It's too bad for fans of Margot Livesey's fine work -- and, indeed, for readers in general -- that this book is so hard to find. Her first published work, a collection of short stories, LEARNING BY HEART is on the surface entertaining and well-written -- on a deeper level, one can easily see the the subtleties of style and the incredible abilities of Margot Livesey already at work.

As readers of her novels have come to appreciate, Ms. Livesey is extremely adept in developing her characters. In the 10 stories contained in this volume, she unfolds them before us as one would gently turn the pages of an old, fragile book -- carefully, with great respect. Their lives open before us naturally -- they are never shoved into our face or our consciousness. This, combined with an attention to detail, fulfilling descriptive talents and an imagination from which springs compelling and completely believable stories and situations, make this an excellent showcase for a fine writer -- an entertaining and satisfying reading experience.

There is a particular grace with which she portrays human relationships -- be they among relatives or lovers or friends. With insight and compassion -- and never turning a blind eye to the harder areas of the human psyche -- she allows the individual facets of these relationships to merge into beautiful gems, much as a jeweller exercises skill in transforming what appears to be a rough stone into a thing of incredible beauty. Her characters are not drawn as saints -- they have their foibles and drawbacks -- they are human beings, no more and no less. Through the lens of a writer's camera, Margot Livesey allows us to see that humanity in them. We may not approve of everything they do, but we can see that humanity -- and from that sight grows understanding. This ability is one that has continued to grow and mature throughout her writing.

Since the publication of this collection in 1986, Margot Livesey has published several excellent novels -- if you're unfamiliar with her work, you should get busy. You're missing some of the best, most intelligent contemporary fiction available anywhere.

For every person its life is construed by the addition of small details. The odd part its that we, somehow arbitrarily, decide which of those are important, and when that happens, necessary we miss the big picture. Consecuently our grasp on life.

All the characters on this book have decided to make their life small and meaningless due to their lack of awareness. Even those who are cruel, their conduct is a result of their stupidity, more than out of inner evil.

Forthe characters in this book the accidental arrival of a baby in their life creates such pressure that just overwhelms their already very thin capacity to repond to changes in their neurotic patterns.

As expected the novel is construed upon the consequences of their emocional incompetence and their disastrous results, which at some points are funny. But more than that I agree with other reviewers that the author call upon us to medidate upon our petty obssesions and why, regardles of how important and significant we consider that they might be, the truth is that they are irrelevant and only refrain us from becoming happier persons.

Livesey manages to make her readers question themselves; there is more than one ethical dilemma in this book. A baby is found, and taken care of by Ewan who has the best intentions. Only, his sister Mollie who is somewhat mentally imbalanced gets emotionally attached to the baby and manages through different logistical means to delay the report of the found baby to the police. Ewan has some problems of his own, too; he was a little bit careless about information that he revealed to somebody. There is a fine line between what you can and cannot do. Circumstances can arise that you had not (previously) thought of.

Somehow, it is apparent, the margins must be on your side. Anybody can become a criminal. Anybody can also become a victim. The point is that it takes only so little of a false step to make your life altogether different from what it was. Human beings constantly interact, and it is impossible to foresee all implications of your actions.

Livesey writes in a very interesting genre. This is a psychological thriller, but the focus is neither on the plot, nor on the solution. This is not a novel about being good or bad; it is a novel about understanding of the human mind. We are all human beings, and thus, we make mistakes. Sometimes we have to pay dearly for them. Sometimes somebody else has to pay dearly for them. This novel shows the need for understanding and forgiveness.

Livesey writes in a way that is not condemning, more exploring. What would happen if situation X arised? I, as a reader, was very much intrigued by the result. She also uses traditional literary techniques such as writing pieces of another book within this novel. The result is well worth penetrating.

Margot Livesey's "Criminals" is basically a tale of four or five interconnected lives, revolving around a series of accidents, miscommunications, intentional ignorance, and, in some cases, just flat out instances of human cruelty and greed. It is a mystery; it is not a mystery. Livesey belongs in a genre all her own, perhaps.

