Homework

Jere D. Turner is Adult Collections Co-ordinator, Regina Public Library.

Celia Gilchrist flees London to escape the reality of a failed affair.
Almost immediately after arriving in Edinburgh she embarks on another
affair with a married man she meets at a New Year’s party. This affair
is also on the rocks as soon as her lover’s young daughter, Jenny,
appears on the scene. Shortly after Jenny comes to live with Stephen and
Celia, peculiar things start to happen to Celia. Money goes missing, a
sweater is mysteriously damaged, and a dead mouse is found in one of
Celia’s dresser drawers. These occurrences and others are scattered
throughout the novel and punctuate the description of the rather
ordinary lives of Stephen and Celia.

Although Livesey intends to portray psychological terror and the evil
that can lurk in a young child, it is difficult to accept Jenny’s
actions as evil and premeditated as Celia does. In fact Jenny appears to
be a rather normal young girl, while Celia seems to be reading too much
into Jenny’s every word and action. It is only near the novel’s
excellent conclusion that it is obvious something is amiss.

Still, Homework is a good read as Livesey skillfully portrays the
everyday lives of three people and the problems they face. If the
strange occurrences—that Celia believed were Jenny’s doings—had
been more closely linked to Jenny, then the building of psychological
suspense would have been more believable. Nonetheless, this is a
credible first novel.