Rose Tremain was born Rosemary Jane Thomson on 2 August 1943 in London to Viola Mabel Thomson and Keith Nicholas Home Thomson. [2] Her paternal great-grandfather is William Thomson, who was Archbishop of York from 1862 to 1890. [3]

From fêted novelist Rose Tremain a gripping Victorian melodrama about an orphan girl and a vengeful murder

Retailers:

Sam is now a police superintendent, known for his skill in solving difficult murder cases. The more Lily sees of him, the more she knows she is in danger of confessing to him. Sam’s wife, too, brings up the murder which haunts Lily: a b c d e f g "Tremain, Dame Rose, (born 2 Aug. 1943), novelist and playwright". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. doi: 10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U38001. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4 . Retrieved 2 August 2021. Set in 60s England (or the “You Kay” as it’s now known, she dryly notes) Marianne tells her story. As a fifteen year old she falls in love with Simon, loving him absolutely and forever. Over the years life moves on, and although she lives in a privileged world (there’s a lot of horse riding, London department stores, and auction houses in this novel), this intense love and longing for him never subsides. It's not an easy read, and much of the subject matter leaves the reader with an uneasy, sullied feeling, as if the very dirt clogging the Victorian gutters has crept under the skin. However, it's very well done, and Lily herself is a wonderfully drawn character; spirited, flawed, and all too human. How she navigates her life, as a result of this heartbreak but also the conflicting relationship she has with her parents, are the core of what this story is about, as it shapes her both as a child and as an adult.

She was educated at Francis Holland School, Crofton Grange School, the Sorbonne (1961–1962) and the University of East Anglia (BA, English Literature). [4] She later went on to teach creative writing at the University of East Anglia from 1988 to 1995, and was appointed Chancellor in 2013. [5]But please, don't go into this expecting a cosy, wintry fireplace-fitting read. Because that is one of the things Lily most definitely is not. A brilliant description of first love - you know, the one that you still think about even though you haven't seen them for thirty years, although you may have stalked them on Facebook every now and then.

A kislány állt a nyitott ajtóban, és kinézett a bogáncstól fuldokló földekre meg a tompa vörös, ázott galagonyabogyókra. Váratlanul ért Rose Tremain stílusa. A könyvtárunkban annak idején nagyot ment a „Gustáv- szonáta” meg a „Zene és csend”, de én valahogy a „Lily”-re figyeltem fel. A borító nem tetszik különösebben. Nagyjából értem mit fejez ki, és hogy miért ilyen, de mégis, valahogy sokkal letisztultabbak a korábbi Tremain fedlapok. A címe sem különös, és a szedése is nagyon levegős. Mindezekből kiindulva sokkal inkább egy történelmi romantikus zsánerhez közel álló szépirodalmi műre számítottam, mint erre a történetre. Tremain tehetsége abban áll, hogy szereplői az élet minden területén megfordulnak, ennek ellenére megalapozottan jelenítik meg a regény szerzőjének világképét.” – Harper's Bazaar Lily is duly heartbroken when she learns that she must return to the hospital, but heartbreak proves to be the least of her sufferings. And in the depiction of these sufferings Tremain finds a surer footing, paring away the histrionics and adopting a flintier register. The Sisters in charge demand not just obedience but gratitude. They don’t get it from Lily, who has known real love and kindness and refuses to play along. Rescued from the aforementioned wolves by a kindly constable, the infant Lily is consigned to the Foundling Hospital. There she is to be inculcated with humility (her mother being a “shameful sinner”) and fitted in due course for some dismal occupation so that her debt to the upright can be discharged. In keeping with these grimly benevolent principles, she is “christened anew”. Henceforth, she will be Lily Mortimer, named for a high-born benefactress, as if to reinforce her own lowly station.

Featured Reviews

A nyelvezet egészen lágy, kellemes zenéje van. Okosan machinál a hosszú, összetett és a lényegre törő pár szavas mondatokkal. Erős képi világa élénken, mégis szinte tárgyilagosan vetíti ki a szemhéjunk vásznára a különös, olykor tündérmesébe, olykor horrorba hajló jelenetek sorát. Magával ragadó ez a furcsa, rettenetes, a nosztalgia édes fájdalmával átitatott hangulat, amely belengi az egész regényt. A regény látszólag az őt kisbabaként megmentő, Sam Trench rendőrrel való szerelemre épül, de valójában alig. A férfi nem tud főszereplővé előlépni, bármenyire is jelen van a nyitómondattól a zárógondolatig. Épp a saját kisszerűsége akadályozza meg abban, hogy pozitív hős lehessen. Tremain is terrific at summoning up historical period yet she also writes primarily to deepen our empathy for Lily, rather than, and in the way of the great Victorian social novelists, to increase and complicate our understanding of the world in which such suffering exists. Tremain nearly died from cancer in 2019. This ultimately feels like a quasi-spiritual response, a novel that, in providing an eventual loving rebirth for Lily, seeks out God, not in the institutions founded in his name, but in individual acts of care. Absolutely and Forever’ is a wonderfully written exploration of rejection and family trauma. Rose Tremain’s central character, Marianne, falls deeply in love with beautiful sixth former, Simon, when she is only fifteen. The reader is encouraged to accept her strength of feeling, unlike her parents, but it is not until much later in the novel that we come to appreciate why she is desperate to commit herself to him at such a young age. When the handsome prince leaves for adventures in Paris, the abandoned princess grows ever more disconsolate. The secretarial college education she is told to pursue after failing in school (despite being astute, incisive and witty) does not excite her; nor do her fleeting sexual encounters in London’s swinging sixties.

Az járt a fejében, hogy okos dolog a verebekre gondolni, nem arra, amit ki akarnak mondatni vele, mert tudta, azt ki nem mondja, amíg csak él.” Még a szövődő barátságok sem engedélyezettek. Hideg vízben mosakodás, tetvek, nem is sorolom. Ezek átélése után később sem lehet normális életet élni. For this she is singled out and subjected to escalating cruelties that culminate in outright depravity. Her only friend, meanwhile – a child of just eight – is driven to such despair that when Lily knits her a scarf, she uses it to hang herself. The central murder, by the time it is recounted, seems scarcely to require explanation, let alone absolution. For Lily, “it was as if a tiny hurting part of her brain had turned itself into a compass […] hovering perpetually upon north”. Lily is an ingenious blend of historical novel, moral fable and fairy story. Tremain, a pre-eminent historical novelist, vividly evokes the disparate social worlds of Victorian London... Lily is a tale not just of revenge but of redemption, which carries an intense emotional charge. Tremain again displays her supreme ability to create characters who are at once totally true to the period and instantly identifiable to the modern reader Financial Times Not all of Lily’s life is as grim as this. Tremain draws the reader into Lily’s happy early life with Nellie at Rookery farm; her work at the Wig Emporium, where Belle (who is ‘famous all over London’ – and not just for her wigs) is creating wigs for actors in a new performance of La Traviata at Her Majesty’s Opera House; and her meetings with Sam Trent, the constable who rescued her and who has remained curious about her welfare.Ilyen a világ: valaki elsiet melletted, odavet neked pár szót, amitől úgy érzed, egy kő került a mellkasodba, aztán továbbmegy, te meg magadra maradsz, szívedre szorítod a kezedet, szabadulni akarsz a kőtől, de az meg se mozdul”, gondolta Lily.