Mollie is the occasionally unbalanced sister of Ewan, stuffed shirt banker and well-intentioned brother. Ewan finds a baby abandoned in the bathroom of a bus station on the way to Mollie's, and before he knows quite what he's doing, he's boarding the bus with the baby in his arms, without having notified any authorities. What is interesting is the events that follow, and the unraveling of the lives of the people who become affected by this baby.

The novel counld have just as well been called "Greed" because it is basically this fault that lies at the core of each of these characters. Not necessarily all monetary greed, but also greed of the heart and (of course) greed of the loins. The suspense is a subtle one, that builds slowly from the beginning and ends up as one might have suspected. I found this to be the only fault, but perhaps it is not a fault at all, for while reading the novel, I felt as if I were a witness to a train wreck or some other human tragedy, peering through my fingers at what I suspect will inevitably turn out the way I'm afraid it will from the initial screeching of metal on metal.

As in many things in life, it is not the outcome that is necessarily interesting, but the journey on the way to that outcome.

Hogg's book was one of many 'Gothic' doppelganger novels produced at the time, as editor Cuddon makes clear in his introduction. What sets 'Sinner' apart is the fierce, unforgiving, saturnine, phlegmatic, terse, Biblical, paganistic, ugly beauty of the vocabulary and phraseology (Hogg was a shepherd and a poet), suited to a narrative lashed with hate, murder, bigotry and terror, whose sheer violence connects it with another shocking Gothic one-off, Lautreamont's 'Maldoror'; the way the 'double' theme of the novel is embedded not just in the plot, but in the rich formal patterning, from character groupings to the religiously and politically divided Scotland of its setting; and the wide literary adventurousness as a whole which, in its proliferation of stories, framing devices, and self-reflexivity create a labyrinthine, elusive, very modern text.

James Hogg's masterpiece, this strange and evocative study of the effects of Calvinist doctrine on the Scottish mind, has slowly edged its way into the canon in the last twenty years largely because it is first and foremost a rattling good read. Like all the great Scottish novelists from Walter Scott to Robert Louis Stevenson to Muriel Spark, Hogg was haunted by the dual promise of Edinburgh both as the refined cosmopolitan Renaissance home of Boswell as well as the fanatically religious city of John Knox. THE PRIVATE MEMOIRS is a response to that dual inheritance, and the novel is filled with doubles and dual structures: two brothers (born on two floors of the same house) vie for filial recognition; one brother duplicates himself when he is visited by a devil figure, Gil-Martin, in his exact semblance; and the story is told in two parts, and one of those is itself doubled. Although the Scots dialect in sections is a real chore to get through, the book is a marvelous frightening read nonetheless, and NYRB has wrapped it all up in a glorious cover featuring a famous Blake illustration. This isn't an easy ghost read, but it is tremendously repaying.

Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified sinner is the story of the illigitamate son of a Scottish laird who is convinced by the devil to act on his own spite and rage and commit murder -- but Hogg adds a clever twist (I don't want to spoil anything by saying what it is) that leaves the reader wondering...

One of the great things about this book is that its serious subject matter is balanced by a dose of humor -- I was surprised to find myself giggling through the first fifty pages which tell of the laird's marriage to a reluctantly religious woman.

This is a must-read for anyone interested in nineteenth-century fantasy, but its detailing of the making of a fanatic is still hauntingly relevent today...

This is a novel that lives in your mind like a poem. It's a ghost story, a coming of age novel, a book about love and death. It is difficult to put the book down, once you have begun reading. Right away you like Eva, the narrator, and empathize with her loneliness, and her struggle to live her own life, to make a living.

The spirits who have visited her since she was a baby--"the woman" and "the girl"-- are ghostly projections of family. They help and hurt, they're jealous, selfish, selfless all at once just like real mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers. Eva's Scotland is a nether world of spirits. They seem to like the granite cities and the hills.

At one level the book poses the question: how can human beings live their own lives while doing justice to those who give us life and help us?

But EVA MOVES THE FURNITURE is also an absorbing story. You want to know what is going to happen when Eva, working as a nurse in Edinburgh during WW II, falls in love with a surgeon.

