Against Her Nature

by Elizabeth Buchan

Unlike the Frants living their quiet ordered lives in the village of Appleford, Tess and Becky are of the generation that reckons it can have everything. High flyers in the high-octane world of Londons high-finance, they move through the opportunists, the short-termists, the sharks, the bullies and the very, very rich to face many choices, not least the one presented by children. How they and an older generation balance the texture of their lives is offered in a story with universal themes. Brilliantly and beautifully combined with a tender and unexpected love story and a journey to maturity, it is the work of a fine and courageous writer.

Genres: Fiction

368 pages, Paperback

First published June 6, 1998

About the author

Elizabeth Buchan began her career as a blurb writer at Penguin Books after graduating from the University of Kent with a double degree in English and History. She moved on to become a fiction editor at Random House before leaving to write full time. Her novels include the prizewinning Consider the Lily – reviewed in the Independent as ‘a gorgeously well written tale: funny, sad and sophisticated’. A subsequent novel, Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman became an international bestseller and was made into a CBS Primetime Drama. Later novels included The Second Wife, Separate Beds and Daughters. Her latest, I Can’t Begin to Tell You, a story of resistance in wartime Denmark, was published by Penguin in August 2014.

Elizabeth Buchan’s short stories are broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and published in magazines. She reviews for the Sunday Times and the Daily Mail, and has chaired the Betty Trask and Desmond Elliot literary prizes, and also been a judge for the Whitbread First Novel Award and for 2014 Costa Novel Award. She is a patron of the Guildford Book Festival and of The National Academy of Writing, and sits on the author committee for The Reading Agency.

Reviews

[Elaine and Tess the Springer. I won’t be on GR for a bit. · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.

A very slow beginning bordering on boring. It doesn’t speed up but the story starts to come together and gets more interesting. The characters are okay not particularly likeable or even unlikeable they are confident and very sure of themselves. This book wasn’t for me.

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reminds me of Anna Karenina at times. The writing is good but yes I would definitely to tell you it is somehow slow burn with multiple characters.

[A · Rating 1 out of 5]

Managed 6 chapters and gave up, tedious, unlikeable characters, all about finance, insurance (Lloyd's investors) dull, dull, dull.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would have understood it better if could grasp the business of 'Insurance'.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book 'grew' on me as I read it.

[Callas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Elizabeth Buchan has come a long way as a writer since she wrote this novel, and so has women's emancipation.

The story is dense and there are lots details about how the insurance business works which would be quite interesting if there were not that many of them. The way the women think and act, as well as what they have to deal with at work and in society in general is nowadays quite incomprehensible even for someone who remembers that era. It's quite an accurate depiction but since the novel isn't written very well it feels dated.

[Brown Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is rare for me to read a book with so many characters and dislike every single one of them.

The beginning of the book is quite difficult to get into, rather confusing, and it takes a bit of perseverance to figure out who's who and follow the story. And then everyone turns out to be utterly unpleasant, and the fact that the scene is set in the finance world is definitely not a plus for me, as I couldn't care less about that whole environment.

[Vivien · Rating 1 out of 5]

Actually I haven't finished this. The two women this book is about are so vile I couldn't take any more. One of them is a callous selfish bitch and the other one is such a moron that when she agreed to marry her lover that she had just caught cheating on her I just gave up. I couldn't care less what happens to any of the characters.

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just could not get into it!!

[Gillian · Rating 2 out of 5]

My 2nd Elizabeth Buchan novel in quick succession and so far I don't like it any better. I'm on p66 and struggling to like the characters but I'll persist in hope that it grabs me. I have no knowledge or interest in stock markets and high finance but I might learn something. Fingers crossed'
I did finish the book because I hoped it would improve. It was okay and I don't regret completing it. I couldn't really empathize with Tess or Becky and I kept getting the men mixed up.
I am now about to embark on a 3rd novel by Elizabeth Buchan!

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was difficult to rate; I'd have used 3 1/2 stars if possible. The characters are engaging, but the time seems impossibly dated, considering it begins in the late 1980s. It is a very dense story, not easy to read or light in the least. It's good, but maybe if read in the mid 90s it would have seemed even better.

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite readable, if a bit confusing. Banking, insurance and its dangers, feminism, and motherhood all combine in this book. Rather too many people and different scenarios for my tastes, but not a bad book.

[Liz · Rating 1 out of 5]

gosh that was tedious

[Diane · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not get into this. Too much talk of finance/insurance and stuff that does not interest me.