In Penelope Lively explores the nature of history and memory as it is embodied in the life of a forty-year-old woman, anne linton, who unexpectedly learns that her father had a mistress. With this new knowledge, linton m...In Penelope Lively explores the nature of history and memory as it is embodied in the life of a forty-year-old woman, anne linton, who unexpectedly learns that her father had a mistress. With this new knowledge, linton must now examine the realities of her own life - of her childhood, her husband - and ask, what do they really know of her?