Elizabeth Taylor is best known for her novel Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, which in 2005 was made into a fine movie starring Joan Plowright. If you have seen that film or read that book you have experienced the mix of laughter, tears, indignation, and sympathy that Taylor's stories evoke.
In A Game of Hide and Seek we meet Harriet and Vesey when they are 18, he casually cruel to hide his insecurity, she shy and fearful. They are in love but they dare not express their feelings. The closest they come to outward expression of the intensity they feel is when playing hide and seek with two young friends. They always hide in the hay loft together and they never say a word to one another about their love. It is quintessentially Elizabeth Taylor.
In the second part of the book it is some years later and Harriett is married with a 15-year old daughter. Vesey, who has become an actor, reappears in her life but time has not treated him gently. They discover they are still in love but of course they are, in about 1957, in a difficult situation.
The book is not as grim as it sounds. Other characters who range from amusingly confused to hilariously vain. As Anita Brookner has said, "All her writings could be described as coming into the category of comedy. Comedy is the best vehicle for truths that are too fierce to be borne."
2012 No 34
This is a brilliant book, but one I had to read slowly, to appreciate properly. I'm looking forward to reading A View of the Harbour in March.
And I love that quotation from Brookner (how odd that I don't like Brookner's novels at all...)
Posted by: Simon T | Tuesday, February 28, 2012 at 02:11 AM
Like you, Simon, I had to read this book slowly. And I kept putting it down and staring into space because it is difficult to really grasp what she is saying about these people without thinking about it. My next ET novel will be Angel.
Posted by: Mary | Tuesday, February 28, 2012 at 06:08 AM