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Given the Choice
From the award winning author of Vanessa and Virginia , set amidst the glamour and intrigue of the contemporary art world, Given the Choice is about growing up and growing older, about making choices and learning to live with them.
At 39 Marian has a lot going for her. She's talented, ambitious and married to a wealthy financier who adores her. She's also capable of lying when the odds seem stacked up against her, but she's a good deal more vulnerable than she lets on. Amidst the glamour and spin of the contemporary London art and classical music worlds, money rules and an artist's skill is rarely enough. Marion's top clients - a brilliant French painter and a virtuoso Estonian pianist - benefit from her entrepreneurial flair, but when her husband says it's time they had a child, this contrary heroine starts to panic and the cracks in her carefully constructed lifestyle start to show.
Will Marion become ensnared in the web of deceit she has cast round herself? Or can she learn enough to save her business and her marriage?
In this new novel by the award-winning author Susan Sellers, it is you, the reader, who is given the choice.
'The piano was no longer a music-making machine but the source of a magical power. She could hear the swooping calls of birds as they darted through treetops or skimmed and dived in a free expanse of air. The bare walls of the practice room had metamorphosed into an enchanted forest, teeming with flashes of brilliant plumage and abrupt, raucous caws.'
* * *
After a nomadic childhood, Susan Sellers ran away to Paris. While studying for her doctorate, she worked as a barmaid, tour guide and nanny, bluffed her way as a software translator and co-wrote a film script with a Hollywood screenwriter. She became closely involved with leading French feminist writers and translated Hélène Cixous. From Paris she travelled to Swaziland, teaching English to tribal grandmothers, and to Peru, where she worked for a women's aid agency. Moving to Scotland she became a Professor of English at St Andrews University, began to write fiction, and won the Canongate Prize for New Writing in 2002. Sellers has published sixteen books, although Given the Choice is her second novel. Her previous novel, the critically acclaimed , Vanessa and Virginia (Two Ravens Press, 2008) was translated into various languages and has been adapted for stage, performed at the Riverside Studio, London (2013). Susan now lives mostly near Cambridge with her husband, a composer, and their son.
At 39 Marian has a lot going for her. She's talented, ambitious and married to a wealthy financier who adores her. She's also capable of lying when the odds seem stacked up against her, but she's a good deal more vulnerable than she lets on. Amidst the glamour and spin of the contemporary London art and classical music worlds, money rules and an artist's skill is rarely enough. Marion's top clients - a brilliant French painter and a virtuoso Estonian pianist - benefit from her entrepreneurial flair, but when her husband says it's time they had a child, this contrary heroine starts to panic and the cracks in her carefully constructed lifestyle start to show.
Will Marion become ensnared in the web of deceit she has cast round herself? Or can she learn enough to save her business and her marriage?
In this new novel by the award-winning author Susan Sellers, it is you, the reader, who is given the choice.
'The piano was no longer a music-making machine but the source of a magical power. She could hear the swooping calls of birds as they darted through treetops or skimmed and dived in a free expanse of air. The bare walls of the practice room had metamorphosed into an enchanted forest, teeming with flashes of brilliant plumage and abrupt, raucous caws.'
* * *
After a nomadic childhood, Susan Sellers ran away to Paris. While studying for her doctorate, she worked as a barmaid, tour guide and nanny, bluffed her way as a software translator and co-wrote a film script with a Hollywood screenwriter. She became closely involved with leading French feminist writers and translated Hélène Cixous. From Paris she travelled to Swaziland, teaching English to tribal grandmothers, and to Peru, where she worked for a women's aid agency. Moving to Scotland she became a Professor of English at St Andrews University, began to write fiction, and won the Canongate Prize for New Writing in 2002. Sellers has published sixteen books, although Given the Choice is her second novel. Her previous novel, the critically acclaimed , Vanessa and Virginia (Two Ravens Press, 2008) was translated into various languages and has been adapted for stage, performed at the Riverside Studio, London (2013). Susan now lives mostly near Cambridge with her husband, a composer, and their son.
