Anita Brookner

Edith Hope, a successful mature novelist, has made a fool of herself over love and is sent by her friends to a Swiss hotel to come to her senses. Instead of writing a new romance novel, she finds herself preoccupied with her fellow guests.

Follows the members of a rich European family--the widow Sofka and her four children, Frederick, Alfred, Mimi, and Betty, from prewar London to their various destinies in such places as Paris, Hollywood, and the Italian Riviera.

Wishing to avoid the complications of turning down his cousin's widow's Christmas invitation, reclusive retiree Paul Sturgis sets off from the quietude of his London flat for a holiday in Venice. There he meets Mrs. Vicky Gardner, an intriguing and lovely woman in the midst of a divorce and at a crossroads in her life. Although he is avoiding new acquaintances, who might shake up his rather monotonous existence, Paul is surprised to find himself...

"Feeling solitary and shocked by the remarriage of his mother, Alan Sherwood submits to a highly unsatisfactory engagement to the fragile and needy Angela. She sees in him a protector who will confer stability and respect upon her, but he is haunted by memories of carefree times in Paris, and his passionate, destructive affair with Sarah Miller. When Sarah re-enters his life, Alan embarks on an act of betrayal, the tragic consequences of which change...

"Captures the quandaries of aging, the misunderstanding of an increasingly modern, alien world; awkward conversations with passersby; even more awkward conversations with passersby, even more awkward encounters with longtime friends and acquaintances; the anxieties posed by age and uncertainty and the bizarre, magnificent self-knowledge that perhaps only age, reflection, and experience can bring."--Jacket.

A tale of youthful folly set in France. The heroine is Maud Gonthier, 18, sent for the summer to an aunt in the country. There she meets two Englishmen, David and his friend, Edward. She has an affair with David, which continues in a rented apartment in Paris, becomes pregnant and he deserts her. Whereupon Edward takes over, going as far as to marry her, but that won't bring Maud happiness either.