Family and Friends is Anita Brookner's fifth novel, first published in 1985. This wonderful work tells the story of an upper-class widow and her four children, describing the relationship among them and with the people around them throughout their mother's life, who is, in some way, the glue that holds them together. The book is set mainly in London, but as some of the characters move, it changes settings to Paris, New York, Hollywood, etc. The characters' personalities and feelings are also as changing, but at the same time their traits remain the same.

Commentary

The book begins with the narrator looking at a wedding photograph, in which Sofka, the widow, has such a strong presence that the narrator initially fails to notice the bride and groom. Through the description of this picture all the main characters are introduced. The narrator starts as a first person narrator, who...