A novel full of melancholy
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Rachel Kennedy is a solitary and self-sufficient woman who likes to lead a well-ordered life free of commitments and emotional turmoil. She owns a small bookshop in London and one day befriends Heather Livingstone and her parents Oscar and Dorrie - a mutual fondness which is a puzzle given Rachel's character. It soon becomes clear to Heather that Oscar and Dorrie think her a suitable companion for Heather, a kind of elder sister or guardian angel. Their good daughter, who comes home to them every weekend and telephones every day, is the world to them and they wish her still theirs and somebody else's as well, somebody whose supervision could replace their own. To them, Rachel could be Heather's passport to the world. So Oscar and Dorrie regard Rachel as a chaperone for Heather. And to Rachel her odd relationship with the Livingstones is of great value too. For her they are fixed points of reference in a slipping universe, abiding by rules which everybody else has broken.
It is when Heather decides to become engaged to Michael Sandberg, an awkward and untrustworthy man, that Rachel realises that her power over her friend is limited. The fate of this ill-assorted couple is bound to be doomed...
Well drawn characters, plausible situations and sound psychological motives are the strengths of "A Friend From England". A quiet, atmospheric novel as only Mrs Brookner can write them.
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