Although I would say it caters more to academics (unlike me) and those who enjoy deeper philosophy. Short at 192 pages but filled with entertaining observations. I was very excited to read this beautifully written book. In Elizabeth Finch, we are treated to everything we cherish in Barnes: his eye for the unorthodox forms love can take between two people, a compelling swerve into nonfictional material (this time, through Neil’s obsessive study of Julian the Apostate, following on notes Elizabeth left for him to discover after her death), and the forcefully moving undercurrent of history, and biography in particular, as nourishment and guide in our current lives. While other personal relationships and even his family drift from Neil’s grasp, Elizabeth’s application of her material to the matter of daily living remains important to him, even after her death, in a way that nothing else does.

Neil, the narrator, takes her class “Culture and Civilisation,” taught not for undergraduates but for adults of all ages we are drawn into his intellectual crush on this private, withholding, yet commanding woman.

This beautiful, spare novel of platonic unrequited love springs into being around the singular character of the stoic, exacting Professor Elizabeth Finch.

“I’ll remember Elizabeth Finch when most other characters I’ve met this year have faded.” –John Self, The Times From the best-selling, award-winning author of The Sense of an Ending, a magnetic tale that centers on the presence of a vivid and particular woman, whose loss becomes the occasion for a man’s deeper examination of love, friendship, and biography.

Elizabeth finch review