A review by snowmaiden
The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst

4.0

This book begins in 1913 and ends in 2008, spanning almost a whole century. I really liked the first section and would have gladly spent a whole novel in that setting with those characters, but that wasn’t the author’s intent. Instead we take great leaps forward through the twentieth century and beyond, seeing how the lives of the 1913 characters are interpreted and reinterpreted by successive generations. I really enjoy Hollinghurst’s gentle and discerning style, but I felt the emotional impact of the book was less than it could have been. Also, certain characters changed in ways that didn’t make sense to me. Still, I am eager to read something else by this author.