Clever book about a librarian whose life's work is a translation of a book from the Middle Ages and his family. The omniscient narrator knows more than the characters and shares this extra knowledge with the reader. Various kinds of love are shown. I don't want to give away anything, but I'm glad I read it.

A sample quote: It had never occurred to Giles that there was something perfectly sensible about wishing to hold on to innocence. He had always gone in for the idea that since we only pass this way once, experience counts for everything. Again, the modernity of this attitude, now it occurred to him, filled him with remorse. [p. 99] ( )

A sly, droll comedy of manners. Highly recommended. ( )