eleanor [has a] strong narrative vivid characters and a twist of the unexpected... * Spectator *
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