They had met before, of course. The county of Norfolk is not so populous that they could have avoided each other. Their conduct at these meetings had been shaped by Ginny’s lofty and willful ignorance of the situation: by Emma’s sangfroid: by Felix’s natural desire to maintain an arrangement that suited him. Over the years they had coincided in drafty parish halls, in charity committee rooms, and at the caucuses of local groups concerned with the protection of what, in the decade just beginning, would be known as “the environment.” They had bumped into each other in Norwich, shopping in Jarrold’s department store; they had ex-changed small talk at exhibitions of craftwork, and occupied neigh-boring seats at the theater. Once, traveling to London, they had found themselves sole oc-cupants of a first-class carriage. For half an hour they had found enough that was anodyne to pass the time. Then Ginny, excusing herself with a smile, delved into her bag and pulled out a fat paper-back book.
What do You think about A Change Of Climate: A Novel?
