Tessa Hadley is one of my favourite authors and I was greatly looking forward to reading The Past. It has had many positive reviews and has been called "her most accessible novel" (which TBH I find a little odd as I have found her other books to be easy reads).
In this, her latest family drama, four adult siblings along with assorted relatives and a friend arrive at their deceased grandparent's house for three week's summer holiday. The old vicarage in the English countryside holds a host of memories for them all, but this is to be their last visit as they have decided to sell the house.
I have enjoyed Tessa Hadley's previous books for a number of reasons: her attention to small details have enchanted me and greatly added to the atmosphere of the stories being told; her characters have been highly credible (although they have a tendency to live rather old fashioned high brow lifestyles) and her prose has flowed elegantly.
Whilst there is no doubting that the author is a highly skilled writer The Past was not a book that I could enjoy. I found the storyline to be slow and plodding with long overtly descriptive passages throughout which gave nothing to the story. Not a lot happened in this book and I failed to connect with the characters at all - they simply weren't believable. They all seemed to be very old fashioned and, indeed, I think that the book may have fared better if it were set in the past rather than the modern day, as the whole tale felt like it was set in a different era.
The ending of the book wasn't bad, things came full circle and it concluded nicely but honestly I was relieved to finally finish this dull book. The Past was a big let down for me.
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