Amy Henderson, the central character in [Blaming] …, is a woman of average intelligence and limited sensibility. She is 'nice' to the extent that she does her best to conceal the boredom and irritation seething inside her, but otherwise she isn't particularly likeable. She has the good manners of the thoughtless, the tact of the uninvolved. She knows only her own problems. She bears a striking resemblance to a hell of a lot of people.

Blaming is largely about Amy's widowhood—how she endures it, and how it changes her. The book covers a year in her life. Her slight progress from total absorption in her own misery to a state of mind bordering on the self-forgetful is charted by Mrs Taylor with all her old artistry—that enviable compound of beady-eyed detachment and sympathetic understanding. Under her steady gaze, Amy is allowed to get away with nothing. Grief...