Howard Belsey a Rembrandt scholar who doesnt like Rembrandt is an En glishman abroad and a
long-suffering Professor at Wellington a New En gland Liberal Arts college. He has been
married for thirty years to K iki an American woman who no longer resembles the sexy activist
she o nce was.Their three children passionately pursue their own paths Levi quests after
authentic blackness Zora believes that intellectuals ca n redeem everybody and Jerome
struggles to be a believer in a family of strict atheists. Faced with the oppressive
enthusiasms of his child ren Howard feels that the first two acts of his life are over and he
has no clear plans for the finale. Or the encore. Then Jerome Howard s oldest son falls for
Victoria the stunning daughter of the right-w ing icon Monty Kipps. Increasingly the two
families find themselves thrown together in a beautiful corner of America enacting a cultural
and personal war against the background of real wars that they barely register. An infidelity
a death then an unexpected legacy set in mo tion a chain of events which sees all parties
forced to examine the un articulated assumptions that underpin their lives. How do you choose
the work on which to spend your life? Why do you love the people you love? Do you really
believe what you claim to? And what are the real ly beautiful things in life and how far will
you go to get them? Set on both sides of the Atlantic Zadie Smiths third novel is a brilliant
analysis of family life the institution of marriage intersections o f the personal and
political and an honest look at peoples deceptions . It is also as you might expect very
funny indeed.
