Two women, Lexie Sinclair and Elina Vilkuna are separated by half a century but they are somehow connected with each other by their situation and the internal experience and feelings. Novelist Maggie O’farrell, The winner of Costa Novel Award 2010 has artistically weaved the two different story lines of these two characters lived their life in different time. Lexie has lived her life in Bohemian London at the time of Post war Soho where novel, painting, poetry, journalism boomed out which changed Britain forever. She is the young university student of twenty one who escapes away from Devon to London. Similarly Elina, a woman in her twenties runs away from her family in Finland to London to become a Painter.

Lexie lives good short time with Innes Kent who is an editor of a Magazine named Elsewhere. He teaches Lexie about journalism and later she turns to be an art critic. Innes dies leaving her some paintings, the skill in journalism and lot more pain of his memories of which she never come out. She is an independent professional woman who lives life on her own ways. She gives birth to a son, Theodor of Felix but raises him alone. She takes all the burden of looking after her son and carrying her job as an art critic. She struggles whole her short life and dies in an accident. Late the son is raised by his father Feliex.

Lexie represents freedom, courage, motherly strength, independence and struggle. She has the strength and freedom of her mind to realize her own existence so that she doesn’t hesitate to dump her cheater boyfriend Feliex and takes the whole burden of looking after her son. She struggles lot for their livelihood. She wakes up whole the night typing her articles after her son sleeps. She takes her son many places while interviewing artists as there is nobody to look after him. She has to wait for the article to publish to buy something very essential for her son. She struggles within herself as well as with the daily necessities. She is a real rebellious woman with the power to feel her existence and the internal strength to carry on everything in a balanced way.

Elina on the other hand is similar to Lexie who has just given birth to a child and has her own struggle of early motherhood. She is a painter just creative like Lexie. She struggle s to come out of the strangeness of motherhood. She cannot clearly remember about the child birth and finds own body and the scar in her abdomen so strange. Elina goes through struggle within herself to come out of the peculiar feelings she has by the birth of her first child. She too fears whether she can carry on her painting or not. Sometime she just disappears leaving her son alone to her painting house and spends long time looking at her own creations. This is due to her little bit uncontrolled stated of mind which she slowly tries to cope up with.

Lexie bears both mental and physical pressure in her life. She had many sleepless nights to finish her task and even she had to take her son with her when she had to go out of city for some interviews or other official purpose. Lexie gets accustomed with her tough life and becomes happy with the nearness and warmth of her son. Similar to Lexie, Elina as well gradually comes out of the weirdness of new mother’s feelings and starts looking after her child and husband. These two women have many common things instead of the time differences and different lifestyle they live. They are linked by their common women’s experiences, internal feelings and their struggles.

Elina’s boyfriend Ted is so much haunted by an unclear past of his childhood when he becomes father. He is totally gripped by the smoky memories of his past and relations which left him in a fragile condition. He tries to recollect the old memories of childhood but cannot visualize clearly which makes him so ill. He doesn’t eat, speak and move. Lastly some of his mother’s belongings and the words written by his mother for him brings little liveliness in his stone-like condition.

O’farrell has spellbinding story telling skill. She gradually reveals the hidden mystery about Ted and relationship between Lexie and Elina. It is revealed that Ted is the son of Lexie which has become more vivid by the article written for him. The almost sunken condition of Ted (Theodore) is revived by the article of his mother which Elina finds and reads for him. When he listen the words of his mother about him, his confusion and the blurred past takes its clear shape.

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