The author has a keen sense of history. Most of the action of the novel takes place before and during the war, but there is not a false note in the entire book. It is utterly convincing in its historical setting.

At the end of the novel, Eva discovers who the ghosts were during their time as living persons. Eva knows herself at this point, too.

You finish the book with an "ah Bartleby, ah humanity" kind of feeling.

I had heard so much about this book for a long time, and finally decided to see what all the enthusiasm was about. I was not disappointed (which often happens with raved-about books!).

Set in Scotland, this is an intelligent book which asks that we suspend belief to accommodate Eva's "companions", a young girl and a woman who accompany her through her life, appearing randomly, and able to be seen only by Eva. Although we sense that they are there to protect her, they also change the course of her life (but not its eventual outcome). Livesey deftly blurs the real and that which is fantasy, making all of these appearances by the companions, and their actions, seem natural.

Where do people go when they die? Are there spirits out there, watching over us? Is the bond between mother and daughter unbreakable and eternal? These are some of the things to be pondered while reading this book.

Livesey's telling of Eva's story, her coming-of-age, is unique and lovely. She makes the reader feel that it is perfectly logical that these companions should appear to Eva yet be kept a secret by her, even as a young child.

Realistic yet magical, this is a poignant and moving story with much food for thought.

Eva Moves the Furniture is a lovely, enchanting and moving story of a girl born as her mother dies. As Eva grows, she begins to be visited by a girl and a woman whom she refers to as her 'companions.' Eva soon realizes that no one else can see her 'companions.' These specters guide Eva, helping her with her chores and several times saving her life. Most stories that involve ghosts also involve horror, but Margot Livesey gives us ghosts who are like us...good, bad, and flawed. As a daughter, as a mother and as a reader, this book touched me, cheered me and moved me as few novels have.

In THE MILL ON THE FLOSS George Eliot provides an insightful and intelligent story depicting rural Victorian society. Set in the parish of St. Ogg's, Maggie and Tom Tulliver endure childhood and young adulthood while experiencing the harsh realities of poverty, devotion, love, and societal reputation. I emphasized greatly with Maggie as I have experienced some of her own lived experiences. I truly loved every chapter of this book and didn't want it to end. It is indeed very rare that I have this type of reaction to a book. Although this book was published during the Victorian era, it's amazing how Eliot's prose flows virtually unobstructed. The reader is given a rare glimpse into rural life during the 19th century and is treated to how strictly structured society was then. I am now a fan of Eliot and look forward to reading her other novels.

Bottom line: THE MILL ON THE FLOSS is an excellent novel. Enjoy!

The Mill on the Floss has one of the most appealing young girl characterss of all 19th c. literature--Maggie Tolliver. The relationship between her and her brother is at once beautiful, horrible, and probably indicative of much that was true for boys and girls in 19th century England. Whenever I read the book (and I've read it a few times), I am again in love with Maggie, delighted with the people around her, and saddened by the heavy events that bring her down. George Eliot doesn't pull punches--when you've read one of her books, you know you've been somewhere else, experienced something powerful

This was my first (of four, so far) George Eliot novel. It's also my favorite. Unlike Adam Bede or Silas Marner, I found the characters to be interesting and enjoyable. No, it's not a finely-crafted piece of literature like Middlemarch. And it might be a bit on the melodramatic side. But for some odd reason I found the story to be ultimately quite moving.

Other folks who I gave the book to gave it mixed results. No one disliked it, but most found the "brother-sister" element to be a bit corny. And pardon my sexism, but I thought the book would appeal more to women than men (since the main character is a teenage girl). Not so. This book is definitely "not for women only".

I imagine if you have a sentimental streak through your bones you will probably love this book.

I totally agree with the reviewer who says that Kidnapped has become his/her favorite book of all time and that (s)he still re-reads it several times a year. Not that I re-read it, but I agree when (s)he says that (s)he envies anyone who is about to read 'Kidnapped' for the first time. I am about the same age, and I well remember my first reading - how I smiled when Uncle Ebeneezer served his gruel (porridge) - how I held my breath when David nearly stepped into space on the broken stairs - how I cringed with the injustice of Ebeneezer tried to cheat David out of his inheritance by selling him into slavery in the American colonies.

