Reading Group

"I was trying to write a book that I would want to read, just to see what one would look like". Thus Marilynne Robinson described the impulse behind her celebrated debut novel, recognised as a work of great subtlety, originality and insight from the moment of its appearance in 1981. Set against the desolate landscapes of Northern Idaho, Housekeeping follows the tortuous passage towards adulthood of the orphaned sisters Ruth and Lucille under the wayward care of their eccentric aunt Sylvie, in episodes sometimes comic, sometimes painful, but always illuminated with a sense of truth. RPJ