The Master Bedroom.

After enjoying Clever Girl so much I decided to pick up some of Tessa Hadley's older books. 

The Master Bedroom tells the story of Kate Flynne who returns to her childhood home to care for her aging Mother after a successful career in London as a college lecturer.

Once home Kate spends her time reading and playing her violin. She runs into David, the younger brother of a childhood friend at a classical music recital and finds herself attracted to him. David's marriage is foundering and he is drawn to Kate. Kate then meets David's seventeen year old son and starts having a sexual relationship with him...

 It's all a rather improbable plot that really doesn't progress. The ending ties up all the loose ends - Kate breaks up with the son, her Mother dies, David and his wife restore their marriage, Kate sells her childhood home and that's the end of the book.

 

I didn't dislike reading this book, Tessa Hadley, as ever, delivers elegant flowing prose and it shows great useage and command of the English language, but in addition to the plot being rather unbelievable so were the characters, in particular Kate and her Mother, Billie. Whilst 'Clever Girl' resonated with me because of it's credible characters and situations I really don't think that people live the 'Kate Flynne Lifestyle' in this day and age and I found the ending to be disappointing.

Overall, I didn't hate The Master Bedroom but the far fetched plot and unrealistic characters irritated me so it wasn't a great read for me.