![]() ![]() ‘It was supposed to end in the flood in Florence in 1966,’ she wrote to Stuart Proffitt, her editor at Collins, ‘but I gave up as all the characters would have got so old by that time.’Ī densely written notebook that contains her ‘Attempt at Synopsis’ for Part 2 catches up first with Chiara: Fitzgerald originally envisaged the novel in two parts: Part 1 would cover the events leading up to Chiara and Salvatore’s wedding in 1956 Part 2 would return to the same characters a decade later. Is it calculated? Exactly so.’įitzgerald’s working papers, held at the Harry Ransom Center in Texas, reveal hints of the future she imagined for Chiara and Salvatore. ‘Is this frustrating?’ Julian Barnes asked in his introduction to the 2013 edition. ![]() In the other, Chiara is seen ‘during the later stages of her life, when things were not going well for her’, recalling a bewildering phrase uttered by her English convent school friend Barney: ‘You must let us know, though, if you’re ever in Chipping Camden.’ This is all we’re allowed to see. ![]() ![]() In one flash forward, their wedding photographs are seen from the perspective of someone looking back, three decades later. In her sixth novel, Innocence (1986), set in 1950s Italy, Fitzgerald provides two tantalising glimpses of the future of Chiara and Salvatore, the main characters. It’s just an insult to explain everything.’ She was exaggerating, but not by much. P enelope F itzgerald was attached to the virtue of omission, telling one interviewer that her books were ‘about twice the length … when they’re first finished, but I cut all of it out. ![]()
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