Books: Romanian rhapsody Carole Angier admires a plot that unites tragic East with comic West: Kitty & Virgil by Paul Bailey Fourth Estate, pounds 15.99, 280pp 266pp

From: The Independent (London, England) | Date: September 5, 1998| Author: | Copyright information

KITTY & VIRGIL promises a simple, tender story, probably of love. And so it is. But that unusual Latinate name, with its echo of the great poet, hints at more: and there is much more.

In Paul Bailey's novel, Kitty is a middle-aged Englishwoman, editor and indexer. She is also a bohemian and a bit of an ex-hippy, and twin sister of the appalling Daisy, who is her polar opposite: sensible, bossy and full of rage, permanently attacking the world for not being the orderly place she requires.

Kitty wakes up after a hysterectomy to see a stranger smiling at her. Nine months later she remeets him in ...

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