The Road To Lichfield

I enjoyed reading this book, which is well written.It certainly had a fifties vibe. The story went along as expected and didn’t hold any surprises.

Penelope Lively's first novel is a restrained, elegant and beautifully written piece of work. Anyone familiar with her books will recognise common themes that were developed in later books. The passage of time, the interconnections between past, present and future, landscape, architecture, memory, relationships - all of these things are woven into this understated story. Lively is from the school of writing where less is more. Nothing is overdone, despite the intensity of some of the interactions between the characters, and this adds so much more power to the book. In places, the odd sentence or phrase produces moments of great wisdom and reflection on what it is to be human - to live, love and lose. First published in 1977, the book is also an interesting throwback to a time before technology connected everyone to everything all of the time. As a result, there is space here for the characters to reflect without regular intrusions - and The Road To Lichfield is richer for that sense of space and time that Lively writes about with such skill and grace.

Gosh, this book is a strange mixture. There are several beautiful told little stories running through it; scenes of weary mothers with resentful daughters, frustrated wives with preoccupied husbands, affairs that mean so much yet can be dispensed with. But these fascinating stories almost disappear under a great teetering mass of reflections about history and time and travel which frankly I found both dull and pretentious. I got to the end, but only by skipping the reflective and descriptive passages.

Penelope Lively’s ‘The Road to Lichfield’ focuses on Anne Linton, an attractive forty-year-old part-time history teacher, who is married to the cool, calm and very collected solicitor, Don, and is the mother of two teenaged children. They all live reasonably happily together in the Home Counties, or at least that is how it appears on the surface - however, when visiting her dying father in a nursing home in Lichfield, Anne discovers something about her father that surprises and unsettles her, but she also discovers something about herself that surprises and unsettles her too. Staying at her father’s house whilst she visits him in the nursing home, Anne becomes acquainted with David Fielding, a middle-aged fishing friend of her father’s who finds her very attractive and a welcome distraction from the problems in his marriage to a passionless woman who has a problem with alcohol. Back home, in between visits to Lichfield, Anne looks back over her own marriage, within which she is beginning to feel rather lonely, and then she loses her teaching job because the new headmaster at the school where she teaches, thinks that history is an outdated concept(!) In addition to her worries about her father and the loss of her job, there is Anne’s brother, Graham, who develops a health problem, which not only worries Anne but reminds her that neither of them are as young as they’d like to be and that time is marching on. As Anne spends more time in Lichfield, she and David grow closer - a situation that is likely to cause even more problems for her and, indeed, for David, but do they restrain themselves or do they throw caution to the wind and just jump right in?A wonderfully described story and one that due to the author’s perceptiveness and her clear-sightedness about the lives of those married to incompatible partners, made this a very believable read. It is true that I didn’t find many of the characters particularly sympathetic: Don seemed a rather cold person more intent on his work than his marriage and too keen on climbing the social ladder; David’s wife seemed another cold fish; David himself appeared to be a rather weak character who avoided tackling the problems in his marriage; and Anne, although she had more to her than the other protagonists, seemed to drift along - marrying Don because it seemed the next thing to do, allowing herself to be talked into doing things that she didn’t want to do, but I can’t discuss this fully without revealing too much for those who have yet to read the book. That said, I always enjoy Ms Lively’s writing and her descriptions of the English countryside and the turn of the seasons were a real pleasure to read and some of the characters on the periphery of the story (especially the Pickerings, an ‘arty’ couple who restore a an old forge and fill it with agricultural implements about which they haven’t clue of their origins) were amusing to read about, and although this may not be my favourite of the author’s novels, I still found this an interesting and entertaining read.4 Stars.

A classic Penelope Lively in that the novel is beautifully written yet observational rather than eventful. A study rather that a thriller but difficult to put down.Having been written and set in the recent past, the 1970s is almost a character in itself to the present day reader. I find it a time capsule of sorts. Having been around and able re-read this novel over the decades I have felt it mature rather that become out dated.There are many poignant moments and gentle humour with an overlying theme of history which gives the novel its substance. Something to ponder rather than gripped by (the affair the main character has is described not as something seedy) I've read this several times and will be a pleasure to revisit.

I’ve read a fair few Penelope Lively stories now … she’s an excellent teller of them. Superb weaving of the narrative and its characters. The Road to Lichfield is one of her earlier efforts but as good as always. I enjoyed the unfolding, the nuanced character studies and developments, the humour and social comments within the story line. Great observation of the human condition. She observes annoying characters brilliantly - really nubs it. Another A1 read.

Like her writing so enjoyed this one

Only chose this book because had one of the authors children’s books before, years ago.Sorry to say I found The Road to Lichfield, a boring ride.

これは非常にいい小説だと思う。わりあい読みやすいけど、テーマは不快です。簡単に言えば、不倫するか不倫しないかという問題です。義理それとも人情（愛）どちらのほうが強いのか？永遠の問題ですよね？

Classic Penelope LivelyPoignantWell written

This book was published in 1977, before the Thatcher Era, before the tidal wave of immigration into the U.K., and before the computer age. It is about history and secret love, written in the stiff-upper-lip tradition of the British of that time. It's a lovely read, looking back from our day, and it must have been a lovely read when it first appeared. The story includes an episode relating to an effort to save an historic building, covers the decline in the teaching of history (pretty much totally abandoned now), and describes the final illness of a very old man in hospital. Yet the writing is lively (pun intended) and aware, and very much reminds the reader of what is missing in our own environment--the colors of flowers seen from freeways, small town meetings, the attempts of everyone to get along, to tolerate, to find areas of agreement. I was inspired by this book to go back in memory more than the 35 years separating the novel from our own time, and to review my own early years. A great find.

Great author, great read! Great service too!

I enjoyed the book. As always well-written and well-paced. An engaging story although I might have liked a little more description about the initial stages of the love affair meaning a fuller description of the two protagonists feelings but all the same, the reader does understand right away that they will fall in love.