by Penelope Gilliatt
"At church the next morning a child chorister passed the Corbetts' pew swinging incense. Peregrine said to him, 'Excuse me, but your handbag is on fire.' " Gilliatt—a London-born journalist, screenwriter (Sunday Bloody Sunday) and New Yorker film critic—has written her third novel about a spectacularly odd British family. Despite their outrageous behavior, they are described in the most subdued, elegant fashion. The main characters are brothers Peregrine and Benedick, who grow up, have fragmented careers as musician and writer, and love the same woman. In this book, the style of writing is everything: cryptic, freighted with meanings and incidentally pleasurable. If novels were parts of a feast, this one would be dessert. (Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, $8.95)
Your Reaction