331 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2013
About the author
Susan Sellers
32 books41 followersSusan Sellers is an author, editor, translator and novelist and Professor of English at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 4, 2013
The central character, Marion, is a beautiful and prosperously married woman of financially modest background. She has acquired a careful expertise in décor and cuisine which may strike one as enviable, or superficial, or both (there are plenty of ideas for meals), and she is developing a cachet as an artists’ agent. She is also attempting to branch out into the management of musicians, about whose field she knows far less, though her instincts appear sound. Her agency has got off to a good start, though she has the safety-net of her rich husband’s income, which creates both security and a degree of emptiness: her career is, in strict accounting terms, superfluous. She is manipulative and over-confident and sometimes maddeningly fails to see the obvious, though Susan Sellers manages to portray her in this way without alienating our sympathy: a praiseworthy feat. Both partners have over-intervening parents, whose influence shapes or inhibits their adult reactions, and also perhaps provides them with convenient explanations of them.
As Marion’s fortieth birthday approaches, pressure grows for her to have a child she does not at first want: from her husband, her mother, and society in general. London appears to be in the grip of a pregnancy epidemic, and Marion seemingly cannot move a yard without encountering another fruitfully swelling belly: yet another reproachful commentary on her own refusal to conceive. The horrors of young children to the uninitiated are vividly portrayed. Marion’s proliferating white lies about the contents of her womb, and the professional faux pas which are perhaps associated with her state of mind, propel the story, though this is by no means a simple story of self-destruction, and one’s expectations are always skilfully deceived. The ending, though it has precedents, certainly took me by surprise and worked well.
Paintings and music figure prominently in the novel, but not at first grown up literature (apart from cookery books), until the husband belatedly embarks on the degree in classics that parental influence had overruled when he was young. Children’s books, however, throughout play a prominent part in the growing pressure upon Marion, and they shape a question which runs through the novel: what kind of story is being told, and what kind do the characters expect to be in? a witch and fairy story, a myth about parents and children, or a realistic novel, with no prearranged rules? The answer(s) to the question are ingenious and satisfying. This is an original and well-told story which can be thoroughly recommended.
As Marion’s fortieth birthday approaches, pressure grows for her to have a child she does not at first want: from her husband, her mother, and society in general. London appears to be in the grip of a pregnancy epidemic, and Marion seemingly cannot move a yard without encountering another fruitfully swelling belly: yet another reproachful commentary on her own refusal to conceive. The horrors of young children to the uninitiated are vividly portrayed. Marion’s proliferating white lies about the contents of her womb, and the professional faux pas which are perhaps associated with her state of mind, propel the story, though this is by no means a simple story of self-destruction, and one’s expectations are always skilfully deceived. The ending, though it has precedents, certainly took me by surprise and worked well.
Paintings and music figure prominently in the novel, but not at first grown up literature (apart from cookery books), until the husband belatedly embarks on the degree in classics that parental influence had overruled when he was young. Children’s books, however, throughout play a prominent part in the growing pressure upon Marion, and they shape a question which runs through the novel: what kind of story is being told, and what kind do the characters expect to be in? a witch and fairy story, a myth about parents and children, or a realistic novel, with no prearranged rules? The answer(s) to the question are ingenious and satisfying. This is an original and well-told story which can be thoroughly recommended.
