Loving Sylvie / Elizabeth Smither.

"Sylvie rows across a lake to her wedding. Madeleine flees to Paris and works in Le Livre Bleu bookshop. Isobel si summoned to her doctor's surgery late one afternoon" --Back cover.

A sensual, witty novel that cleverly weaves in the stories of three generations of women: Sylvie, her mother Madeleine and grandmother Isobel, focusing most strongly on the relationship between grandmother and granddaughter. The narrative shifts between the points of view of each main character, telling their stories with gentle, deeply observant humour, through their love affairs, food, rivalries, marriages, pets and all the beautiful minutiae of everyday life. Elizabeth draws the threads of each story together subtly and surprisingly to achieve a perfectly resolved ending. Fans of Elizabeth's writing will love this new novel and those new to her writing will discover the delights of her careful, sensual prose. Described as having 'a gift for wry comedy combined with an eye for pinpoint detail', Elizabeth is one of New Zealand's finest writers.