Book of the Week: THE AMERICAN LOVER by Rose Tremain

Lust, loneliness and love gone wrong are common themes in this diverse collection of stories from Rose Tremain, who at age 71 is still putting pen to paper at an impressive rate. In the title story, a British woman, Beth, is still haunted by a ‘wild child’ fling she had back in the 1960’s when Thaddeus, an American photographer, introduced her to the hedonistic freedom of Paris. Sexual inhibition in the garrets of Montparnasse may have led to heartbreak and betrayal, but over the years, it is this relationship that continues to define her.

Other stories feature a couple in their 70s who decide to run away from home in Nashville to their cabin on the shores of Lake Superior in Canada; a Russian stationmaster, who is contemplating adultery, comes to care for the gravely ill Count Leo Tolstoy; and the Polish housekeeper and one-time lover of Daphne du Maurier realizes that she has been painted into the villainous Mrs. Danvers of Manderley Hall.