I'm torn on this. Purdy's descriptions can be lovely - especially when describing gardens or clothes/jewels - although her imagery can be repetitious (for instance the many, many references to the doughy nature of a lover's body). But the main character is thoroughly unpleasant. Occasionally - and to my great surprise - she does or thinks something relatively decent, but even that is rarely without an ulterior motive. She's so very awful, at times, that it's hard to feel for her. The greatest question to me was to do with her longtime lover Remi. Although he only briefly appears and we never see anything from his point of view, he does come across as kind and clear-sighted about people. What he's doing with the main character is then anyone's guess - a genuinely kind and perceptive person would take one look at Purdy's Elizabeth Howard and run a mile.

Still, from the comments in the back of the book it's clear that the author is very aware of her protagonist's potentially off-putting nature. I've read a number of books where this authorial awareness is lacking, so the presentation of Elizabeth is clearly a deliberate choice on Purdy's part, if a double-edged one.

This is the first of Purdy's books that I've read, and I'll probably try another. I just hope her next choice of subject is a bit more likable...