The Photograph

It opens with a snapshot: Kath, at an unknown gathering, hands clasped with a man not her husband, both their backs to the camera. The photograph is in an envelope marked "DON'T OPEN -- DESTROY." But Kath's husband does not heed the warning. The mystery of the photograph, and of Kath herself and her recent death, propels him on a journey of discovery. The unfolding tale reveals a tight web of secrets -- within marriages, between two sisters, and at the heart of an affair. The elfin Kath, with her mesmerizing looks and casual ways, moves like an insistent ghost through the thoughts and memories of everyone who knew her: Glyn, her husband, past his lusty, professorial prime; her remorselessly competent sister, Elaine, a doyenne garden designer married to ne'er-do-well Nick; and their daughter, Polly, and the tumultuous new era she inhabits. The Photograph is Penelope Lively at her very best, the dazzling and intriguing climax to all she has written before. Penelope Lively is the author of more than twenty books of fiction and non-fiction including A House Unlocked and the Booker Prize-winning Moon Tiger. Reader Daniel Gerroll has performed on Broadway and has won awards for his off-Broadway work. He is married to Patricia Kalember, whose many stage and screen credits include roles in the series Sisters and the film Signs