Criminals

Description

271 pages
$28.95
ISBN 0-394-28175-6
DDC C813'.54

Year

1995

Contributor

Reviewed by Matt Hartman

Matt Hartman is a freelance editor and cataloguer, running Hartman Cataloguing, Editing and Indexing Services.

Review

Livesey, a Canadian born in Scotland and living in London, shows in her
second novel how, in the hands of a skilled writer, a series of
apparently random events can be woven together in a taut, believable
psychological drama. The diverse cast of characters includes a lonely,
recently separated young woman, her ultra-moral brother, a loutish
schemer and his East Indian mistress, and the catalyst, a five-month-old
baby girl. The abandonment of the baby in the men’s room of a Perth,
Scotland, bus station sets off the series of events. The infant is found
by the brother on his way to visit his sister, who is having a nervous
breakdown. What follows is a series of seemingly accidental delays—car
trouble, bad weather— and the reader is drawn into the darkening plot.


Livesey’s Scottish roots and Brit-isms are everywhere—a strong
sense of the Scottish countryside; understated, sparse expressions. But
it is the effortless way in which she steers her characters into
performing badly, despite their many good intentions, that makes this
novel successful.

Citation

Livesey, Margot., “Criminals,” Canadian Book Review Annual Online, accessed October 13, 2024, https://cbra.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/5151.