October 1, 2013
Marion – the woman at the heart of this exciting and intriguing new novel by Susan Sellers – is a fascinating character. She has ambition, drive and flair, and her artists' agency manages some outstanding if wayward artists. She can also be generous, and some of her most intense pleasures come from lavishing care on her clients and her husband. But as this involving and well-paced story unfolds we soon begin to see how Marion's generosity is offered strictly on her own terms, and how she rarely stops to consider if what she wants for those around her is what they actually want for themselves. When their ideas don't fit with her dreams she can be impetuous and even vindictive. It is one of the great strengths of this novel that Sellers does not shrink from showing the manipulative and childish aspects of Marion's character as well as her more likeable and sympathetic qualities. Marion may not be a character the reader feels that they completely like – and there may be some passages where you want to throttle her – but her complex mix of aspirations, instincts and doubts is fascinating, subtle and highly convincing. There are moments when she seems to learn something from her mistakes. But old habits are easy to slip back into, and another of the impressive features of the book is the way that the final denouement or untangling of the plot's various threads is not made easy. The closing stages of the book explore how personal development is rarely as simple or as positive as we would like to think, and also recognises that the chance interaction of outside circumstances can be as decisive as anything else. Because Marion's character is so strong, both in its sympathetic and its monstrous aspects, readers may approach the end of the book with all sorts of conflicting feelings about what 'ought' to happen to her. The exploration of three possible 'endings', or rather, paths into three different continuations, is done with great delicacy and a subtle humour, as well as a sensitivity for the serious implications of each possibility. Alternative endings are not a new device – John Fowles' French Lieutenant's Woman is just one of the most well known examples – but I don't think I've ever read a novel in which the different possible paths are more richly thought-provoking. Thinking over their implications one is drawn back into the novel's complex web of clashing personalities and agendas, which as in real life do not neatly resolve themselves, but continue to play out in an endless dance. I found this a wonderful novel.
October 22, 2013
In Given The Choice, Susan Sellers demonstrates her pitch perfect command of narrative and extraordinary ability to render the visual in words, both qualities richly evident in her stunning debut novel `Vanessa and Virginia'.
Unlike other reviewers of this novel, I felt little sympathy for the protagonist, Marion Richmond, but found the characterisation a compelling study of self-delusion and self-obsession, bordering on the narcissistic.
While the contemporary issues the novel tackles and choices it presents are familiar, the social mileu inhabited by Marion and Edward is a highly privileged, esoteric one of which this reviewer has little experience. It is a testament to the writer's skill that I found myself moving through this world with ease and confidence, as though born to it.
The early chapters of the novel have a 'slow-burn' quality as the different facets of Marion's life - her professional and domestic personae and relationships - are meticulously delineated. Other characters' points of view are presented, but it is Marion's story that hooks us in and pulls us through to the last page of the three alternative endings.
Above all, Given The Choice is a bold, unflinching exploration of the excuses we make to ourselves and to others, often those closest to us, in pursuit of our own self-interests.
Unlike other reviewers of this novel, I felt little sympathy for the protagonist, Marion Richmond, but found the characterisation a compelling study of self-delusion and self-obsession, bordering on the narcissistic.
While the contemporary issues the novel tackles and choices it presents are familiar, the social mileu inhabited by Marion and Edward is a highly privileged, esoteric one of which this reviewer has little experience. It is a testament to the writer's skill that I found myself moving through this world with ease and confidence, as though born to it.
The early chapters of the novel have a 'slow-burn' quality as the different facets of Marion's life - her professional and domestic personae and relationships - are meticulously delineated. Other characters' points of view are presented, but it is Marion's story that hooks us in and pulls us through to the last page of the three alternative endings.
Above all, Given The Choice is a bold, unflinching exploration of the excuses we make to ourselves and to others, often those closest to us, in pursuit of our own self-interests.
October 2, 2013
This is a very sensual novel: it appeals to the eye, the mouth and the ear. As an art dealer in contemporary London, Marion assesses art works on a daily basis, and is now promoting French artist Jean-Claude, whose trademark is his striking use of colour. Marion is the “perfect” wife too – or isn’t she? The heroine daily cooks delicious meals for her guests and husband Edward: coq au vin, salmon with egg and chives, a lamb leg with mint – her repertoire goes on. Yet, when it comes to having children, Edward and Marion don’t see eye to eye, as she persists on putting motherhood off, despite being about to turn 40. Then, Peeter appears on stage: a talented Estonian pianist, who becomes Marion’s new professional project, and fills the narrative with Tchaikovsky and Mozart. And finally, for dessert, the novel offers us three different dishes: chocolate cake, tiramisu and trifle. It will be hard to pick, so get ready to be seduced by Given the Choice!