Stevenson's 'Treasure Island' is reckoned to be his best book but, for sheer descriptive weight, superb characterization and sharp, sharp dialog, 'Kidnapped' is the one for me. In brief, 16-year-old orphan, David Balfour visits his uncle in order to claim the inheritance, left by his father. The uncle, having failed to kill him, arranges for David to be kidnapped by a ship of thugs and villains and taken to the Carolinas to be sold into slavery. While navigating the Scottish coast, the ship collides with another boat and the crew capture the lone survivor, a swashbuckling Highlander called Alan Breck Stewart. David and Alan become friends and escape their captors. On land again, Stewart is accused of murdering a rival clan member and he and David must now cross the Scottish mountains to reach safe haven and for David to reclaim his inheritance.

The descriptions of the Scottish countryside are truly marvelous and the sense of pace and adventure keeps the reader hooked right to the end. I notice that one reviewer likened this section to 'a tiresome episode of The Odd Couple'. Perhaps it's worth bearing in mind that The Odd Couple was written a few years AFTER Kidnapped ! (In any case, I doubt that a written version of the television series would stir anyone's emotions like Kidnapped can). To most readers the historic aspects, along with the fact that the couple are being hunted by British redcoats is enough to maintain interest, suspense and pace.

Read and enjoy !

Let me tell you now that 'Kidnapped' is my personal favourite, and I've already read it four times! You'll never get a moment to pause to take a yawn. R.L. Stevenson with his superb writing capabilities writes of a young man named David Balfour. When his father dies, he is told to go to his uncle's house. After several failed attempts to kill David the wicked uncle sells him off to a skipper of a ship. In the course of his stay on the ship David meets the Jacobite, Alan. I can't describe the novel in words you gotta read it to know what you are really in for! This is the greatest adventure novel I've ever read. If you have read Stevenson's 'Treasure Island' then you won't be disappionted with this one.

I was surprised to see some reviewers didn't like this wonderful book. If you have trouble with the Scottish accent, read it out loud, use your imagination, and if you still can't figure it out, skip a bit. (Do you insist on understanding every single word spoken in a movie?)

This is the story of a young man overcoming adversity to gain maturity and his birthright. It moves right along, in Stevenson's beautiful prose. Read, for example, this sentence from Chapter 12: "In those days, so close on the back of the great rebellion, it was needful a man should know what he was doing when he went upon the heather." Read it out loud; it rolls along, carrying the reader back to Scotland, even a reader like me, who doesn't know all that much about Scottish history. Kidnapped is by no means inferior, and in many ways superior to the more famous Treasure Island.

Only two points I would like to bring up: I bought the Penguin Popular Classics issue, and have sort of mixed feelings. Maybe some day I'll get the version illustrated by Wyeth. I'm not sure whether this book needs illustrations, though. Stevenson's vivid writing is full of pictures.

In Chapter 4, David makes a point of saying that he found a book given by his father to his uncle on Ebenezer's fifth birthday. So? Is this supposed to show how much Ebenezer aged due to his wickedness? If anybody could explain this to me, please do.

Am I the only one who didn't like this novel?

My friends and I had all recently read "Rebecca" somewhat together, and were looking for another novel for our book "club". When we found this one and saw that on the front cover it said "a modern day 'Rebecca'", we immediately bought it.

I was severely dissapointed. The writing is well rounded, but it just did not hold my attention. I went through about 71 pages and I just couldn't read any more. The story bounced around between 6 or so different characters, and I just couldn't keep track of them all.

