This is exquisitely gentle storytelling of big dramas in a small family setting. It’s the 1960s and a woman has just left her husband and children for the son of a family friend and is experiencing the exciting world of multicultural London. Her kids resent her and her husband misses her. So far, so mild, but this novel somehow has shocking twists even though it’s the furthest thing from a thriller possible. I’ve read one other Hadley novel before and although I can’t totally remember what happened in it I know that it had very similar vibes of a tight knit set of dramas. Interesting, if you like that sort of thing.

I found Free Love reminiscent of Elizabeth Jenkins’s The Tortoise and the Hare; Tess Hadley immediately places us in space and time with its perfect depiction of the choicer end of suburbia in 1967. As Phyllis completes her toilet before descending the stairs to a party she’d rather not be holding, I somehow recognised it and felt nostalgia for something I have never known. Hadley sets a brisk pace; after only a matter of a few pages I felt as though I knew the family.
After having been focused solely on Phyllis’s inner life in the first part of the story, the perspective is widened out to the other characters. Roger is perhaps a little staid, a little set in his ways but he seems to have his heart in the right place; still waters run deep. Colette is great – yes, young and a little naïve, but scathing and with enough self-awareness to see her right.
The depiction of an extramarital affair struck me as accurate, the feeling of passion juxtaposed with the obvious lack of compatibility in situation and outlook, and the dangerous game of mentionitis. It’s funny in places, too: ‘If he won’t have me then I’ll die, she thought. Although she also knew that she wouldn’t really die, she’d go home and put macaroni cheese in the oven.’
This is the kind of book that would have passed me by 20 years ago. Now I love the examination of the tensions and undercurrents in family life. I found myself bookmarking all sorts and exclaiming at the beautiful writing. There’s some great imagery, sometimes really dark, and delicious social observation: I think we’ve all had to endure ‘one of those men’ who ‘only want to talk about themselves’. What I didn’t expect was a plot twist, a revelation delicious in how it complicates everything. Why oh why have I not read any of Tessa Hadley’s work before? That’s one New Year’s resolution, then: read her entire back catalogue.

Cataclysmic May and December entanglements, circa 1967

Roger, a senior civil servant with an eventually surprising past, and his pretty, conventional wife Phyllis, live a bourgeois, well-heeled life in the home counties, with their awkward, highly intelligent rather lumpish 16 year old daughter, Colette, and young son, Hugh, just about ready to be sent away to the same public school his father went to.

Roger and Phyllis have been asked, by Jean, wife of an older colleague of Roger’s, to invite their louche son Nicholas, whom they last saw as a graceless mid teens, some five years ago, to dinner. Jean hopes that Nicholas, cynical and drifting, vaguely artistic, generally nihilistic rather than actively radical, might be helped, somehow, to find a professional direction within Roger’s sphere of influence

So begins Tessa Hadley’s novel, and, as those familiar with her writing might expect, beneath an ordered surface of family life, much more complicated undercurrents and cataclysms await

I love Hadley’s writing, and her uncovering of psychology, careful unravellings of family life, and sharp observations of the times.

That dinner party gathering will prove to be some kind of unstoppable earthquake event, an avalanche or brewing volcanic eruption.

Her writing is also gorgeous, without necessarily advertising itself showily as such :

“The night was ripe with the earth’s exhalations: mushroom-pungent leafd moul, hint of reeking fox, foliage sour from fermenting all day in the sun. The broad brown significant river, close at hand, flowed too fast and was too full to lap or babble; coiling mud-rich against its banks, it seemed, if you knew it was there, to damp off sound like a felt blanket; cries of late-settling birds rent it sharply”

She is precise and specific creating tangible reality, whether of place or of people

Highly recommended

Excellent read and completely absorbing.. The portrayal of the sixties era really reminded me of my youth. Anything happened and anything was possible. Free spirits emerging from strict upbringings. Explorations with drugs and sex were all exploding during this time. Not only the young finding who they are but middle age rebelling and looking for what they had missed.

Free Love by Tessa Hadley

In 1960s suburbia the world of Phyllis, a 40 year old housewife, and her family is changed forever when the son of a family friend visits.

My first book of 2022 and what a fabulous start! Loved the author's writing, the characters, setting and the story. It was refreshing to see the 60s from a 40 year old's point of view rather than the usual young person and the period detail was fabulous, so evocative. The author never shied away from the difficulties brought about by Phyllis's situation or the 60s itself and so the book felt very authentic. A very engrossing and enjoyable read - very highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

This is a book happening in height of sexual revolution, about Phyllis married to a civil servant and seems happy with life, until a young man comes to their house and things change. Tessa Hadley explores the characters and their feeling and desire. it is a very well written book.

Having previously read some of Tessa Hadley's works I was excited to read her latest novel. I am usually a fan of Hadley's writing style but somehow 'Free Love' missed the mark. It felt flat in places and disappointingly predictable.

Towards the end of the swinging sixties, London housewife Phyllis Fischer doesn’t realise she’s unhappy with her lot until the young son of a family friend comes around for dinner one night. Phyllis loves entertaining and but Nicky is something of an awkward guest, arriving late and seeming to have little to say other than becoming embroiled in a rather political discussion with her steady but dull husband, Robert. But then, as they are searching for a lost item in an adjoining garden, Nicky unexpectedly kisses her. Suddenly her outlook on life changes and soon she’s so enraptured by this rude, self-possessed young man that she’s left home and moved into his filthy flat, leaving Robert and her two children, Hugh and Collette, behind without so much as a word.

