The Driftway

This novel would no doubt prove a boon to those colleagues who relish stories that provide opportunties to 'branch out' into lots of non-fiction work,' 'centered' on the novel. Paul and Sandra run away from home and their ill-liked step-mother; heading for their Grandma's, a few miles distant in Oxfordshire. Their route takes them along an ancient driftway, which they travel at leisurely pace with Bill, a very ponderous horse and cart driver. The lad's highly-charged emotional state enables him to glimpse the shadows of past events cast down on this old drovers' road and as a result get his own feelings into a clearer perspective. Without doubt this novel does exemplify Penelope Lively's creative and imaginative gifts but I suspect it of being a little too slow for many young solo readers.