Still trying to read this one. Don't want to give up on it yet. I'll have another go before I release it.

I promised this to Winterson as a RABCK months ago, but a change in job meant a change in finances and I had to put it off for a while. Now I am finally sending it- so sorry about the delay. I hope it is worth the wait!

Received last week. And do you know what... like buses, two copies of this book came through at the same time, I also got one for my Secret Easter Bunny pressie. But, good news, my Secret Summer Solstice recipient has this on their wishlist, so I'm going to give this copy to her and update this journal entry when I've read the other copy. It looks like such a good book, I'm sure I'm going to love it!

So thanks very much for sending this to me, and watch this space for my journal and further travels :)

Thanks so much Winterson. Not one, not two but THREE books from my wish list for my UK BookCrossing Group Not So Secret Summer Solstice Surprise! You're a star.

A review by Julie Myerson inside the front cover reads:

"A genuinely disturbing urban thriller - there's violence, duplicity, murder and erotica - but it's also satisfyingly weighed down with the heft of marital and parental relationships and, maybe most importantly, with a profound and intelligent dialogue about love. Most impressively of all perhaps, Hustvedt takes us deeply and convincingly into the psyches of all these people...The intricacies of the relationships she depicts, the fragile sexual landscapes - whether comic and wobbly or romantically sweeping - snag at your heart...I can't remember the last time I finished a novel and truly believed I'd absorbed the taste and span of an artist's career as well as the pains and joys of 30 years of his sexual and emotional life, but this one convinced me I had".

I chose this for my book group and we discussed it on February 22nd 2007 (apologies for not journalling this before). The group found the book as stimulating to discussion as I hoped they would. Some people found it off-puttingly dense and/or depressing but most were impressed by it. One person scored it ten out of ten.

Click here to see the journal of the copy I read.

This copy was kept by a member of my book group so who knows when it will next be journalled.