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Conrad & Eleanor
When Conrad fails to return home from a science conference, Eleanor guesses he may at last be reacting to her infidelity. Or has he finally tired of his stagnating job in transplant research? Eleanor's own scientific career has forged ahead, while Conrad played main carer to their children. The four children, now adult, fear for their father but seem to have little sympathy for their tough ambitious mother. Meanwhile, a long way from home, Conrad is alone, scared and on the run.
314 pages, Paperback
First published June 15, 2016
13 people are currently reading
823 people want to read
About the author
Jane Rogers
73 books68 followersJane Rogers is an award winning author of nine novels, including The Testament of Jessie Lamb, Man-Booker longlisted and winner of the Arthur C Clarke Award 2012.
Other works include Mr Wroe's Virgins (which she dramatised for the BAFTA-nominated BBC drama series), Her Living Image (Somerset Maugham Award) and Promised Lands (Writers Guild Best Fiction Award). Her story collection Hitting Trees with Sticks was shortlisted for the 2013 Edgehill Award, and the title story was a BBC National Short story award winner.
Jane is Emerita Professor of Writing and also writes radio dramas and adaptations. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and lives in Banbury, UK.
www.janerogers.info
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
October 17, 2016
BABT
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07x2xrdDescription: When Conrad fails to return from a science conference, Eleanor wonders if it is because of the affair she is having. But he has known about it for years.
Perhaps it's because his research into transgenic monkey hearts is stalling; perhaps he is sick of having the less successful career of the two of them?
While he has been the main carer for the children, Eleanor's work with stem cells has forged ahead. And now the children are all grown up. They suspect Eleanor of murdering their father, but El secretly fears that what has driven Con away is his discovery of their daughter Cara's parentage.
While his family in Manchester scrabble for clues and reasons, Conrad - alone, confused, and on the run from a crazed animal rights activist - loses himself in the cold foggy streets of Bologna, and revisits the stages of his long marriage to El, from the happiness of the year of Cara's birth to the grief and anger he now feels.
Both partners are forced to re-examine their marriage, and become aware of the shifting balance of power between them. In the process, they move closer to an understanding of what it is that matters most to each of them.
Want to read
October 9, 2016A novel with my husband's and my name in the title, I definitely have to read that!
January 3, 2025
My daughter designed this cover!
October 15, 2016
From BBC Radio 4 - Book at Bedtime:
The story of a marriage.
When Conrad fails to return from a science conference, Eleanor wonders if it is because of the affair she is having. But he has known about it for years.
Perhaps it's because his research into transgenic monkey hearts is stalling; perhaps he is sick of having the less successful career of the two of them?
While he has been the main carer for the children, Eleanor's work with stem cells has forged ahead. And now the children are all grown up. They suspect Eleanor of murdering their father, but El secretly fears that what has driven Con away is his discovery of their daughter Cara's parentage.
While his family in Manchester scrabble for clues and reasons, Conrad - alone, confused, and on the run from a crazed animal rights activist - loses himself in the cold foggy streets of Bologna, and revisits the stages of his long marriage to El, from the happiness of the year of Cara's birth to the grief and anger he now feels.
Both partners are forced to re-examine their marriage, and become aware of the shifting balance of power between them. In the process, they move closer to an understanding of what it is that matters most to each of them.
Read by Penny Downie, Robert Glenister and Jasmine Hyde
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced and Directed by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07x2xrd
The story of a marriage.
When Conrad fails to return from a science conference, Eleanor wonders if it is because of the affair she is having. But he has known about it for years.
Perhaps it's because his research into transgenic monkey hearts is stalling; perhaps he is sick of having the less successful career of the two of them?
While he has been the main carer for the children, Eleanor's work with stem cells has forged ahead. And now the children are all grown up. They suspect Eleanor of murdering their father, but El secretly fears that what has driven Con away is his discovery of their daughter Cara's parentage.
While his family in Manchester scrabble for clues and reasons, Conrad - alone, confused, and on the run from a crazed animal rights activist - loses himself in the cold foggy streets of Bologna, and revisits the stages of his long marriage to El, from the happiness of the year of Cara's birth to the grief and anger he now feels.
Both partners are forced to re-examine their marriage, and become aware of the shifting balance of power between them. In the process, they move closer to an understanding of what it is that matters most to each of them.
Read by Penny Downie, Robert Glenister and Jasmine Hyde
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced and Directed by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07x2xrd
Want to read
October 7, 20167 OCT 2016 - a recommendation through Bettie. Many Thanks, Ma'am.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07x2xrd
Description: When Conrad fails to return from a science conference, Eleanor wonders if it is because of the affair she is having. But he has known about it for years.
Perhaps it's because his research into transgenic monkey hearts is stalling; perhaps he is sick of having the less successful career of the two of them?
