Following the great success of Jane Asher's debut novel The Longing, her second psychological thriller is a compassionate, compelling and beautifully written study of the terrible effect of jealousy on a woman's life. John and Eleanor Hamilton are middle-aged, wealthy, and settled in their comfortable life in Hampshire and London. John didn't want children, so instead Eleanor used her energies to help run the company and get involved in the local community. So imagine her horror when, one day, she discovers that ...
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Following the great success of Jane Asher's debut novel The Longing, her second psychological thriller is a compassionate, compelling and beautifully written study of the terrible effect of jealousy on a woman's life. John and Eleanor Hamilton are middle-aged, wealthy, and settled in their comfortable life in Hampshire and London. John didn't want children, so instead Eleanor used her energies to help run the company and get involved in the local community. So imagine her horror when, one day, she discovers that her husband has led a secret life for twenty years, in the shape of a mistress and a nineteen-year-old daughter - the daughter that she herself never had. The jealousy that Eleanor feels is all-consuming, driving her to limits she would never have thought possible. Then John, badly injured in a car crash, becomes a victim of PVS - Persistent Vegetative State. Although he is capable of communicating by the tiniest of signals, he has no quality of life. And so arises the ultimate question - and the ultimate opportunity for revenge. Should he live, or should he die? John's fate hangs in the balance as the three women he deceived and betrayed decide upon the answer.
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Add this copy of The Question to cart. $2.29, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brownstown, MI, UNITED STATES, published 1999 by Harpercollins Pub Ltd.
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THE QUESTION was the first Jane Asher book I read. It arrived from alibris.com with minor wear and a sticker on the front that announced that it had once been on sale at an ASDA (a British supermarket) for just under 2 British pound-notes, after originally selling for 5pounds99, $14.99 in Australia! Is the story itself as accessible as the ASDA-sticker price? Well, how does this grab you: John and Eleanor Hamilton (whatPresidential/First-Lady-like names!), are a middle-aged, middle-class, childless British couple. The first few pages of their story surround, esconce, cocoon the reader in luxurious comfort/comfortable luxury. All is well, or seems well, in Eleanor Hamilton's world as she chats to Ruth, her husband's young secretary. (NB: Ruth is a slender, great-looking redhead.) Ruth is bubbling over with her usual enthusiasm and she and Eleanor have a delightful conversation. Then the conversation ends and Eleanor hangs up her phone.... Ruth has said something amiss without realizing it. Eleanor didn't realize it at first either. It takes a few pages for Eleanor to walk through her lovely home and feel things going wrong without really knowing, what, how, why--but it is one exquisite depiction. The first of many exquisite depictions of an un-exquisite situation indeed. You just might find THE QUESTION impossible to put down, and I mean that in both senses: it will hold you captive; and you might not be able to find serious fault with it. I really, really, really don't want to say too much, but I feel like I have to say that in the midst of a horrifying and horrible situation, Eleanor seizes a chance to play fairy godmother to a young girl, to go all "Extreme Makeover" on her in every sense of the term, and more for her own benefit (Eleanor's) than the girl's--maybe even to the girl's detriment and/or to the detriment of others. But where you find a fairy godmother--what other fairy-tale usual-suspect character might you find? As I mentioned in my review of THE LONGING, you may already be familiar with Jane Asher, one way or another or another...so you may find a few sparks of unintentional "knowing humor." (See my Epinions.com review of the original Michael Caine ALFIE....) You'll also find lots of descriptions of interior design and scrumptious-sounding meals as Ms. Asher imbues Eleanor with talents and interests in line with her own. There is some strong language (usually as perfectly normal reactions to aspects of the situation Eleanor finds herself...realizing that she is in; in the beginning she does resist using certain words that she has never found necessary Until Now) and a few graphic descriptions, one of which may remind you of notorious people in the 1990s news, and an American classic novel, simultaneously! There's a marvelous use of language throughout. I must share one of my favorites: near the bottom of page 137, she is thinking: "How amazing...that my body has done all that without my being aware of it"; she says "a silent thank you to her own body for carrying on so bravely without her"--changing from nightclothes to an outfit for the day and doing her hair and makeup and looking presentable by the time her cleaning lady arrives, because until she heard the woman at the door, she really didn't know whether she was sitting in her kitchen fully dressed or still upstairs in bed--in the guest room at her brother's place or maybe back at her childhood home; her world has been shaken up and she is questioning everything, starting with who she is and who she has been.... Even if you've read a hundred books about women dealing with having their worlds shaken up, how many have been exactly like this? How many of these women have been presented by Jane Asher? Even if they're taking Writer Advice 101 and writing what they know, how many know exactly what Ms. Asher knows in the exact way she knows it, through her own experiences and through getting inside the many characters she has portrayed on stage and screen? QUESTION: Should you read THE QUESTION by Jane Asher? No question about it! Thank you for your time.
