Simon Vance

The narrator has every reason to dislike the story, and yet she can't help acknowledging its brilliance. There is Dottie, lifted out of life and held in light, suspended in the marvellous clear jelly that Hugo has spent all his life learning how to make. It is an act of magic. There is no getting around it. It is an act, you might say, of a special, unsparing, unsentimental love.

The narrator has every reason to dislike the story, and yet she can't help acknowledging its brilliance. There is Dottie, lifted out of life and held in light, suspended in the marvellous clear jelly that Hugo has spent all his life learning how to make. It is an act of magic. There is no getting around it. It is an act, you might say, of a special, unsparing, unsentimental love.

She thinks about sending him an admiring letter, but when she sits down to write it, she suddenly sees the story differently, as somehow beside the point. Material, in other words, concerns an exquisite work of art that nonetheless feels hopelessly inadequate to the lived reality behind it.

She thinks about sending him an admiring letter, but when she sits down to write it, she suddenly sees the story differently, as somehow beside the point. Material, in other words, concerns an exquisite work of art that nonetheless feels hopelessly inadequate to the lived reality behind it.

The story doesn't just expose how someone who makes beautiful things may also be capable of unfathomable cruelty, a platitude at this point. More subtly, it shows how an artistic sensibility, a disposition to see other people as grist for transformation, can give rise to a frigid disengagement.

The story doesn't just expose how someone who makes beautiful things may also be capable of unfathomable cruelty, a platitude at this point. More subtly, it shows how an artistic sensibility, a disposition to see other people as grist for transformation, can give rise to a frigid disengagement.

The narrator, who isn't herself an artist, displays something of the artist's coldness when she uses Dottie, who has lost her husband and is just barely scraping by, as anecdote fodder, a way of getting laughs from her sophisticated friends. When she gets to know Dottie better, the narrator tellingly finds that she becomes less likely to store up and repeat what she said.

The narrator, who isn't herself an artist, displays something of the artist's coldness when she uses Dottie, who has lost her husband and is just barely scraping by, as anecdote fodder, a way of getting laughs from her sophisticated friends. When she gets to know Dottie better, the narrator tellingly finds that she becomes less likely to store up and repeat what she said.

The difference between this sort of storytelling and the more elaborate, socially valorized sort that her ex-husband goes in for, Monroe delicately implies, is not as profound as it seems. However finely wrought, Hugo's story has done nothing to atone for his hurtful deed. This isn't enough, Hugo, the narrator finds herself writing in a fit of anger. You think it is, but it isn't.

The difference between this sort of storytelling and the more elaborate, socially valorized sort that her ex-husband goes in for, Monroe delicately implies, is not as profound as it seems. However finely wrought, Hugo's story has done nothing to atone for his hurtful deed. This isn't enough, Hugo, the narrator finds herself writing in a fit of anger. You think it is, but it isn't.

Perhaps the truly shocking thing about Munro's decision to remain with Fremlin is that it wasn't shocking at all. In her pioneering study, Father-Daughter Incest, 1981, the American psychiatrist Judith Lewis Herman spoke to 40 women who were sexually abused by their fathers or stepfathers.

Perhaps the truly shocking thing about Munro's decision to remain with Fremlin is that it wasn't shocking at all. In her pioneering study, Father-Daughter Incest, 1981, the American psychiatrist Judith Lewis Herman spoke to 40 women who were sexually abused by their fathers or stepfathers.

Those daughters who did confide in their mothers were uniformly disappointed in their mothers' responses, Herman writes. Most of the mothers, even when made aware of the situation, were unwilling or unable to defend their daughters. They were too frightened or too dependent upon their husbands to risk a confrontation.

Those daughters who did confide in their mothers were uniformly disappointed in their mothers' responses, Herman writes. Most of the mothers, even when made aware of the situation, were unwilling or unable to defend their daughters. They were too frightened or too dependent upon their husbands to risk a confrontation.

Either they refused to believe their daughters or they believed them but took no action. They made it clear to their daughters that their fathers came first and that if necessary, the daughters would have to be sacrificed. Only three of the mothers decided to leave their abusive husbands, though in each case the women soon returned. They found life without them too hard to bear.

Either they refused to believe their daughters or they believed them but took no action. They made it clear to their daughters that their fathers came first and that if necessary, the daughters would have to be sacrificed. Only three of the mothers decided to leave their abusive husbands, though in each case the women soon returned. They found life without them too hard to bear.

Margaret Atwood sees Munro's decision to return to Fremlin as a matter of dependency. She had a general inability to function on a practical level without him, Atwood said. Sheila Munro disagrees. It wasn't because she couldn't look after herself, she told me. It was because she was so deeply entwined in this very volatile relationship.

Margaret Atwood sees Munro's decision to return to Fremlin as a matter of dependency. She had a general inability to function on a practical level without him, Atwood said. Sheila Munro disagrees. It wasn't because she couldn't look after herself, she told me. It was because she was so deeply entwined in this very volatile relationship.

Stressing that she had no desire to make excuses for her mother, Sheila said she believed that Fremlin groomed Munro along with Andrea, citing the way Munro came to see her as a sexual rival. That's straight out of the abuser's playbook, Herman said recently, when I described Sheila's theory to her.

Stressing that she had no desire to make excuses for her mother, Sheila said she believed that Fremlin groomed Munro along with Andrea, citing the way Munro came to see her as a sexual rival. That's straight out of the abuser's playbook, Herman said recently, when I described Sheila's theory to her.