While he has been the main carer for the children, Eleanor's work with stem cells has forged ahead. And now the children are all grown up. They suspect Eleanor of murdering their father, but El secretly fears that what has driven Con away is his discovery of their daughter Cara's parentage.
While his family in Manchester scrabble for clues and reasons, Conrad - alone, confused, and on the run from a crazed animal rights activist - loses himself in the cold foggy streets of Bologna, and revisits the stages of his long marriage to El, from the happiness of the year of Cara's birth to the grief and anger he now feels.
Both partners are forced to re-examine their marriage, and become aware of the shifting balance of power between them. In the process, they move closer to an understanding of what it is that matters most to each of them.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07x2xrd
Description: When Conrad fails to return from a science conference, Eleanor wonders if it is because of the affair she is having. But he has known about it for years.
Perhaps it's because his research into transgenic monkey hearts is stalling; perhaps he is sick of having the less successful career of the two of them?
While he has been the main carer for the children, Eleanor's work with stem cells has forged ahead. And now the children are all grown up. They suspect Eleanor of murdering their father, but El secretly fears that what has driven Con away is his discovery of their daughter Cara's parentage.
While his family in Manchester scrabble for clues and reasons, Conrad - alone, confused, and on the run from a crazed animal rights activist - loses himself in the cold foggy streets of Bologna, and revisits the stages of his long marriage to El, from the happiness of the year of Cara's birth to the grief and anger he now feels.
Both partners are forced to re-examine their marriage, and become aware of the shifting balance of power between them. In the process, they move closer to an understanding of what it is that matters most to each of them.
June 18, 2017
Sometimes you get more ‘enjoyment’ thinking about a book after you’ve finished it, rather than while you’re actually reading it. I use the word ‘enjoyment’ loosely because the post-book thinking I’ve done about Conrad & Eleanor by Jane Rogers has been about how irritating the characters were rather than what was intended (reflections on a dying marriage).
The story is moral-thriller. Conrad and Eleanor have been married for decades. Both are scientists yet Conrad is more interested in their four children than his work, while ambitious Eleanor is focused on her career. When Conrad fails to return from a conference in Munich, Eleanor begins to speculate as to why – her affairs? His jealousy over her career success? His discovery of their daughter Cara’s parentage? Meanwhile, Conrad finds himself in Italy, on the run from a crazed animal rights activist. He has lots of time to think. It’s a hot mess.
By moving the narrative back and forth over time, and between Conrad and Eleanor, Rogers manages to continuously flip the power-balance. It’s a clever way of illustrating how their relationship evolved and particularly how decay sets in – it’s not necessarily the big betrayals, but the small, incremental things that are the most damaging.
“Hasn’t he gone from loving her to hating her and back again so many times that the path between them is worn out? There is no love. There is no hate.”
“If it was guilt that made her love him, well, it didn’t make the love any less real.”
Conrad & Eleanor has been praised for its subtlety. Interesting, because I didn’t find it subtle at all. I thought the characters were stereotyped (the resentful stay-at-home parent, the self-involved bread-winner) and the animal-activist plot silly. Conrad vacillates between being paranoid and a complete twit, and the justification for some of his actions was flimsy.
Eleanor’s narcissism was the highlight, particularly the bits where she made Conrad’s disappearance all about her. For example, when her colleagues fail to bring her casseroles and cakes in her time of need (despite the fact that she’s never done the same for them) – “She’s about to cry for lack of kindness”.
I don’t need to like the characters I read about but when you give me a moral thriller, I expect some emotional growth and in this regard, Rogers does not deliver (and not even a scrap, as the last page of the book proved). Rogers lays out the evidence but the question of whether Conrad and Eleanor are each other’s greatest support or enablers of bad behaviour is left to the reader to determine.
2.5/5 Okay.
The story is moral-thriller. Conrad and Eleanor have been married for decades. Both are scientists yet Conrad is more interested in their four children than his work, while ambitious Eleanor is focused on her career. When Conrad fails to return from a conference in Munich, Eleanor begins to speculate as to why – her affairs? His jealousy over her career success? His discovery of their daughter Cara’s parentage? Meanwhile, Conrad finds himself in Italy, on the run from a crazed animal rights activist. He has lots of time to think. It’s a hot mess.
By moving the narrative back and forth over time, and between Conrad and Eleanor, Rogers manages to continuously flip the power-balance. It’s a clever way of illustrating how their relationship evolved and particularly how decay sets in – it’s not necessarily the big betrayals, but the small, incremental things that are the most damaging.
“Hasn’t he gone from loving her to hating her and back again so many times that the path between them is worn out? There is no love. There is no hate.”
“If it was guilt that made her love him, well, it didn’t make the love any less real.”
