Review

Inglorious

By Joanna Kavenna

Published by Faber

Rosa Lane is a dynamic journalist in her thirties, already the picture of London achievement.

Her handsome boyfriend is something in politics and her other friends are confident, prosperous and ambitious. But one afternoon soon after the death of her mother, staring at her computer screen at work, she fails to see the point, walks out of her job - and begins her long fall from modern grace.

Within days, this smart, educated woman is dependent on the patience and charity of her friends. She soon finds that most of them - especially her best friend - are far less supportive than she had imagined. What's more, she simply cannot understand their beliefs and desires anymore.

What happens next is comic and unbearable, as Rosa tries to find work, to wade through the great literature that she has never read (and never will), to appease her bank manager and to feel the excitement of a hopeless affair. When she visits old friends in the Lakes she descends into a pit of benevolent, fecund domesticity. Meanwhile, her ex and his unctuous lover announce their marriage.

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