A Game of Hide and Seek
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Average rating3
'Her stories remain with one, indelibly, as though they had been some turning-point in one's own experience' - Elizabeth Bowen, author of The Heat of the Day Intelligent and haunting, with echoes of Brief Encounter, this is a love story by one of the best British writers of the 20th century. During summer games of hide and seek Harriet falls in love with Vesey and his elusive, teasing ways. When he goes to Oxford she cherishes his photograph and waits for a letter that never comes. Years pass and Harriet stifles her dreams; with a husband and daughter, she excels at respectability. But then Vesey reappears and her marriage seems to melt away. Harriet is older, it is much too late, but she is still in love with him.
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A tentative summer love between shy and simple Harriet and careless and cruel Vesey falls apart before it can bloom. Two decades later they are brought back together again, discovering they had held on to their long-ago feelings.
I really thought the narration of Harriet and Vesey's adolescent love was exquisite, capturing the awkwardness and fast heartbeats of crushes and first touches. Taylor's writing has a unique style, observing and subtle, detached yet also sharp. She makes jumps sometimes, inserts you right into situations, without connecting the dots, it was intriguing.
I loved the first part more, for its shy romance. The second part features too many secondary characters, I mainly wanted the attention back on our main protagonists. Towards the end everything becomes gloomier and gloomier, plot and my perception of it, but the ending was great again.
