Moon Tiger - by Penelope Lively (Paperback)

About the Book

The last thoughts of a dying writer are captured in this intelligent novel by Booker Prize-winner Penelope Lively. The moving and poignant story of life as a writer, historian, and mother ends as a saga of unfufilled love.

Book Synopsis

"A powerful, moving and beautifully wrought novel about the ways in which lives are molded by personal memory and the collective past."--Boston Globe

Winner of the Booker Prize - Shortlisted for the Golden Man Booker Prize

The masterpiece of one of the century's finest novelists--a deftly crafted journey through memory and across decades, between England and Egypt

Elderly, uncompromising Claudia Hampton lies in a London hospital bed with memories of life fluttering through her fading consciousness. An author of popular history, Claudia proclaims she's carrying out her last project: a history of the world. This history turns out to be a mosaic of her own life and the lives of those important to her. At its center is Tom--her one great love, found and lost in war-torn Egypt.
Always the independent woman, often with contentious relationships, Claudia's personal history is complex and fascinating. As people visit Claudia, they shake and twist the mosaic, changing speed, movement, and voice to reveal themselves and Claudia's impact on their world.
A classic of the late 20th century, Moon Tiger is a haunting, evocative, and dazzlingly original story of loss and desire.

Review Quotes

Praise for Moon Tiger

"A superb and unusually gifted writer . . . [She has] an extraordinary facility with words, structural and narrative daring, and imagery so apposite it can make your heart ache. " -- The Guardian

"A powerful, moving and beautifully wrought novel about the ways in which lives are molded by personal memory and the collective past." -- Boston Globe
"Lively belongs to a chort of brilliant female novelists who defined the fiction culture of postwar Britain . . . [Moon Tiger is] an elegant disquisition on memory, identity, age, love, and regret." -- Financial Times
"Emotionally, Moon Tiger is kaleidoscopic, deeply satisfying. The all too brief encounter between Claudia and Tom will surely rate as one of the most memorable of contemporary fictional affairs. This is one of the best novels I have read for years." -- The London Sunday Telegraph
"It pulls us in; it engages us and saddens us. It is also unexpectedly funny . . . It leaves its traces in the air long after you've put it away." -- The New York Times Book Review
"Lively's ability to bring her characters and the world she inhabits into full technicolor is beautiful . . . A unique book." -- Lemn Sissay, Golden Booker Prize Judge