November 3, 2013
This is a beautifully written book - fluid, visual and poignant.
Susan’s latest book 'Given the Choice' is a true pleasure to read. The delicate, immensely visual description guides the reader into the glamorous and fast-paced world of her fiery protagonist Marion, which overlaps with that of her devoted husband Edward, who yearns for a more simple, traditional life-style.
Incorporating a rich range of imagery that portrays genuine insight into the world of art, music and literature, it is written in such a vivid and compact way I can see it easily converted into a film. The tempo of the plot is cleverly paced so the scenarios ring out against each other and are hugely thought provoking. The clear, accessible narrative voice outlines the clashing aspirations and power struggles within family dynamics, which are often humorously realistic, and at times painfully recognisable.
The way stream of conscious thoughts are dispersed with descriptive action, such as when Marion is preparing a tart whilst agonising over her feelings towards pregnancy, struck me as particularly effective, reminding us that, so often, the actual paths we make can only be made after much ground has been travelled in our minds.
I particularly love the skilful way the characters in this novel have been created: the impossible, heavy-smoking French artist, the sincere, hard-working Estonian Pianist, the exasperatingly interfering mother. As they are presented with equal weight we are given the perfect amount of detail into each side of the various stories revolving around Marion. So as we watch the plot unfold from a wholly objective stance, we are forced to hold the judgements we are making from an arms length view. Does society value the arts as much as it should? At what point should we reject generosity that has proved to be exploitation? Should you ever have to compromise your desire to create a family?
Through her utterly convincing protagonist, Susan highlights the point that even the most self-controlled and controlling modern women can never fully control the course their lives will take. This is reflected in the inventive way the ending is written, in which the reader is actually given the control to determine the consequences. This puts the reader in a position where we are forced to seriously consider the difficult decisions that define what it means to be female.
“Not only technically brilliant and aesthetically dazzling, but also profoundly moving” is how Marion describes the work of her protégés Jean-Claude, but I would say this is equally true of Susan’s latest book too.
November 25, 2013
Susan Sellers’ much-anticipated second novel Given the Choice is an unflinching examination of the complex nature of marriage. The main character, Marion, and her husband, Edward, are a London power couple that seemingly wants for nothing – money, talent, influence, friends, taste, or class. Sellers’ novel probes the fissures that open out in Marion and Edward’s lives when they begin addressing whether or not to have children.
A cultivator of talent in London’s art and classical music spheres, Marion is self-focused, striving, and uncompromising. She doesn’t let others – her financier husband, clients, or family – take part in her decision-making processes about any aspect of her life, no matter how trivial. As the reader, you are privy to Marion’s thoughts and internal conflicts, yet she remains inscrutable to those around her. A strong, multi-talented woman, Marion’s career and marriage strain under the weight of her uncompromising perfectionism. While seemingly unsympathetic at first, as the novel progresses the reader learns how Marion’s chaotic childhood has shaped her desire to control the circumstances that surround her.
Through Marion and Edward, Sellers poignantly addresses the conflicting emotions and feelings that accompany deciding to have children. Just as children bring indescribable joy and love, they also completely change the dynamic of their parent’s personal and professional lives. Marion’s very real difficulty in making the decision, as a professional woman, to become a mother is underscored by the various sacrifices made by the other female characters in the book. Whether a horse trainer, singer, business woman, or bookstore manager, each woman experiences the wide-ranging challenges of simultaneously encompassing the roles of mother, wife, and working woman. While choosing to have a child is often seen as primarily changing the mother’s life, Sellers adeptly conveys both the complexity of a father’s role in this choice and the impact of this decision on a father’s life.
