Leda becomes obsessed by young mother Nina and child, watched interacting on the beach. The child loses her beloved doll, Leda finds it and takes it home. Why? 'I don't know' . . . For a woman who spends most of the novel analysing herself neurotically she has no excuse not to know - rivalry, envy of the mother/daughter relationship in which she has failed? Cleverly written and highly praised but, sorry, I thoroughly disliked it.
The original title is 'La Figlia Oscura' where 'oscura' does not mean 'lost' but dark, enigmatic, unclear.
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 77 Summer 2015 ) |
