Do Not Have Great Expectatons for The HOUSE on FORTUNE STREET by M. Livesey

Scottish writer Margot Livesey admires Charles Dickens greatly as she repeatedly refers to him in her novel.   Abigail's grandfather regaled her with Dicken's stories growing up, purchases a home mainly for its address, 41 Fortune Street because "her grandfather would have liked the name. Straight out of Dickens."  Abigail & Dare are the 2 main characters who meet at Univ. and become fast friends.  Abigail becomes enamored of the theater & runs her own small theatrical co.  Dara becomes a social worker offering solace & guidance to her clients.  Livesey writes with 4 interconnecting narratives. She  flashbacks to both girls' childhoods & family lives.  After graduation, both women move apart but at Abigail's urging, Dara moves into the flat in Abigail's home on Fortune Street.  The power of luck seems to trump diligence and hard work.  Fortune St. will bear more misfortune & misery than good fortune.  The novel touches on the age of wisdom when discussing taboos & inappropriate behaviors.  Who gets to say what's right & wrong?  What does a person do with desires that are socially forbidden?  Abigail & Dara's lives play out with more melodrama than Miss Havisham.  When Dara spirals into depression after a disastrous affair, Abigail reminds Dara of her own dispensed counsel, "Remeber the people who do love you, the small things you enjoy."  In the superlative degree of comparison to Charles Dickens, The HOUSE on FORTUNE STREET is the age of foolishness.