It was written on 1987, and that same year won the
Booker Prize.
It begins as the story of an old English woman and a professional historian, Claudia Hampton, who's terminally ill, and decides to write a history of the world with her life.
Her first memory is when her father died in the war,
when she was 10 years old and her brother Gordon 11.
When being a child, Claudia hates Gordon, but as they
grow up they become true friends.
Claudia studies and becomes a war correspondent, and
talks to a correspondent's post in Cairo, where she meets Tom Southern, a capitain of an English armoured tank division, and they fall in love with each other.
Claudia and Tom wanted to spend the rest of their lives
together, but Tom died in the war a short time after they fall in love.
Shortly after Tom's death, Claudia finds out she's
pregnant, and decides to rise it alone, but, unfortunately, Claudia miscarries.
When the war ends, Claudia is reunited with her
brother Gordon, who got marry with a woman called Sylvia. Meanwhile she meets
Jasper, and they start a relationship.
In 1948 Claudia finds herself pregnant again, this
time her daughter Lisa is born. Claudia loves her, but she knows she has no
patience and time enough to take care of a child, so Lisa ends up being raised
by her grandmothers.
When Claudia turns 70, she receives the diary of Tom, sent by Jennifer, his sister, but Claudia has not courage enough to read it, and so sets the book aside.
Time after, Claudia's diagnosed with cancer, and she
decides to apologize Lisa for have been a cold and distant mother, and reads
Tom's diary.
The next day, Claudia passes out.
About the author...
Penelope Low was born in Egypt in 1933, but at the age
of 12 she was sent to a boarding school in England. She married the academic
Jack Lively in 1957. When he died, she started living in north London.
She writes for children and adults, and by now she has
won two prizes: the Booker Prize (Moon Tiger) and the Carnegie Medal (The Ghost of Thomas Kempe).
Personal opinion
I think this book was a little difficult for me to
read, because she used a lot of English words I couldn't understand, but anyway
I found it interesting.
It's funny how Claudia tells serious situations and I
love the way she expresses her feelings about people.
