Sandy, unhappy, alone, no longer able to write popular songs, drinks overmuch and misses his wife and children. Jeremy is a successful financier, twice divorced, and with questionable sexual interests. Then there are Tim and Peter, both in relationships with women that create difficulties for them.
In the past at university together, the men meet regularly for lunch, and always talk about the same things - football, stock prices, and not much else. The problems and feelings they are personally experiencing are of course never mentioned.
Sandy emerges as the main character. His wife is busy finding herself and making a new life in France. His children are also struggling to find themselves and overcome the inadequacy of their preoccupied parenting. When Sandy has an accident, none of them really wants to be troubled.
If this sounds rather grim, the reality is that Dainty describes them and their struggles with great astuteness and also with gentle humour. The four strands of the men's and their families' lives are interwoven with a cleverly drawn and very readable analysis of the changing roles and aspirations of men and women in today's Western world.
A very enjoyable tale that is also about the importance, however difficult, of family affections.
- Margaret Bannister is a retired Dunedin psychotherapist and science teacher.
