An Irresponsible Age

A powerful, involving new novel, following on from the author's much-praised debut novel 'Mary George of Allnorthover'. 'An Irresponsible Age', Lavinia Greenlaw's extraordinary new novel, is set in London in 1990, with Thatcher still in power but the country unwilling to 'abandon an idea just because it proved to be a bad one'. In these hesitant times we follow the life of Juliet Clough and her three siblings, all of them interdependent in a not-quite enviable way, clinging together after the death of a brother and the retreat of their grieving parents. When Juliet, the focus of them all, is drawn into a complex love affair with the enigmatic Jacob, the others, too, find themselves falling in love, and then evading the consequences. None will admit what they are doing, or why.

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'Gifted with a sharp eye for detail and a fine sensibility to verbal nuance and patterning, Greenlaw has already established herself as a significant force in British poetry. This new novel seems certain to confirm her developing reputation as a writer of lively, intelligent and well-crafted fiction.' Guardian 'There's more than a whiff of "Cold Comfort Farm" hanging over this elegant novel.' Daily Mail '"An Irresponsible Age" develops into an engrossing and thought-provoking read.' Sunday Telegraph 'Greenlaw's luminous prose is spare, clinical, sharp enough to dissect characters and scrape away the surface of England in 1990 to reveal a hollow age, yearning to be real before it can be responsible.' Daily Telegraph 'A subtle and intriguing novel.' Observer 'Made plausible by the brilliance of the writing!Greenlaw superbly brings to life her characters' inner life and their perceptions of their world!it gives the novel an irresistible emotional logic and force.' Financial Times 'Greenlaw is a writer of wonderful elegance and detachment. She treats her reader as an invisible observer, simply flinging you into the midst of the family with the minimum of explanation. Above all, "An Irresponsible Age" is terrifically funny.' Kate Saunders, New Statesman 'A terrific book, a meteorological force in its own right! "An Irresponsible Age" is every bit as absorbing and beautifully observed.' Evening Standard 'Greenlaw's prose has an absorbing internal motion, gliding and swooping over events, pushing you forward, then pausing to capture a simple image. And behind it all is a moving, understated ode to grief that lingers after the last page.' Metro 'Wry, tender and ironic!Greenlaw writes with clever restraint!It captures the sense of life's hopeless randomness, showing, with irony yet tenderness, the raptures and trials of love, and the folly of failing to seize the day.' The Scotsman 'Greenlaw captures the esoteric details of familial interaction against a well-drawn backdrop of 1990's London. An Irresponsible Age is a novel about silence, written with an absolute appreciation of the power of words.' Abigail Wilkinson, Time Out 'A funny, moving and wholly involving account of people struggling belatedly to grow up and take charge of their lives!Lavinia Greenlaw writes like the poet she is, using words with an exhilarating unexpectedness!The writing is never precious, but does what all good prose should do: re-creates life in a way we recognise but may not have seen before in quite this life.' Peter Parker, TLS

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Lavinia Greenlaw is the author of two books of poetry, 'Night Photograph' (1993), which was shortlisted for the Whitbread and Forward awards, and 'A World Where News Travelled Slowly' (1997), which won the Forward Prize. She is currently working at the Poetry Library, having previously been Writer-in-Residence at the Science Museum, at a law practice, and in several schools. She lives in north London.

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