Exposure

A brilliantly observed modern morality tale, Talitha Stevenson’s Exposure explores the terrible effects of deceit, obsession, and shame on a dangerously complacent family.  Alistair Langford, a respected and powerful barrister, has been hiding his past since he left his hometown of Dover to study at Oxford in the late 1950s. Embarrassed by his working-class upbringing in a guesthouse run by his single mother, with whom he has not had any contact for forty years, he has lied about himself to everyone in his life since Oxford, including his wife, Rosalind, and his two children, Luke and Sophie. But after the death of his mother and a one-night stand with a devious defense witness, his tightly woven tapestry of lies begins to unravel.Exposure is a deftly plotted, psychologically suspenseful, and compulsively readable novel from one of the most exciting young fiction writers today.From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. Rich and psychologically astute, British author Stevenson's impressive second novel (after 2004's An Empty Room) refracts the life of an upper-middle-class English family—Alistair Langford, a prominent London lawyer; his devoted wife, Rosalind; and two grown children, Luke and Sophie—through the prism of a single, scandalous affair Alistair has with a witness in one of his cases. The event exposes the intricate web of lies that forms Alistair's life, in particular the flagrant denial of his middle-class past as he pursues success and respectability by virtue of his amazing intellect. The most intricate portrait is that of 28-year-old Luke, an advertising executive who embarks on a torrid affair with a high-strung, beautiful and self-absorbed actress, only to be emotionally devastated when she leaves him. Luke's increasingly desperate ploys to win her back are a key narrative arc, though the main story is Alistair's. A fine writer who paints her scenes with loving detail, Stevenson also depicts her characters' thoughts and insights with an acuity reminiscent of Ian McEwan's recent triumph, Saturday. The increasingly baroque plot threatens to overwhelm the novel, but this is nonetheless the work of a writer to be watched. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistDistinguished barrister Alistair Langford has never been one to throw caution to the winds. Since childhood, he has purposefully adhered to a rigid demeanor, setting about achieving his life's mission--the proper home, proper wife, proper career--with a quiet zealousness. How, then, does one explain Alistair's total abandonment of all these lofty ideals when he heedlessly has a sordid one-night stand with a defense witness in a high-profile case he's trying? The scandal, luridly exposed in Britain's infamous tabloid gossip rags, predictably destroys his career and endangers his marriage; and yet the disgrace is oddly liberating, even as it reveals shocking secrets about a past he'd worked so hard to renounce. Along with a complex subplot involving Alistair's ne'er-do-well son, whose own failed love affair sends him into paroxysms of grief and dreams of depraved retribution, Stevenson limns the depths of passion and privacy in a quietly tense cautionary tale that forces her peevish characters to cope with the fallout from their moral ambiguities. Carol HaggasCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved