A review by meghan111
Clever Girl by Tessa Hadley

3.0

"...many things that seem quaint now were current and powerful then: shame, and secrecy, and the fear that other people would worm themselves into your weaknesses, and that their knowledge of how you had lapsed and failed would eat you from the inside. My mother used to wear white gloves to go to the shops in summer."

Strongly reminded me of Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood, so... Canadian? It's actually set in England.

"Yet it's surprising how often I've thought about her since those days - not particularly warmly nor resentfully, just aware of her existing somewhere, picking at the knot of her life in her own way. Some people accompany you like this in imagination, long after you've dropped any real connection with them."