Letters from an Unknown Woman - Tapa blanda

Unusual . . . readers who enjoy the unexpected and stories with a skewed comic sensibility should seek out this novel.

Woodward 's brilliant exploration of ordinary lives caught in extraordinary circumstances showcases an imaginative wit, pointed insight, and a flare for the unexpected . . . Woodward (A Curious Earth, shortlisted for the Man Booker) takes a unique approach to the hardships women faced during wartime, the impact of the war on the men who survived, and the ways in which the children who lived through it tried to make sense of their upended lives, turning a story about one family 's struggles into a tale of self-discovery, overcoming despair, and finding one 's rightful place in the world. Best of all is the ingenious use of Toby 's salacious letters and Woodward 's not-so-subtle indictment of commercial publishing.

Woodward s brilliant exploration of ordinary lives caught in extraordinary circumstances showcases an imaginative wit, pointed insight, and a flare for the unexpected . . . Woodward (A Curious Earth, shortlisted for the Man Booker) takes a unique approach to the hardships women faced during wartime, the impact of the war on the men who survived, and the ways in which the children who lived through it tried to make sense of their upended lives, turning a story about one family s struggles into a tale of self-discovery, overcoming despair, and finding one s rightful place in the world. Best of all is the ingenious use of Toby s salacious letters and Woodward s not-so-subtle indictment of commercial publishing.

Woodward's brilliant exploration of ordinary lives caught in extraordinary circumstances showcases an imaginative wit, pointed insight, and a flare for the unexpected . . . Woodward (A Curious Earth, shortlisted for the Man Booker) takes a unique approach to the hardships women faced during wartime, the impact of the war on the men who survived, and the ways in which the children who lived through it tried to make sense of their upended lives, turning a story about one family's struggles into a tale of self-discovery, overcoming despair, and finding one's rightful place in the world. Best of all is the ingenious use of Toby's salacious letters and Woodward's not-so-subtle indictment of commercial publishing.

A comic sensibility closer to Alan Bennett or Tom Sharpe. Woodward's rueful amusement isn't frivolity, it's a world view.

Sex, Comedy, and Life During Wartime ... A sharp corrective to the stately-homes lens through which Americans often view the historical Brits. Woodward s London, both during and after the war, is a gray, cloacal city full of terrible food (except for the succulent Dando) and cavernous public lavatories, a setting quite dreary and sick-making, yet pierced with brutal shafts of beauty, humor and heartbreak. --Jincy Willett

Engrossing and witty...Woodward has a gift for describing unorthodox behavior...a deeply satisfying book more akin to a filling roast dinner than to some of the gelatinous concoctions currently on the market.

With her children evacuated and her husband at the front, Tory Pace is grudgingly sharing the family home with her irascible mother; working at the local gelatin factory--to help the war effort--and generally doing just about as well as could be expected