Conrad & Eleanor has been praised for its subtlety. Interesting, because I didn’t find it subtle at all. I thought the characters were stereotyped (the resentful stay-at-home parent, the self-involved bread-winner) and the animal-activist plot silly. Conrad vacillates between being paranoid and a complete twit, and the justification for some of his actions was flimsy.
Eleanor’s narcissism was the highlight, particularly the bits where she made Conrad’s disappearance all about her. For example, when her colleagues fail to bring her casseroles and cakes in her time of need (despite the fact that she’s never done the same for them) – “She’s about to cry for lack of kindness”.
I don’t need to like the characters I read about but when you give me a moral thriller, I expect some emotional growth and in this regard, Rogers does not deliver (and not even a scrap, as the last page of the book proved). Rogers lays out the evidence but the question of whether Conrad and Eleanor are each other’s greatest support or enablers of bad behaviour is left to the reader to determine.
2.5/5 Okay.
June 2, 2017
3 and a half stars. Narration is third person limited and flips, as you'd expect, between the two main characters, husband and wife, as they navigate a crisis in their marriage. The characters are recognizably upper middle class, and (without spoiling the plot) one rather extreme (and somewhat unlikely) outside character is developed, in part to help precipitate the crisis, in part to help reinforce the sense that this couple have created a bubble around themselves of comfort and plenty whose very strength helps create the crisis. At times I lost patience a little with the central characters' circular thinking, or perhaps it was the narration, even though I thought it was well written. Support characters, including their children, were somewhat sketchy, in keeping I suppose with the choice of narration, and with Eleanor's absence of maternal instincts - but some of the challenges the children faced warranted a little more backstory to explain how such a successful bubble led to such difficulties. Overall though I enjoyed the exploration of Conrad and Eleanor's feelings, their doubts about themselves and each other, and I thought their stretch at making a successful marriage was recognizable and touching.
June 1, 2016
Conrad and Eleanor do not have the perfect marriage, not by a long shot. She works way too much, he works too, but has stayed home with the kids a lot. Not that he minded. Someone had to love those kids too (and how they got 4 I do not know).
Eleanor cheats, how she has the time I do not know. And Conrad knows. They have messed up their lives. They are both having mid life crises. They do love each other, but, they are just too used to each other.
In the book we get flashbacks how they got together, glimpses from their lives, good times, bad times. How they lost their way. Which brings us to the events here, how he is missing. She wonders why, and I do wonder what he did. Because he sure is running from something bad.
I can not really put all the blame on Eleanor, they both messed up big time. And will they have a happy life in the golden years? Truth be told, no I do not think so. Love does not always mean happiness, but I am sure they will try.
An interesting look at a marriage falling apart
Eleanor cheats, how she has the time I do not know. And Conrad knows. They have messed up their lives. They are both having mid life crises. They do love each other, but, they are just too used to each other.
In the book we get flashbacks how they got together, glimpses from their lives, good times, bad times. How they lost their way. Which brings us to the events here, how he is missing. She wonders why, and I do wonder what he did. Because he sure is running from something bad.
I can not really put all the blame on Eleanor, they both messed up big time. And will they have a happy life in the golden years? Truth be told, no I do not think so. Love does not always mean happiness, but I am sure they will try.
An interesting look at a marriage falling apart
April 23, 2016
Once, some years ago, I said I couldn't stand yer average literary fiction; middlebrow, middle-of-the-road, middle-aged middle-class people going through a mid-life crisis - soooo booorrringgg!!
And now, I want to row back on that - a bit...if it is written by a mediocre writer, it can indeed be tiringly samey, but when written by someone like Jane Rogers, it is breath-takingly good and thought-provoking.
Conrad & Eleanor is a fascinating, nuanced portrait of a marriage sagging beneath the weight of years of petty resentments, over-familiarity, betrayals both major and minor, until one day it finally cracks.
It's really good and you should read it - 'nuff said.
And now, I want to row back on that - a bit...if it is written by a mediocre writer, it can indeed be tiringly samey, but when written by someone like Jane Rogers, it is breath-takingly good and thought-provoking.
Conrad & Eleanor is a fascinating, nuanced portrait of a marriage sagging beneath the weight of years of petty resentments, over-familiarity, betrayals both major and minor, until one day it finally cracks.
It's really good and you should read it - 'nuff said.
July 20, 2020
I'm so sorry Ms Rogers. It wasn't your storytelling that was at fault, I just couldn't wrap my head around such a dysfunctional family or rather marriage. I did love the ending though. It took to the end of the book to understand where both Conrad and Eleanor were coming from. For the majority of the time I thought Conrad was just a loose canon and Eleanor was simply a unfeeling bitch. I've never been married so can't relate, but expect there are several marriages where couples just don't communicate what they actually feel or mean. My book club will rap me over the knuckles for this review, but I can't sugarcoat it. It was a struggle to read.
