The fact is, of course, that what you feel about what you see depends not on what is, but who you are. A place is an illusion.

A very subtle, understated measure of time—in the individual sense; in the familial sense; in the generational sense; and in the historical sense—and how all of these converge and conflict when the BBC descends upon the fractured Paxton family, intent on making a documentary about deceased archeologist Hugh Paxton. 



Navigating the different memories this present-day excavation unearths, Lively is able to give us a true sense of how those who have devoted their lives to uncovering the truths of history—e.g., Paxton, and also the young Tom, engaged to Paxton’s aloof and emotionally traumatized daughter, Kate—may know less than those who have lived their own histories more organically, such as Nellie, first Paxton’s lover and then sister-in-law (and, possibly, her lover yet again), who is confined to a wheelchair after a stroke yet is still more mobile in the outside world—as well as the inner world—than many of the other characters; Laura, Nellie’s sister and Paxton’s widow, who, despite her class-conscious snobbism and her disdain for the new generation (it seems like the mid-to-late-1970s), clings to memories of her past, even if only for purely selfish reasons; and the Paxtons’ daughter Kate, who is as unpredictable as the land her father explored and charted, proving, in short, that only nature rules where mankind fails, and that it is our blunder to think we can either rewrite history or claim ownership or knowledge of a land’s spoils.

While this is a minor Lively, her pacing is spot-on, even as she moves somewhat quickly from each characters’ point-of-view and from the present to the past. Recommended for fans of Lively’s more mature work, fans of Bowen, fans of Taylor, and also perhaps fans of Brookner. ( )

(7.5)This is one of this author's earlier novels published in 1979, so forty years ago. I found it 'very English' in its depiction of the landed gentry and their mannerisms, the rural setting and Oxbridge. A pleasant undemanding reading. ( )

Tom, an academic, lives with Kate, whose father was a famous archaeologist. As past and present intertwine, we learn more about each person. Cleverly written with a realistic ending. ( )

"I've read a few romantic novels, in the course of duty, and lately much enjoyed Penelope Lively's new one The Treasures of Time." (Letter to Philip Larkin, 28 October 1979.) (Pym, A very private eye. Granada, 1985. p.465.)

Not my favourite Penelope Lively, but not bad all the same. Characters all seeming a bit dated now. ( )