tries to persuade her that while he is in town they should have an affair. Charles, who is aware of Harriet's earlier attraction to Vesey and is a deeply jealous man, forces Harriet to invite Vesey over in order to reassure him that nothing is going on between them. Instead the meeting has the opposite effect and only furthers Charles' jealousy while continuing to stoke Harriet's feelings for Vesey. Vesey returns to London but continues to have an emotional affair with Harriet who begins to visit him. The two are ultimately unable to consummate their affair due to Harriet's deep guilt over betraying Charles. In order to end their limbo, Vesey finally decides to tell Harriet he is moving to South Africa to take over his estranged father's business. Harriet returns to Charles and confesses that she has been seeing Vesey. Surprised by her confession he decides to forgive her and the two recommit to their marriage. The South African trip is a lie as Vesey remains estranged from his father and is beginning to fall ill and plans to move back in with his mother. He and Harriet see each other a final time before he moves away. Reception In a 1951 book review in Kirkus Reviews the review summarized; "A shaded, subtle recording of lonely lives which find no real contact—or comfort—with each other... the insights here are finedrawn, the conclusions inescapable. For her audience—which is established if selective." In reviewing the 2009 reissue, Elizabeth Day of the Guardian wrote "Taylor's forte as an author is acute observation and the devastating precision of her understated prose. Her brilliance is particularly evident in this, her fifth novel, set in her familiar milieu of middle-class married couples whose unfulfilled lives are crisscrossed with unspoken tension and stifled ardour." She further observed it "showcases much of what makes Taylor a great novelist: piercing insight, a keen wit and a genuine sense of feeling for her characters." Writing for The New Republic, Britt Peterson wrote "The ambiguous ending, Taylor’s best, like a perfect bubble that never bursts, is a moving refusal to render final judgment on any of the imperfect, well-meaning bumblers who make up the story." References 1951 British novels Novels by Elizabeth Taylor Peter Davies books