The Radiant Way

She has invited her two friends from her university days in Cambridge, whom she still regularly sees: Esther Breuer, a writer and lecturer on obscure historical artefacts, and Alix Bowen, who is teaching English literature to female prisoners.

A lot of the novel explores British cultural life through these three characters, while in the background a serial killer is operating in London, unnerving the three women as they transit through the city.

Alix, who was widowed at a young age with a small baby, has struggled financially and socially for years, finally marrying an English lecturer at a polytechnic.

Esther, an academic, is content to continue her study of the obscure artefacts, living in a flat that reflects her personality and lifestyle, and is slightly perplexed by the modernising world.

While Liz has moved up in social strata through gaining entry to Cambridge and entering a profession, Shirley has remained in her home town, married and become a housewife, and now feels abandoned, spending years caring for their cold and distant mother.