November

Through Janet Hobhouse's third novel we follow Zachariah Quine, who at the age of forty - deserted by both his wife and his ambitions as a musician - flees New York City and its fragmented, bohemian lives, seeking to "crawl back into the camp of the human tribe." His destination is London, where he stays with his expatriate brother and his "English" family - and meets Anne, whom his brother describes as "a walking disaster, alcoholic, manic-depressive, accident-prone, kleptomaniac, just what you need right now." She crystallizes everything he yearns for, caught as he is between regret and desire, with only the illusion of freedom to sustain him. November is about the nature of love and loss, and the difficulties of making new ties when the old ones still hurt. Janet Hobhouse redefines our notions of freedom, change and escape, and examines the wariness with which all but the very young are bound to carry through life, in a narrative of clear and affecting power.