It turned out my friends had the same opinion I did. None of us got through Chapter 6. I'm glad others enjoyed it. *S*

The Missing World is a wonderful blend of psychological thriller and Iris Murdoch-type novel that I completely enjoyed. Hazel has been hit by a car and is beset by a series of seizures. Her memory of the last three years has vanished and, because of the seizures, in walks Jonathan, an old lover, who by virtue of Hazel's memory loss, Hazel believes to be her current lover. He takes complete advantage of the memory loss and little by little, Livesey reveals what it is exactly that Hazel has forgotten. Let's just leave it at Jonathan is not a very nice person. At the beginning of the novel, Livesey also introduces two other characters who have yet to meet Hazel, but who ultimately play an important role in Hazel's life with Jonathan--Freddie, an American expatriate roofer in search of someone to love and someone to save and Charlotte, an unemployed actress in search of somewhere to live. Livesey ultimately brings all three lives together in a fascinating way. The Missing World is a well told story that will keep you wondering how it will turn out. Enjoy

The brilliant idea behind this novel is the idea of "second chances" to right the wrongs one has committed, and who doesn't want to get a second chance tossed his or her way once in a while? So I began this book somehow pulling for Jonathan who is hoping to make ammends after the disasterous breakup with his girlfriend Hazel - who P.S. - has amnesia after an accident and can't remember that they are finished. Then Margot Livesey so deftly and eerily twists the story, and the character of Jonathan is gradually unpeeled, layer after layer, until we want to leap into the pages to rescue Hazel. The other characters surrounding Hazel and Jonathan are just as fascinating and disturbing, one of my favorites being Charlotte, an out-of-work actress with a magnificent heart that gets trampled upon constantly, whether it's by her unforgiving sister, Nurse Bernie, or her louse of a boyfriend. The Missing World really is a stunning read and quite impossible to put down.

...HOMEWORK is, after all, Margot Livesey's first novel. Those of us who have had the pleasure of reading her others have come to expect high quality from her - her talent for suspense shines so very brightly in CRIMINALS and THE MISSING WORLD, and her character development and storytelling, so evident in her masterpiece (my opinion) EVA MOVES THE FURNITURE, are stunning. HOMEWORK has its own bright moments - even for such a dark story. The tension that is present in the family's situation - a separated father with a bright daughter who resents the presence of a new woman in his life - is brilliantly portrayed and built upon. The psychological aspects of the story are seemingly well-researched and illuminated - and the frustration on the part of Celia (the 'intruder' in her potential stepdaughter's life) - is palpable and fraught with tension, as well as the very real sense of terror that she experiences when she realizes how deeply the young girl's feelings run. When 'things begin to happen' around the house, she becomes more and more aware of the lengths to which the girl will go to make her look bad, to make her feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. She sees Celia's presence in her father's life as a drain on the love that she wants for herself - and she will evidently go to extravagant lengths to drive Celia out of the house.

Livesey's prose is jewel-like in its precision - the tension in this story builds imperceptibly, almost excruciatingly so. Comparisons have been drawn in several places to Hitchcock's films - and that's not completely inappropriate here, although I think it's much more developed in THE MISSING WORLD and CRIMINALS. The story might not end in a manner to suit every reader - but wouldn't that be boring, if every book we read wound up exactly as we expected/wanted...? Margot Livesey is a fine writer - and this novel is gripping and entertaining.

Having read Criminals, The Missing World and Eva Moves the Furniture, I have finally gotten my hands on Margot Livesey's first novel. Homework is a haunting and complex novel about a clever and manipulative little girl who does everything in her power to tear her father and his girlfriend apart. What first appears as a jealous daughter's quest to get rid of her stepmother transpires into a psychological and disarming tale of the girl's malicious and conniving attempts to obtain sole possession of her father. Again, Livesey has proven that she is one of the cleverest authors of this time. The disturbing and haunting images that she concocts through her writing stimulate the reader's mind long after having finished the novel. I recommend all of Livesey's books most highly.

I don't understand how anyone could find this story boring. While not action-packed, this book provides a rich, realistic portrait of a child who has learned how to manipulate adults to get her way. The adults, while seemingly in control of the situation, are blinded to reality by their own preconceptions and their expectation that a child could not act with such calculating malice. And while Jenny is cruel and calculating beyond what one would expect from a child, her ways of lashing out ring true as things a child would choose to do. Although there is no definitive vindication at the end, it's clear that Jenny's actions will come to light. It took me a good hour after finishing this book to detach from the strong emotions it brought forth. I was furious with Jenny and horrified at her final act against Celia. A book that makes one live within its world is a success.