Interpretations of Love
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'Her work merits comparison with that of Edna O'Brien or Muriel Spark' New York Times
Stretching from war-torn 1940's Liverpool to Oxford at the end of the century, this story explores the emotional landscape of the time and the impact tiny moments of betrayal can have on our relationships in the years that follow.
Malcolm has held on to a secret for more than fifty years: a letter his sister Sophy gave him just before she died. He had promised to give it to the young doctor she met one night during the Liverpool Blitz: a night that altered the course of her life.
But the letter was never delivered. Now, after so many years of uncertainty, Malcolm has decided to share Sophy's secret with her daughter Agnes.
It is the day of Agnes's daughter's wedding party. The ghosts of Agnes's past and all the powerful emotions of the family reunion wrap around her thoughts. Until she is distracted by a hand on her arm as her uncle Malcolm holds out an envelope for her to take . . .
Touching on the many different forms love can take and told from multiple perspectives, Interpretations of Love is the story of a letter and our endless search for the stories that we have lost.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Campbell's dreary first novel (after the collection Cat Brushing) starts off with a corker of an ethical dilemma before drifting into the meandering musings of a cohort of Oxford-based academics. Retired Old Testament professor Malcolm Miller reflects on a letter his dying sister gave him 50 years earlier, which she asked him to pass on to Joe Bradshaw, the man she believed was the father of her daughter, Agnes, who was four at the time. For whatever reason, Malcolm didn't do so. In the decades since, Joe became a psychoanalyst, and through a remarkable coincidence, took on Agnes as a patient when her marriage was falling apart and developed romantic feelings for her. Now, Agnes's daughter is getting married, and Malcolm and Joe are going to be at the wedding, prompting Malcolm to wonder whether now is the time to share the letter's contents. The novel shifts between the points of view of Malcolm, Joe, and Agnes, but each of their voices sound confusingly similar, and they're all disposed to statements like "Somewhere is the unalterable, irradicable truth and I need not fear it." Only the most patient readers will want to enter the minds of these circular thinkers.
