Nov. 21, and there’s an account of Gesine and Marie travelling to Richmond, where Cresspahl used to live and work. A charming depiction of Marie’s response to England: trying to board the bus from the wrong side (we have right-hand-side vehicles here for our drive-on-the-left roads), her response to the Tube (our Metro), which is mostly underground, but which emerges above ground on the District line (and others) from time to time. I have a particular affinity with this entry, as I lived in Petersham, just outside Richmond, for a year, way back, and know that area well: Sheen cemetery, the place where Alexander Pope built his Gothic grotto (not mentioned in this book). I continue to think, as I look back on these sections having finished the novel, that the portrayal of Marie is fascinating: she’s in many ways the beating heart of the novel – with her mother’s heart beating around hers, if that makes sense.

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