Where to begin? This intensely readable novel is easy to digest in mere days, as the plot provides a blistering page turner. There are three perspectives within, and they flash between modern day and 1970s London: Daphne, an adolescent girl who was in a (criminal) sexual relationship with 30-year-old Ralph in the 70s, and Jane who witnessed the events. The story starts with these three in modern day, remembering the times, their thinking, and themselves. The novel is concerned with the rapid fire unveiling of truths against nostalgic emotions and memories.

And despite the urge to reach the end quickly, I am glad to have read this in four distinct sections as scheduled by a buddy read. It gave me time to think about each section before learning more. Because living in the same realm as the unreliable narrator is the withholding author. This kind of author ekes out evidence slowly over scenes and chapters, letting the reader come to their judgments and conclusions as the end comes nearer. It's ultimately up to the reader to decide how moved or manipulated the author might have left you. I think it's a novel that not only explores its characters, but seeks to examine the reader's own prejudices.

I'd recommend PUTNEY, but it does have flaws in some details, in portions of its culmination, and that niggling feeling of coming out the fool in the end. Still, there's a propulsive, mesmerizing quality here that I enjoyed.