Amazon.com: Getting the Picture: A Novel (9780345481016): Sarah Salway: Books
Getting the Picture and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more


or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime Free Trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn More
Kindle Edition
 
   
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Getting the Picture: A Novel
 
 
Start reading Getting the Picture on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Getting the Picture: A Novel [Paperback]

Sarah Salway (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

List Price: $15.00
Price: $11.70 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $3.30 (22%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Only 1 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).
Want it delivered Tuesday, February 28? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition --  
Paperback $11.70  

Book Description

March 23, 2010
“Do you remember that first time we met? It was in the old studio in Brunson Road. How much did we miss, love, by not being together?”
 
In the early 1960s, Maureen Griffiths, married with children, accompanies a friend to a modeling shoot, never intending to be in front of the camera herself. But after meeting photographer Martin Morris, Maureen is transformed—and Martin quickly falls for this simple, straightforward woman who calls herself Mo.

    Forty years later, shortly after Maureen’s death, Martin moves into Pilgrim House, a retirement community, in part because Maureen’s husband, George, is also a resident there. Through letters he continues to write to Mo, Martin reveals a lifetime of tireless devotion to his one true love. He is also determined to figure out why Mo stayed with her difficult, demanding husband. So with the aid of some of the colorful residents of Pilgrim House, Martin delves into the secrets of Maureen’s family—and becomes increasingly entwined in the complicated life that Maureen built to shield herself.

    Told through letters, emails, and other communications, Getting the Picture is an irresistible, charming novel of family secrets, regrets, and abiding love.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Salway (Tell Me Everything) refutes the adage about old dogs and new tricks in this breezy epistolary novel set in a British retirement home. Not that the residents of Pilgrim House don't know plenty of old tricks already: Salway's appreciation of her characters is refreshingly nonpatronizing—her oldsters have rich and naughty pasts, but live in the present, very much alive and eager to gossip, conspire, and seduce. George Griffiths is the archetypal stuffy widower, determined to control the behavior of anyone near him. He's also the only male resident of Pilgrim House until Martin Morris, a photographer who specializes in female nudes, moves in with his cameras and his photo collection. Martin's a schemer who, unbeknownst to George, had an affair with George's wife decades earlier and has been obsessed with her since; he saved all the letters he wrote her but never sent, and continues to write to her about his increasingly menacing plans. Although the epistolary device requires that some key revelations are reported from a distance, relationships and characters evolve nicely in this lighthearted novel about family and lovers and the not-so-lighthearted secrets that separate them. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

 
“Sarah Salway is an astonishingly smart writer. Her fiction is always beautifully structured, touching and clever. She manages the trick of creating characters you care about in stories you admire. I can’t wait to see what she does next.”—Neil Gaiman
 

“Relationships and characters evolve nicely in this lighthearted novel about family and lovers and the not-so-lighthearted secrets that separate them.”—Publishers Weekly

Product Details

  • Paperback: 222 pages
  • Publisher: Ballantine Books; Original edition (March 23, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0345481011
  • ISBN-13: 978-0345481016
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,332,288 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

 

Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars fascinating character study, March 27, 2010
This review is from: Getting the Picture: A Novel (Paperback)
The elderly residents of Pilgrim House are all females except for crusty stuffy George Griffiths. His being the only male not on staff ends when nude female model photographer Martin Morris moves into the retirement home.

Martin has a hidden agenda. Decades ago he met and fell in love with Mrs. George Griffiths. His Mo however chose to stay with her spouse and their children although Martin believes he was the love of her life as she was his as proven by the letters of love he wrote his beloved but wisely never sent. He needs to know why she never left the priggish snob. Although Mo is dead, Martin still writes to her as if she was alive and ready to join him even as he begins to investigate the life of Mo with George, who never knew of his wife's affair with Martin.

This is a fascinating character study that looks deep into the relationships at a retirement home filled with feisty individuals who all seem full of life. However, the prime focus is the intriguing triangle as the connecting woman is dead while one of the men in her life is unaware that the other was in her life albeit forty tears ago. Using letters (not just those written but not mailed by Martin), Getting the Picture is an entertaining relationship drama.

Harriet Klausner
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


5.0 out of 5 stars Epistolary, Witty, Marvelous, September 8, 2010
This review is from: Getting the Picture: A Novel (Paperback)
I have read all Sarah Salway's books. She is one of the smartest, wittiest writers of present times, and I recommend anything by her. Getting The Picture is just great. I couldn't get through a page without smiling or laughing aloud. Two of the characters in particular were excellent examples of the bourgeois, self regarding, Mrs. Bucket type, but done in a fresh way because this is an epistolary novel. The requirements of letters narrowed their desire to correct another to the page, which made their pointed remarks particularly funny. The grandmother from A Good Man Is Hard to Find would have been quite happy at Pilgrim House, where everyone is scheming for something. There is one photography session where an old man and woman meet with a camera between them that is riveting; Salway adds layers to it in the retelling, so that the poignancy of the event overtakes the humor. I can't stop thinking about the state of mind of the 79 year old woman who lowers her shirt for the camera. All these old people still want to be seen, and to reveal themselves. Salway is a wonder at detail--small moments from all her books are permanently embedded in my mind. She gets at people's strangeness without being quirky. Don't know how she does it, but it's marvelous.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews



Inside This Book (learn more)
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums


Listmania!


Create a Listmania! list

So You'd Like to...


Create a guide


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject