Going back (original 1975; edition 1991)

Going back is a wonderful novella that transports the reader back to the nostalgia of golden bough of youth when all summers are one hay-making and raspberry-time and lanes tented over with leaves and the tipping hillsides bleached pale where they have cut the corn (p. 52).

Jane goes back to the home where she lived as a seven-year old girl in the English countryside during the Second World War. Among many sweet memories, there's a marring one about running away from home with her brother Edward.

More than the actual visit, Going back is about remembering, bringing back memories of growing up at that special time, and thinking about the people, friends, her brother and especially, also, her father.

Going back was originally conceived as a children's book, however, later on Penelope Lively rewrote it for adult readership. Inevitable, on LT the two versions are listed together and tagged as children's literature, as a result of which many readers will miss this precious novella. ( )