Free Love

A Novel

De: Tessa Hadley

Narrado por: Abigail Thaw

“Exquisite."" —Minneapolis Star Tribune • ""Brilliantly observed.” — People, Pick of the Week

“A beguiling novel, deceptively easy to read; beneath the surface swim disturbing and age-old questions about freedom and fate.” — Hilary Mantel

From the bestselling author of Late in the Day and The Past comes a compulsive new novel about one woman’s sexual and intellectual awakening in 1960s London.

1967. While London comes alive with the new youth revolution, the suburban Fischer family seems to belong to an older world of conventional stability: pretty, dutiful homemaker Phyllis is married to Roger, a devoted father with a career in the Foreign Office. Their children are Colette, a bookish teenager, and Hugh, the golden boy.

But when the twenty-something son of an old friend pays the Fischers a visit one hot summer evening, and kisses Phyllis in the dark garden after dinner, something in her catches fire. Newly awake to the world, Phyllis makes a choice that defies all expectations of her as a wife and a mother. Nothing in these ordinary lives is so ordinary after all, it turns out, as the family’s upheaval mirrors the dramatic transformation of the society around them.

With scalpel-sharp insight, Tessa Hadley explores her characters’ inner worlds, laying bare their fears and longings. Daring and sensual, Free Love is an irresistible exploration of romantic love, sexual freedom and living out the truest and most meaningful version of our selves – a novel that showcases Hadley’s unrivaled ability to “put on paper a consciousness so visceral, so fully realized, it heightens and expands your own” (Lily King, author of Euphoria).

©2022 Tessa Hadley (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

The language and expressions, the characters and the setting, its time in history, and the descriptions of nature and city life.

I liked the narration: It was natural and emotive without being over done. I also liked the concept of exploring free love, and whatnot meant during the 60s.

Rambling

I didn’t really enjoy the storyline. It wasn’t as interesting as I thought it would be.

Lovely Surprises!

So surprised by the twinkling twists and turns!

You never know what life will bring you when you dare to explore!

My first Tessa Hadley book

I don’t have time to write an adequate review for this novel but I am really impressed with the writing and the narrator absolutely nailed it. Amazing work all around. The author is a master of observation, subtlety, description, and finding the remarkable in “ordinary” life - although there are twists in the storyline that are far from ordinary. This gave me some perspective into my own parents’ generation’s mindset - even if it didn’t line up exactly in terms of time and place - the idealism behind certain life choices, etc.
Strongly recommend!

Couldn’t stop reading!

I love Tessa Hadley’s short stories but her novels have always lacked an engaging plot, (imo). This new novel is a wonder, in that it has the subtleties of Hadley’s intelligent observations woven into a juicy and sometimes dramatic story. Also, I feel I know these characters, and I will miss them terribly. What better sign of a wonderful book?