We don't want to know
Sir: Much as I admire Hilary Mantel as a novelist, I am less than enamoured of her as a book reviewer. I refer to her review of Penelope Lively's latest novel, Heat Wave, in which she states: 'It is no disservice to future readers to give the end away, for this is a novel in which the denouement is entirely
expected', and then goes on to spell it out.
Fortunately, a friend of mine warned me not to look at this, knowing that I was about to read Heat Wave. Now, having done so, I am grateful I took her advice. Miss Mantel was wrong on two counts: first, I certainly did not anticipate the ending and nor did anyone else I know; second, it is surely a dastardly thing for a reviewer to reveal a book's ending, especially when that reviewer is a novelist herself who should know better.
How would she like it if I or any other reviewer were to reveal the surprise ending of her own novel, An Experiment in Love, which is currently undergoing scrutiny in the press? (I'm tempted, but that would be doubly churlish!)
Carla McKay
Lower Heyford, Oxfordshire
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