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Title: Elegant work
Review: To read Shirley Hazzard is to venture into times and spaces restricted by social mores. Evocative of Edith Wharton, her characters are ensnared by the prevailing right and wrong of the times in which they live. In this case, it is post World War II Italy. With an economy of words, she paints a magnificent sense of place, imbues it with ordinary people and requires them to make life altering decisions.Unlike contemporary writers, Hazzard does not pin every detail on the page - readers are required to think. There is always an elegance in Hazzard's work, even in this early, straightforward novel.
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