Margot Livesey was born and grew up on the edge of the Scottish Highlands. She is the author of a collection of stories and nine other novels, including Eva Moves the Furniture, The Flight of Gemma Hardy, and The Boy in the Field. She has received awards from the NEA, the Guggenheim Foundation and the Radcliffe Institute. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and is on the faculty of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
Livesey's new book is The Road from Belhaven, her tenth novel.
Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:
I am reading The Blue Window by Suzanne Berne. The novel takes place over a few days when Lorna, a therapist, drivesVisit Margot Livesey's website and Facebook page.to Vermont with her son Adam to visit her taciturn mother, Marika. All her adult life Lorna has grappled with the inexplicable fact that her mother left the family and completely ignored her children for many years. Now Adam has come home from university barely speaking because of some trauma he won’t reveal. As for Marika, in her eighties she now needs help but refuses to admit it. The chapters revolve between the three main characters to splendid effect. Adam’s gloom and doom - he refers to himself as A - makes him surprisingly sympathetic with his grandmother. Part of the skill of this wonderfully intelligent novel is that it knows which secrets to keep and which to reveal. And did I say that it’s wonderfully funny?
The Page 69 Test: The Flight of Gemma Hardy.
The Page 69 Test: Mercury.
Q&A with Margot Livesey.
The Page 69 Test: The Boy in the Field.
The Page 69 Test: The Road from Belhaven.
--Marshal Zeringue
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