This novel is a rare pleasure to read. Sellers’ prose is lyrical and sensuous, and her attention to detail is exact and evocative. Whether she is describing artist Jean-Claude’s abstract canvases, the roast venison with plum sauce Marion is preparing for dinner, or classical pianist Peeter playing Messiaen’s “Le Loriot” on a walnut Steinway, the reader feels as if they are in the room. In a wonderful turn, Sellers provides three alternative endings to her novel – Will Edward and Marion grow together, split apart, learn to compromise? You read until you think you have the answer – then you go back and read again. And again.
A cultivator of talent in London’s art and classical music spheres, Marion is self-focused, striving, and uncompromising. She doesn’t let others – her financier husband, clients, or family – take part in her decision-making processes about any aspect of her life, no matter how trivial. As the reader, you are privy to Marion’s thoughts and internal conflicts, yet she remains inscrutable to those around her. A strong, multi-talented woman, Marion’s career and marriage strain under the weight of her uncompromising perfectionism. While seemingly unsympathetic at first, as the novel progresses the reader learns how Marion’s chaotic childhood has shaped her desire to control the circumstances that surround her.
Through Marion and Edward, Sellers poignantly addresses the conflicting emotions and feelings that accompany deciding to have children. Just as children bring indescribable joy and love, they also completely change the dynamic of their parent’s personal and professional lives. Marion’s very real difficulty in making the decision, as a professional woman, to become a mother is underscored by the various sacrifices made by the other female characters in the book. Whether a horse trainer, singer, business woman, or bookstore manager, each woman experiences the wide-ranging challenges of simultaneously encompassing the roles of mother, wife, and working woman. While choosing to have a child is often seen as primarily changing the mother’s life, Sellers adeptly conveys both the complexity of a father’s role in this choice and the impact of this decision on a father’s life.
This novel is a rare pleasure to read. Sellers’ prose is lyrical and sensuous, and her attention to detail is exact and evocative. Whether she is describing artist Jean-Claude’s abstract canvases, the roast venison with plum sauce Marion is preparing for dinner, or classical pianist Peeter playing Messiaen’s “Le Loriot” on a walnut Steinway, the reader feels as if they are in the room. In a wonderful turn, Sellers provides three alternative endings to her novel – Will Edward and Marion grow together, split apart, learn to compromise? You read until you think you have the answer – then you go back and read again. And again.
October 29, 2013
The novel's central character, Marion Richmond, is compelling but somewhat self-centred and blinkered in her obsession to succeed. As an agent in the contemporary art world she is a lioness who relishes in the law of the jungle; the survival of the fittest. The care and attention she lavishes on her sometimes ungrateful clients is given with one eye firmly on the prize of cachet, reputation and prestige. When she has to confront the fact that others do not always behave as she would wish, or fail to show sufficient gratitude to her, she appears petulant and childish. Ironically, it is her child-like selfishness which ultimately causes her to re-assess her values when faced with her husband's desire to start a family. Marion's negotiation of being 'given the choice' is a subtle and sympathetic portrayal by Sellers of the decisions, adjustments and compromises reached by all working women. Marion is mostly an unattractive personality but I found myself constantly willing her to 'do the right thing', which is a good indication of Sellers' ability to engage her reader.
The novel presents us with three possible endings, all of which are plausible and thought-provoking. This technique hands the situation back to the reader and asks us to negotiate for ourselves the complex web of characters with their conflicting priorities. There is no clear, defining moment which turns our expectations on their head and reveals Marion to be the 'good' person we may want her to be, but rather a compromised, thoughtful presentation of how to face life when it doesn't unfold as predicted.
I found this novel provocative and immensely stimulating.
The novel presents us with three possible endings, all of which are plausible and thought-provoking. This technique hands the situation back to the reader and asks us to negotiate for ourselves the complex web of characters with their conflicting priorities. There is no clear, defining moment which turns our expectations on their head and reveals Marion to be the 'good' person we may want her to be, but rather a compromised, thoughtful presentation of how to face life when it doesn't unfold as predicted.
