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Books

Tessa Hadley's masterful new novel of missed opportunities

In The Past, a family gathering in a Devon country house turns into a tight-lipped drama

26 September 2015

8:00 AM

26 September 2015

8:00 AM

The Past Tessa Hadley

Cape, pp.361, £16.99, ISBN: 9780224101691

In The Past (set chiefly in the present) four middle-aged siblings spend an eventful summer holiday in the Devon country house vacated by their dead grandparents. When Alice, a failed actress, turns up with an unannounced male guest who’s still at university, her footloose ways vex the others — particularly the youngest, Fran, a harassed teacher with two small children, Ivy and Arthur.

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