Fraud [Paperback]

Anita Brookner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 13, 1994

At the heart of Anita Brookner's new novel lies a double mystery: What has happened to Anna Durrant, a solitary woman of a certain age who has disappeared from her London flat? And why has it taken four months for anyone to notice?

As Brookner reconstructs Anna's life and character through the eyes of her acquaintances, she gives us a witty yet ultimately devastating study of self-annihilating virtue while exposing the social, fiscal, and moral frauds that are the underpinnings of terrifying rectitude.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A recluse vanishes from her London flat and a gullible professor dreams of love at a provincial British university in Brookner's two novels about discontented women.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The women in Brookner's quiet novels often lead narrow, circumscribed lives. Although they are usually financially secure and well educated, they are barely touched by the world outside their well-furnished walls. Anna Durrant is another such heroine. As the novel begins, the police are investigating her disappearance. The action then moves back through her life of dutiful companionship to her invalid, widowed mother and her disappointments in love, looking for clues to her whereabouts. We come to see how Anna and her associates have erected false facades to conform to society's expectations. Very little actually happens in Brookner's novels, yet the characters live such rich inner lives that her devoted readers inevitably come to care deeply about them, as they surely will about Anna Durrant and what has become of her. Recommended for all literary fiction collections.
- Barbara Love, St. Lawrence Coll., Kingston, Ontario
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (January 13, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679743081
• ISBN-13: 978-0679743088
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.6 x 8.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,498,368 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vintage Brookner With A Twist, July 9, 2004

By 

Polkadotty (Mountains of Western North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fraud (Paperback)

I shall go out on a limb and deem this the best Brookner I have read thus far. A good holiday read, for as with most Brookner, this is a demanding read, requiring time, dedication, and attention to her detailed prose. However, this book differs from most Brookner, as it slides between points of view, taking us effortlessly and seemlessly into the minds of three disparate main characters ~ Anna Durrant; the doctor; and Mrs Marsh. There are also other, supporting characters whom we are introduced to, all of whom provide enlightening peeks into Brookner's trademark 'circumscribed lives'. Anna Durrant, the heroine, is written almost as a parody of Brookner's well-educated, well-off, well-kept women who have devoted themselves to some desperate, hopeless cause or another. Anna is disatisfied, she realises how boring, how up-tight she appears to others, and this adds for a bit of ~ dare I say? ~ light relief. Mrs Marsh, the elderly curmudgeon Anna befriends despite herself and against the oppositions of Miss Marsh, is a wonderful outspoken, fully-fleshed, roundly-experienced individual ~ the perfect foil for the reticent, protected Anna. And the doctor who suffers a reluctant attraction to Anna's very slender charms is superbly characterised. The doctor has chosen another over Anna, a bright, active, shimmery, shallow sort of woman, an Anna-antithesis, and this becomes the catalyst for all sorts of inner turmoil and Brooknerian heartbreak. Take this one out to the terrace, pour yourself a lemonade, and settle into a satisfying, depthy read.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful character study., January 23, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Tustin, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fraud (Paperback)

With this book, I have just discovered the wonderful talent of Anita Brookner (where have I been?). The book's idea is common and simple- growing old,being alone, missing out on life- and it is woven into a story that is worth reading every page. I found that I got to really know the characters and cared about them. I agree with a reviewer that writes about her "satiny prose". Can't wait to try her other books.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Brookner, June 21, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Fraud (Paperback)

This book is wonderful. Although the characters don't DO much, it's their inner world that counts.

Just when you think Anna is lost forever, she manages to find some inner resource to turn her life around. Hooray! And those that she leaves behind will have to face the honest truth about themselves, or risk living a wasted life.

The author is so very adept at exploring the differences of how we act, in order to be socially acceptable, and how we really feel--what we'd do if we didn't live in "polite society."