September 21, 2016
Any kind of marriage-family-secret-crisis story is right up my alley, as is anything that explores gender roles within families. The writing here is pretty good, but there were certain parts I found hard to take: all the stuff with the animal testing and the slightly deranged anti-vivisectionist blackmailing loon, for instance. It was just a little implausible, as was the whole sojourn in Bologna. So: a mixed bag, all in all. Overall I loved the ideas but the execution lacked believability at times.
June 18, 2017
I found the most compelling aspect of this novel to be the backdrop of the scientific research that these long married husband and wife were independently pursuing. The competition were ones failure was another's success is rarely the set up for a novel about a family. I was disappointed in the way the writer summarized everything in the ending. But this is a frequent criticism I have of so many otherwise good stories.
July 29, 2017
I picked this up by chance and wasn't even sure I would ultimately end up reading it, but actually I was hooked from the get go. More by Eleanor's side of things than Conrad's if I'm honest, but I actually thought this was an extremely good portrait of a marriage and the balancing that goes on within relationships. Aside from not having a hugely successful career, I felt great affinity with El ... but I have a feeling that many other reviewers are going to call her a total bitch!
March 27, 2021
I liked the focus on a long married couple, its everyday struggles with work, kids and how they slowly grow appart. I also enjoyed the scientific research background centering around animal experiments. The author does raise the issue but with a balanced view, reminding us how this can be needed to find cures for horrible illnesses, but also how some of the experiments can be cruel and totally pointless. The part that didn't really work for me was the animal rights activist, didn't seem quite plausible to me.
It was my first book from this author and I wouldn't mind trying another one after this one.
It was my first book from this author and I wouldn't mind trying another one after this one.
January 17, 2022
A dichotomy of a lengthy marriage/family from both perspectives. Jampacked with themes: vivisection, role reversal, nurturing children, maintaining love and affection in a long-term relationship. El comes across as rather a difficult/selfish woman but eventually has an epiphany when her husband disappears. I was fearful that the book would have a saccharine ending but it finally reflected the transitory nature of happiness
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 10, 2025
The blurb doesn't claim anything the book to be other than it exactly is, so perhaps it is my fault for expecting more from it. Other than the nuanced discussion about the cruelty of using animals in research, whose concluding point was on the opposite side of what I support, this book was exceedingly dull. It is so incredibly slowly paced, and I couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters. Oh well.
July 4, 2018
Good story. As a person who has struggled with the ethics of transplantation of organs donated from a live donor, this gave another area of transplantation to examine critically. Found myself comparing my marriage to Conrad and Eleanor's and critically examining my role in the current state - which was eye opening and helpful for my own growth. Definitely recommend.
September 27, 2021
It's okay, but the ending is a bit of a let down - there's a set up of suspense but then there's no real twist or anything at the end, no huge secret. I thought Conrad's storyline, and the moral quandaries that come up with his research, would have been better explored on its own, and I'd be much more interested in reading about this marriage from the children's perspective.
April 3, 2022
Didnt like Eleanor at all , she had 2 affairs , no morals , a child by one lover that she palmed off to her husband as his , a despicable selfish self absorbed woman , and a wimp of a husband , kept picturing jeremy kyle shouting to him , grow a pair , but still an enjoyable well written story .
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 10, 2024
A story about marriages and how after a long time you stop really ‘seeing’ each other. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it either. Their problems could have been solved by communicating more and I wasn’t sure how much I cared about either of them plus their children were not particularly likeable.
January 6, 2018
Interesting subject matter, a long marriage under the microscope, but for me, so tedious. It felt inhabited by wooden characters being relentlessly middle class and entitled. Really had to force myself to bother finishing, just kept thinking there would be a redeeming morsel, there wasn't
March 24, 2019
Book club read. Story bounced along but didn't really "grab" me. Some interesting issues raised with a positive ending.
March 4, 2020
Gave up on this book.
Read almost half but it didn't enthrall me.
Sorry but a huge disappointment
Read almost half but it didn't enthrall me.
Sorry but a huge disappointment
June 13, 2020
It took me a while to get into this book. At first I found the lack of much of a plot annoying. But it was worth sticking with.
April 13, 2021
Two dreary people living a dreary life.
August 17, 2021
Quite liked the description of a marriage that had fallen apart, but really disliked Eleanor...
August 19, 2021
3.5 stars. still mulling over this one.
December 25, 2021
Too much stream of consciousness for me.
Conrad & Eleanor have a marriage and four kids, but as the years pass things get complicated. It all comes to a head when Conrad disappears.
Conrad & Eleanor have a marriage and four kids, but as the years pass things get complicated. It all comes to a head when Conrad disappears.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews