FREE LOVE

It seems that Tessa Hadley keeps being referred to as the writer who goes under the radar because she writes about the middle classes. With her new book “The Party’ out in hardback, we decided to read one of her earlier works ‘Free Love’ about a middle-aged woman throwing caution to the wind and resetting her life, swapping stability for an imagined freedom.

Hadley’s writing is polished and compelling. The Den were instantly immersed in the life of Phyllis Fischer, who on a whim decides to embark on what appears at first to be a bit of fun, but soon turns out to be an act with complex and unexpected life changing consequences.
Phyllis Fischer believes she is happily married to Roger who works for the foreign office. They live in the commuter suburbs of Otterly with their two children, Colette 16 and Hugh 9. One evening they invite Nicky, a struggling, opinionated writer and son of Roger’s old friend round for dinner as a favour. Nicky arrives over an hour late, dishevelled and generally provocative as there is no where he would less rather be than at a formal dinner with this middle-aged couple and their insufferable daughter. When Phyllis receives a phone call from her neighbour asking her to look for her son’s lost shoe, Nicky finds himself helping in the hunt, the result being a sudden passionate kiss by the garden pond. So begins, not just an affair, but a complete reset of Phyllis’s life as she moves to a crumbling art deco building of apartments in Notting Hill, leaving behind her family and mixing with the local artists of that time during the 1960’s. It is a heady, free life, a million miles away from Otterly and her established existence. And the ultimate question is - will the grass be greener on the other side?

However, this is not simply a story about a midlife affair with a younger man, it is about the revaluation of life, doing the unexpected and not settling for second best. There are several twists and turns and Hadley interrupts Phyllis’s narrative with small sections written through the eyes of the husband, children, lover and the effect her departure has on their own view of life. Colette being at that awkward age when not having her mother around leads her astray, whilst Hugh goes from being the apple of his mother’s eye to finding her presence unbearable. Hadley treats all her characters with a refreshing honesty and you can almost feel her disappointment at the way some of them behave. The overall result is you are drawn to everyone and not sure who to route for, but it is the protagonist Phyllis who ultimately makes the decision which she knows will bring everyone else down with her.

Without giving away a spoiler, the ending of the book is particularly interesting and sure to be part of your book club discussion.