I struggled with this book and was unable to read it through to the end. I found it too gloomy, too self-consciously 'arty' for my taste and couldn't care about the characters at all. ( )

Emily Woof's first novel depends on her characters to make the story interesting to the reader as there is not much of a plot to follow. Katherine, a former dancer and now a wife and mother, is the daughter of David and May Freeman, neither of whom have paid much attention to their children. David's world is wrapped up in sustaining and enlarging the Broughton Foundation, a place for struggling artists, especially poets, to be supported and encouraged as they struggle to complete their first works. May is determined to separate herself from her roles as a wife and a mother so she can continue to believe she lives the life of an "independent" woman.

David is enamoured with art and artists, and his life is consumed with fund raising, and with his belief in the importance art should assume in each person's life. Unfortunately this does not extend to his interest in his daughter as a dancer, and she spends much of the book in introspection and in reacting against this inability of her father to value her life. She ends up in an affair with one of her father's artists and comes close to ruining her own marriage as well as her lover's marriage. Finally she comes to terms with her worth to herself and her family as her father is dying.

The book is engaging in its portrayal of the art world and the emotional turmoil to a child when their father or mother cannot make themselves emotionally available, but all in all the characters seem so self absorbed as to make them unsympathetic and in the end one did not care that much about their fates. ( )

I really, really had wanted to love this book but it just wasn't anything near what I hoped it would be. The story starts with Katherine Freeman and introducing her life as it is and her parents and husband. What she does and loves and her relationship with her husband. It moves between that and her father, his life and relationships and then her mother. Every now and then its the husband and child.

There wasn't any big pull in the story, after a while we have some excitement when she longs for something that could ruin her whole family life and spill over into her fathers. There is also a revelation with a secret her father has had and the potential for the story to erupt but it didn't come. I thought the slow buildup and link to the family was due to a big plot that was just taking a while to get into but sadly it wasn't to be.

The book is fairly easy to read but I didn't connect with any of the characters and felt it was lacking although the potential I felt was there. Only a 2/5 for me. ( )

I love Emily''s peformances as an actor, and was excited to see that she had written a first novel.

Beautifully written - just like poetry (which is what the book's main theme is) each word was carefully crafted and chosen. Excellent character development and story.

David Freeman has struggled to promote his poetry foundation in Northern England. His daughter, Katherine, attends one of his fundraising events in London and meets Stephen Jericho -- one of the artists in resident.

This novel explores love, loss and fidelity. ( )

David is struggling to maintain his faltering poetry foundation, while his daughter is adrift after giving up her life as a dancer to become a wife and mother. The two have a distant and tense relationship, made worse by David's long-held secret and Katherine's new affair with David's favorite young poet, married-with-children Stephen Jericho.

The affair awakens a new passion in them both, leading Stephen to creative productivity and Katherine to a new sense of self. Meanwhile, David is diagnosed with cancer and must devote himself even more whole-heartedly to finding a wealthy benefactor for the Foundation, which pulls him even farther from his family.

Woof's writing is sparse, her emotions buried deep under the surface of her characters' stiff outer personalities. The story here was not wildly compelling, but the characters' rich inner worlds and tumultuous ups and downs did make for a moving drama of love and family. I guess the plot doesn't matter so much, if the characters can carry the tale. ( )