There won’t be any spoilers in the body of these posts, and as many of you are still reading, let’s clearly mark any significant spoilers in the comments.

And, speaking of, who is still reading?

Who is waiting to be convinced to re-read?

Who is planning to read but doesn’t have their book in hand yet?

Regardless of where you are at in your reading, let’s chat about Harriet.

She is at the heart of A Game of Hide and Seek.

Nicola Beauman suggests, in her biography, that Elizabeth Taylor’s “best novels – At Mrs Lippincote’s and A Game of Hide and Seek – would stand out because their heroines, Julia and Harriet , are her (Madame Bovary, c’est moi).”

Whether Harriet is still a teenager (and you’re at the beginning of your reading) or whether you have followed her throughout several years to the end of the novel, how do you respond to her character?

[If you would rather simply comment, please go right ahead. If you prefer prompting, here are some more questions. And if you end up discussing something other than Harriet, that’s absolutely fine, of course!]

If you’ve read other Elizabeth Taylor novels/stories, do you sense similarities and differences between her and other heroines you’ve met in these works?

How much do you think your impressions of her impact on the degree to which you enjoyed this work?

Do the connections that Harriet forges (and strains) in the novel effect your overall response to A Game of Hide and Seek, or do you feel that you separate out your feelings about characters from the way that you respond to a work as a whole?

If you had to introduce someone to Harriet without their reading the book, which scene do you think is most revealing of her personality, her preoccupations, the essence of her character?

Any other thoughts? (There will be another ET bookchat next Monday too. The introductory post for this event is here. The link to the Elizabeth Taylor Centenary Page is here.)