A GREEN EQUINOX

One year, three affairs, and a woman transformed.

In a reissue of the late Mavor’s 1973 Booker Prize­–shortlisted novel, heroine Hero Kinoull is already in the throes of an affair—the first of three she will have over the course of a year. “Through books, beautiful but so dangerous books,” antiquarian and bookbinder Hero meets and begins falling for Hugh Shafto, the appointed guardian of the Rococo collection at Beaudesert Park. Married to Belle, an earnest optimist, Hugh finds himself bored by her opinions and beliefs—while also comforted and romanced by her tolerance and compassion. When the two women finally meet, Belle is still unaware of her husband’s affair and welcomes Hero into her inner circle. Quickly Hero is roped into one of Belle’s hopeful missions, which includes saving a historic fixture at Beaudesert. As the two women become closer, Hero struggles with the “spoiling maggot of truth” beneath their seeming friendship. After a traumatic accident, Belle and Hero are sent to recover at the home of Hugh’s mother and Belle’s mother-in-law, Kate Shafto. Hugh has always had a complicated relationship with his mother, whose enormous life and dogged pursuit of experience has left him feeling inferior. Their relationship is further strained when his mistress and wife strike up a short-lived affair of their own under his mother’s roof. After Hero recovers, she does not leave Kate Shafto’s “small kingdom”; instead, she forges a relationship with her that transcends categorization. Mavor writes beautifully about time and explores how each affair gives Hero the opportunity to orient her relationship to it: With Hugh, she revels in the past; with Belle, she looks hopefully toward the future; and with Kate Shafto, she finally lives unapologetically in the present. Though Mavor’s lush and ornate prose and dialogue meanders at times, she effectively captures the timelessness of love, grief, sexuality, illness, and desire.

A transgressive novel about love, art, and gender is given new life.