- Published: 24 September 2014
- ISBN: 9780241966983
- Imprint: Penguin General UK
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 240
- RRP: $24.99
Ammonites and Leaping Fish
A Life in Time

















- Published: 24 September 2014
- ISBN: 9780241966983
- Imprint: Penguin General UK
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 240
- RRP: $24.99
Fascinating, lucid . . . Authority, yes; and wit, thoughtfulness, a tender attention to the natural world, an incisive but deeply humane imagination: Ammonites and Leaping Fish is full of all of these
Helen Dunmore, The Times
Like old age itself this book is not for sissies. Luckily for us Lively is one of our most gifted writers . . . This is Lively at her best
Sunday Express
A fascinating portrait not only of the author but of the times through which she has lived . . . sharp, unsentimental and ruefully funny
Daily Telegraph
Lively's memoir about age and the pleasures and pains of seniority is informative, instructive, unexpected and beautifully observed
Vogue
An elegant and thoughtful dissection of a subject few writers dare dwell on
Times Magazine
Rich in observations and recollections. It should be read slowly because there is much to invite reflection
Herald Scotland
Other brilliant women writers (Joyce Carol Oates, Joan Didion . . .) have written whole volumes on widowhood, but Penelope Lively's description of that condition is all the more affecting by being sparse . . . Will delight all those who love Lively's novels . . . It's all enthralling: autobiography in miniature
Daily Mail
A superb study of memory and of her own voyage into the ninth decade of her life . . . Lively is a compelling, vitally interested witness to time past
Helen Dunmore, Observer Books of the Year
Ammonites & Leaping Fish is powerfully consoling. Lively is certainly sagacious, her words careful and freighted. But there is girlishness here, too. Things still catch her eye, her attention. New books. Old stories. Another day for the taking
Rachel Cooke, Observer