Dimensions
128 x 15 x 198mm
The marriage of Elfie and Hugh Lyle is a late one, straddling an age gap of over twenty years. By common consent it is also childless. After all, Hugh, aged 64, already has his stake in the future in the form of a ready-made family from his earlier marriage, which should be more than enough for both of them.
But Elfie has changed. Whereas once she was grateful to have passed the first staging-post of life which is marriage, she is now driven towards the next, which is motherhood. As she puts her cheek against the downy head of her step-daughter's third baby and feels him, softer than fur, warmer than silk, it confirms her conviction that she and Hugh must have a child themselves. Yet her time is running out. Married to an arch-procrastinator, she knows she cannot wait for her husband's uncertain consent.
As spring erupts into summer and summer fades to autumn, the sexual imperatives become more insistent. The line between ethics and sinning grows blurred. And is it so very wrong, Elfie wonders? She is following the law of nature: why resist?
