Undue Influence

In Undue Influence , acclaimed novelist Anita Brookner proves once again that even in the most closely circumscribed of lives, hearts can venture into unknown-and potentially explosive-territory. Claire Pitt is nothing if not a practical young woman, living a life in contemporary London that is to all appearances placid, orderly and consciously lacking in surprise. And yet Claire's tangled interior life gives the lie to that illusion. She is prone to vivid speculation about the lives of others, and to fantasies about her own fate that lead her into a courtship so strange that even she wonders at its power to compel her. Martin Gibson and his chronically ill wife Cynthia come to depend on Claire to an extent that is nothing short of baffling, and yet Claire becomes ever bolder in her pursuit of their acquaintance-and, ultimately, of Martin's elusive affections. The result, a potent tale of urban loneliness and the chance intersections that assuage it, constitutes one of Brookner's finest and most psychologically acute achievements.

This novel tells the story of Claire Pitt, a young woman who has lived most of her life under the watchful eyes of her parents. After her mother's death, Claire reexamines her day-to-day routine and her future in her London flat. She passes the time working in a bookstore, where she meets a mysterious and attractive young man whose wife is ill, and they begin a relationship that dramatically alters Claire's vision of herself, her past, and her future.

Library Journal

Brookner once again takes on the themes of loneliness, the scars we bear from the emotional wounds of our past, and the ways that people do (and do not) connect as she tells the story of Claire Pitt, an unmarried woman in London. Claire, whose mother just died, takes a job in a bookstore owned by two elderly sisters. Working in the basement (the foreign language section, which hardly ever has any customers), her task is typing up the articles and journal entries of the sisters' long dead father, readying them for possible future publication. When older, attractive, and somewhat mysterious Martin Gibson comes to the basement one day looking for a book, Claire is drawn to him. They become involved despite Claire's knowledge throughout that Martin feels no real connection to her, and what begins for Claire as another of her brief and superficial affairs moves into the territory of obsession. Brookner's characters are somewhat chilly and distant, and although the reader feels empathy for Claire's situation, it is also hard to understand her self-delusion. Diana Quick's narration is superb; she fully conveys the despair and pain Claire experiences and enhances the emotional nuances in the story. Her first-person reading of Claire's thoughts and conversations are always compelling. Despite Quick's talents, this remains ultimately a distant novel best appreciated by loyal Brookner fans.--Melody A. Moxley, Rowan P.L., Salisbury, NC Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Claire Pitt is living a life in contemporary London that is to all appearances placid, orderly and consciously lacking in surprise. Martin Gibson and his chronically ill wife Cynthia come to depend on Claire to an extent that is nothing short of baffling, and yet Claire becomes ever bolder in her pursuit of their acquaintance and, ultimately, of Martin's elusive affections Enigmatic Claire is 30 and lives alone. When she meets Martin Gibson, a faded scholar, she becomes inordinately interested. She is even more interested when she meets his wife, a far more spectacular personality. But the unexpected news of this woman's death releases emotions that were not entirely foreseen. A lonely woman whose love affairs have led nowhere resolves to find something permanent. So when a handsome and wealthy man walks into the London bookstore where she works, Claire Pitt, 29, decides to go after him. Unfortunately, he is a cad. By the author of Falling Slowly