Partial Eclipse

'Brilliant .. seductive and assured.' Nick Hornby, Sunday Times

'Glaister's rounded gift is to show life as it really is.' Independent on Sunday

'Glaister is particularly good at evoking the all-pervading unease of people who want to forget their ill deeds but can't.' Times Literary Supplement

'Glaister's novels always appear to be as effortless for her to write as they are for us to read.' The Times

This novel opens with a woman in a prison cell but it is not until the very last pages that we learn how she got there. The writing is very good, well-paced, strong and evocative. We learn about her affair as a very young girl, with a married man, but Glaister transcends the conventions with her adroit characterizations which allow for eccentricity and for the depth of feeling she can encompass. There is little that is predictable in this most predictable of situations, but it does become a salutary warning along the way, though I am not sure what the moral might be, or even if there is one. As pure story, it is electrifyingly readable, however, and full of life and feeling, as she moves easily between the modern day story and that of an ancestor of the protagonist who was deported to Australia for attempting to steal a peacock. Glaister's measured, clear, persuasive prose makes this a compelling read.’ 

Amazon customer review - Eileen Shaw