Putney

From the acclaimed author comes a brilliant, challenging novel about a bohemian family in 1970s London and the consequences of a taboo relationship Ralph Boyd’s first glimpse of 9 year-old Daphne will be etched on his mind forever. Dark, teasing, slippery as mercury, she seems neither boy nor girl, but sprite – something elemental. An up-and-coming composer, Ralph is visiting the writer Edmund Greenslay at his riverside home in Putney to discuss a collaboration. In its colourful rooms and unruly garden, Ralph finds an intoxicating world of sensuous ease and bohemian abandon that captures the mood of the moment. Entranced, he knows he will return. But Ralph is twenty-five and Daphne is only a child, and even in the liberal 1970s a fast-burgeoning relationship between a man and his friend’s daughter must be kept secret. Years later, after a turbulent youth and a failed marriage, Daphne watches her twelve-year-old daughter Libby mimic the gestures of adult sexuality, and is finally forced to confront her own childhood and its shocking truths. Putney is a bold, thought-provoking novel about the moral lines we tread, the stories we tell ourselves and the eyes of society. Written in lyrical, evocative prose, it is a rich tale of family, friendship, guilt and responsibility.

About the Author :
Sofka Zinovieff was born in London. She studied social anthropology at Cambridge, then lived in Greece and Moscow. She is the acclaimed author of three works of non-fiction, Eurydice Street: A Place in Athens, Red Princess: A Revolutionary Life and The Mad Boy, Lord Berners, My Grandmother and Me, a New York Times Editors’ Choice 2015, and one previous novel, The House on Paradise Street. Her writing has appeared in publications including the Daily Telegraph, the Financial Times, the Times Literary Supplement, the Spectator and the Independent. She divides her time between Athens and England. sofkazinovieff.com

Review :
A thought-provoking, moving novel Sofka Zinovieff’s debut novel is an engrossing saga of a family riven by ideological conflict and fractured by war ... Zinovieff’s historical gaze is scrupulously fair and does not shirk from uncomfortable truths Zinovieff writes vibrantly … There seems to be something poignant – and very often funny – on every other page The delicacy of Zinovieff’s perceptions, the abiding redolence of her descriptions and the captivating moods of her subjects make The Mad Boy, Lord Berners, My Grandmother and Me a book of rare pleasure Zinovieff provides a vivid sketch of the extraordinarily glamorous society of Faringdon in its heyday Zinovieff is an entertaining and amiable companion on this, at times, uncomfortable romp through her family saga Zinovieff’s historical gaze is scrupulously fair and does not shirk from uncomfortable truths Zinovieff tells a broad and enriching story … It is Zinovieff’s scrupulous eye for cultural curiosity which gives the story its sinew and underlying humility Zinovieff’s portrayal of Greece is beautiful and believable, engaging all the senses A piercing portrait of an extraordinary woman … Zinovieff approaches her subject intimately