This book is both uplifting and empathetic with a woman's struggle when her children have grown up and she finds she has lost her identity. It is philosophy for those who need to find themselves in the grand scheme of life. This is one of my favourite books of all time. ( )

This book is both uplifting and empathetic with a woman's struggle when her children have grown up and she finds she has lost her identity. It is philosophy for those who need to find themselves in the grand scheme of life. This is one of my favourite books of all time. ( )

This book is both uplifting and empathetic with a woman's struggle when her children have grown up and she finds she has lost her identity. It is philosophy for those who need to find themselves in the grand scheme of life. This is one of my favourite books of all time. ( )

A thoughtful exploration of what it means to be sane, written from the point of view of Charlotte FitzRoy, a fifty year-old woman who is undergoing a mental breakdown. Her story is interwoven with the true life story of her possible ancestor, Robert FitzRoy, who was the captain of HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin's voyage. Darwin, Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud appear and discuss their theories in the light of Charlotte's genetic heritage, her collapse and the fall of Communism (the book is set in 1989-1990).

Each chapter opens with a quotation from 'Alice in Wonderland' and the theme of tea parties and differing perceptions of reality resurface again and again in the book.

It's a hard novel to characterise and certainly can't be described as an easy read, but it is brilliantly done. ( )