The Garrick Year

I loved this book so much that when I got to the last page, I turned to the first to read it all over again. I got it from a used book shop, after reading a piece about it in the New Yorker, by Roger Angell. I can't imagine why it's out of print. It shouldn't be. If it were released now, it would be a best-seller and would be made into a movie. Such a fabulous read, funny and cool; a young woman married to an actor and all of her astute observations about that superficiality. Set in England, in the 1960's. Moves along well with little surprises, little notions about how to handle life. Brilliant.

People are committed to careers and children. They are not always committed to each other, alas. Sophy and the narrator Emma are excellent examples of resilience. Emma is married to David, an actor. He wants to go to Hereford for seven months. She wants to remain where they are since she has a chance at a newsreader position. Emma's father was a theologian. Flora was born thirteen months after the meeting of Emma Lawrence and David Evans. Garrick had been born in Hereford. Emma had been brought up in Cambridge. The couple met Sophy Brent in Hereford. Sophy was surprised that Emma and David had two children under the age of two. Emma thought the furniture in their house was frightfully ugly. When the couple attended a reception, David was aggressive and Emma was formal. Emma saw David give his tie away with a broad theatrical gensture to a girl while attending a social gathering. She encountered the parents of an old school friend, Mary. Later people returned with Emma and David for drinks. Emma felt that actors talked in generalities, robbing their conversation of interest. Emma, not an actress, finds herself confronted with issues of a performance and audience. Emma had become so accustomed to a bright and superficial flow of information being exchanged at cocktail parties that she was no longer the serious person her friend Mary knew. Emma commenced to have a liason with a director, Wyndham Farrar. Since her marriage to David Evans she had not been involved with anyone else. Wyndham would not be staying at the place much longer as his theatrical duties ceased. Emma realized that David and Sophy, his leading lady, were having an affair. David faulted her for picking Wyndham and having a relationship right under everyone's nose. An automobile mishap brings everyone to his or her senses.