This book offers numerous clever insights into the human character, as well as a bleak perspective on the lives of "housewives" in a suburban middle class English town. The plot builds tension toward a rather lurid finish, but the character studies are the real highlight here. Highly recommended.

Favorite lines/observations (out of many):
"'If only the average wife would understand that! She always thinks that if her way of looking at life is different from her husband's, then she must either 'give in' and change to his ways, or else she must 'stand up for herself,' 'preserve her integrity' and so forth through a lifetime of rows and scenes. But usually she doesn't need to do either. All she needs to do is to teach him to like her way of seeing things. But actually to like it--to enjoy seeing the world in this new way. And usually he's ready enough to learn. He probably wants to learn--that's why he married her in the first place, because this was something he wanted.'"

"'Everybody can bring children up in the way they can bring them up,' she concluded, her eyes filling with tears. 'The books all make it sound as if you have some sort of choice, but you haven't. You have to bring them up according to the sort of person you are, and that's all there is to it.'" ( )