I found this novel provocative and immensely stimulating.
January 29, 2014
I chose this book as I love Susan's other book, Vanessa and Virginia. I wasn't disappointed. I thought the characters were extremely well drawn and I found myself liking them one minute then changing my mind the next which I really enjoyed. I thought one of the biggest strengths of the book was the main character, Marion who is a really cleverly written, intriguing character who held my attention and fascination. I loved the emersion into the worlds of art and music and the contrast between Marion's carefully controlled near perfect life, the descriptions of the food she was preparing and her interior design ambitions were particularly absorbing, and that of the artists she was attempting to steer towards fame and recognition. I enjoyed the three alternative endings immensely which give the reader the chance to chose the fate of the complex heroine.
I thought about this book all day until I could read it again in the evenings and then found it extremely hard to put it down when I did. Susan Sellers is a beautiful writer and so talented, I cannot wait to read her next book. It is also worth saying that the book itself is a beautiful object from publishers Cillian Press and enhanced the experience. I whole-heartedly recommend it.
I thought about this book all day until I could read it again in the evenings and then found it extremely hard to put it down when I did. Susan Sellers is a beautiful writer and so talented, I cannot wait to read her next book. It is also worth saying that the book itself is a beautiful object from publishers Cillian Press and enhanced the experience. I whole-heartedly recommend it.
October 18, 2014
Susan Sellers has once again made me cry on the subway ... in a good way! Lovely, LOVELY story. Given the choice is a thought provoking story that follows Marion, an art curator, on her life journey in how her life has played out and how she chooses to shake things up. She and her Edward are this enviable couple that kind of make you want to throw up and say aww at the same time. There were several times, I didn't know who to route for because as she made both characters incredibly likeable, she gave them both moments where the reader wants to punch them in the face. The dialogue is smart and crisp. Sellers takes us down the darker path of their very complicated relationship and it's a path which will have you gasping for breath and screaming "No!" through a forced whisper. My apologies to the subway passengers on the Manhattan uptown 1 train this evening. Such a brilliant read and I highly recommend it. I easily see this transferring to the silver screen.
November 13, 2013
In 'Given the Choice,' Sellers artfully depicts the world of a contemporary woman facing impossible-feeling decisions about work, family, and relationships. In many ways, these are timeless choices, but Sellers infuses her protagonist, Marion, with such compelling nuance and complexity that modern male and female readers alike will be able to relate to the roller coaster of her inner questioning. Like the paintings Marion works with, Sellers' prose is bright and textured. Her photographic narrative provides realistic glimpses into the lives of several colorful and intriguing characters: the conflicts they all face, as well as the compromises and concessions they must each make. You won't be able to stop reading until you reach the novel's smart and beautifully rendered conclusion.
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December 23, 2013I found this a riveting read. Marion is a fascinating character with good and bad points and I really wanted to find out what happened to her. I thought the way the author sets things up so there is actually a choice of endings was brilliant. I don't usually like postmodern 'you choose' games with a story, but in this book it really worked as the idea of the choice was so closely woven into both the theme and the structure. I don't know if this is what the author intended but I found myself making up even more possible endings for the various characters. Susan Sellers writes really well in a style just right for the contemporary setting of the novel. The book is easy to read and fast-paced - I found that once I got into it I couldn't put it down and actually read it in a single day.
December 15, 2013
At last a book where the central character is not perfect and struggles with the pressures on her from her parents and her husband to have a child! This is the central choice at the heart of this novel and one of the many refreshing things about it is that here it's the man who's broody. The novel is set in the art and music worlds and these frame the story perfectly. The way the three endings is set up by the triptych the painter Jean-Claude is working on is brilliant. In fact there are four different points of view in this novel and I was engaged by all of them. This is a really unusual read which I highly recommend.
November 22, 2013
Thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews