Isa and May - Couverture rigide

Forster, Margaret

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0701184663 ISBN 13 : 9780701184667

Editeur : Chatto & Windus, 2010

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

The curiously named Isamay, a would-be academic, is trying to write a coherent thesis about grandmothers in history - from Sarah Bernhardt and George Sand to the matriarchal Queen Victoria and other influential grannies -- while constantly ambushed by the secrets her own family has been keeping. An only child, she is named after her grandmothers, Isa and May, who were there at her birth and who have formed and influenced her in very different ways. Jealous of each other, they both want to be first in their granddaughter's affections. Isa has an edge, in that young Isamay looks like her, but Isa's reserved and elegant exterior hides startling surprises that could undermine her granddaughter's certainties. May, on the other hand, is plump, indomitable and opinionated, and it's from her that
Isamay inherits her stubborn determination. Isamay, almost thirty, has never wanted children, but suddenly considers changing her mind. Her live-in lover, Ian (always mysterious about his own family history) is sure that he does not want a child.

Engrossing, set in the present but with hooks into the past, this is an unusual story about grandmothers and their potentially powerful role in family life, about nature vs nurture, bloodlines and bridges across generations.

Quatrième de couverture

'A compelling story, sometimes funny, sometimes painfully sad ... All family life is here, messy, insistent and, as the author convincingly shows, as essential as breathing' Sunday Times

Isamay's unusual name comes from her two very different grandmothers, Isa and May, who were both present at her birth and who have both formed and influenced her whole life in very particular ways. Now almost thirty, Isamay is trying to write a thesis about grandmothers in history but is instead constantly ambushed by the startling secrets her own family has been keeping. When disturbing truths are revealed that force Isamay to examine her own certainties, will her grandmothers be able to build a bridge across the generations?

'Margaret Forster has always had the enviable gift of making her characters spring to life, and both Isa and May do just that' Allan Massie, Scotsman

'A sensitive and intelligent novel with passages of beautifully modulated pathos, while being in part, hugely funny' The Times

'A whole, rich, fascinating novel' Kate Saunders, Literary Review

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Chatto & Windus
• Date d'édition: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0701184663
• ISBN 13: 9780701184667
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 320