When The World Was Steady

Claire Messud's outstanding debut novel about two sisters worlds apart.

This is the story of two London-born, middle-aged sisters, Emmy and Virginia, who have been estranged for more than twenty years. Emmy leaves her chosen home, Australia, after a romantic crisis makes her life intolerable. She flees to Bali where the spirituality of the island arrests her. Virginia on the other hand has always remained in London, working patiently and steadily and tending her mother. But her crisis has come too, a crisis of religion and belief.

Messud leads us on from Bali to Skye to London, evoking each location in precise and mesmerizing detail. She demonstrates that though physically and temperamentally a family can be worlds apart, there is always something to hold them together. As exceptional in quality as it is in content, this is a debut novel of remarkable breadth and insight.