Linda Want's To Tell You About How It All Began

"Penelope Lively is one of our most gifted storytellers - dry witted, insightful, compassionate. In How it All Began she has done it again, presented us with a story of real characters, flawed but hopeful, pursuing their lives in search of meaning, love, safety, acknowledgement.

She is a master at unfolding a story, layer after layer, giving us multiple perspectives on the same event, showing us how our separate, single lives affect each other.

In this story, Charlotte, an older woman, is accosted by a petty thief on the streets, and from this single act lives are changed, not only Charlotte's but many others, as well, who don't even know Charlotte. This is a storynabout chance and the role it can play in our lives. With the lightest of touches, Penelope Lively wryly spins out a delightful and thought provoking novel."

--Linda