The Tortoise and the Hare ****

The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Beautifully written languid novel of 1950's England about Isobel, an accommodating young woman married to an older professional husband, Evelyn, who takes an interest in a sporty, wealthy neighbor, an unlikely threat to their twelve-year marriage. Well drawn is their irritating young son Gavin and his stolid friend Tim who sit in at teatimes at their country estate. The countryside and furnishings are artfully represented as are the characters which make up this tale of the slow disintegration of a marriage and a way of life.
Hilary Mantel wrote the introduction comparing Elizabeth Jenkins to Rebecca West and Sybille Bedford (a favorite of mine), and even compares her prose to Jane Austen: "formal, nuanced, acid. She surveys a room as if she were perched on the mantelpiece an unruffled owl of Minerva, a recording angel."

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