The writing here is excellent, brilliantly capturing what I believe to be both the mood and the feel of the 1960s. For the first half of the book I was completely transported to this time and this place as the various characters attempted to adjust to this sudden upheaval in their lives. But why would an attractive, middle-class housewife be so taken by this intelligent but scruffy and somewhat inattentive young man? In part it’s clearly the sex, but beyond that somehow the whole change of scene just seems to light something up within her.

In the second half of the book sixteen year old Collette takes the spotlight. Unattractive and unpopular with her classmates she decides the moment is right for her to commence her own journey – to somebody more interesting, increasingly brave and sometimes rash in her choices. But this switch in focus also heralds a change in the mood of the whole piece, as we are increasingly we are asked to consider a number of moral choices to be made by the leading characters. The change adds something to the story but it also takes something away, as Phyllis and Nicky rather fade into the background and for me a good deal of the story’s overall momentum is lost.

I really enjoyed the enviable way the author is able to put words on the page and yet here she’s introduced us to a cast of characters who are almost universally unlovable. And the story is, I think, a mixed bag of things that in the end that just doesn't quite tie together. I’m sure this one will divide opinion and I’ve already seen a number of reviews from readers who absolutely loved it, but I’m struggling to build up too much enthusiasm for a book that, in the end, I was glad to finish. It’s a three star rating for me.

The story starts in 1967 suburban London with the lives of a middle class family.
Phyllis ,the perfect housewife, Roger the breadwinner working in the Foreign Office and their two children Colette who is studying for her A levels and Hugh who is on the verge of going away to boarding school.
Everything seems utterly delightful on the surface until a visit from a young and handsome Nicholas the son of an old family friend.
The visit seems a disaster and it really didn't help with Nicholas turning up an hour late for dinner but as the evening goes on and Phyllis and Nicholas engage in a passionate kiss, everything changes for all of them.
Tessa has got into such detail about every character within the book and the decision they make. Such an insightful and wonderfully written novel into free love, free speech and the freedom of discovery.

What a wonderful romp!

Free Love is a comic novel set in 1967, the summer of Free Love and widely held to be the gateway from traditional values to modern thinking. Tessa Hadley provides a journey through this gateway, seen through the lives of the Fischer family.

Roger Fischer is a meat and two veg kind of middle class guy - war hero - senior civil servant in the Foreign Office - father of two school age children, Colette and Hugh, and happily married to Phyllis. His friends are well connected, and his social life has revolved around country estates. The Fischers' lives are mapped out on a path to moderate success within the establishment.

Enter stage left, Nicky Knight - the son of an old family friend who is invited to dinner one evening in the hope that he might hit it off with Colette, the dowdy 16 year old daughter. Nicky has just established himself in London with writerly ambitions, so the hope is that Roger could provide mentorship while Colette provides friendship. What a tangled web we weave - Nicky leaves with the wrong woman. Phyllis, seemingly on a whim, follows Nicky into 1967's bohemia - art, sex, drugs and West Indians.

The characters are all grotesque. They have major character flaws, they are not terribly virtuous but they all have a likability that is enhanced by a shifting point of view that shines a spotlight on each of them in turn. Phyllis is the star: naive, romantic and self-absorbed; with Nicky the immature and shallow co-star. The supporting cast of immediate family, aunts, hippies and schoolfriend are a comic delight. They all bring piety and leave with disgrace. The narration is done with a vein of humour that sets the reader in a position of moral superiority.

The scene setting feels right. The contrast between the brown affluence and the colourful poverty; the supposed shift in society - while the values actually turn out never to have been quite as far apart as all that. Roger is less conventional than he appears; while Nicky and the kids seem quite happy to jack in their free hedonism to chase careers. Novels often try to capture a momentous time through a limited car of characters - this one is that rare beast that succeeds. There feels like there is a world beyond the lives of these characters; it feels genuinely as though they are the link between two worlds and two ages.

This is not a remarkable or terribly surprising story. The strength is in the way it is told.

Free Love is my first Tessa Hadley novel and I very much enjoyed her writing style. She’s so good at setting the scene, I was immediately transported back to the 1960s, when this story takes place. It really does capture the melting pot of cultures at the time that were bubbling and clashing together. The upheaval and new beginnings of society are reflected by the characters in the book.

Free Love seamlessly shifts between character perspectives so we get to see how the members of the Fischer family feel as events unfold. Our lead character is 40-year old, Phyllis, married to Robert, they have two children: Colette and Hugh. Phyllis’ life is upended when the son of an old family friend, Nicky Knight, comes over for dinner.

I found myself very drawn to Phyllis, considered old by society the age of 40, she decides to walk away from the dull life-path she is on and embrace one that’s everything she isn’t right now. Kick started by having an affair with the much-younger, Nicky.

We then follow Phyllis as she abandons her middle-class life in the suburbs to live with Nicky in his small flat in Ladbroke Grove. We also get Colette’s perspective on what’s happening and I enjoyed how Colette’s and Phyllis’ storylines had a coming-of-age synergy: Colette’s being literal as she is 15, and Phyllis’ being an awakening. Colette’s storyline, however, sort of got brushed aside in the later section of the book, I would have likeD to hear more from her as she was so interesting.

The only other niggle I had was that Phyllis is only able to take this new path because she comes from money and privilege. She has an inheritance nest-egg so just plays at being poor and destitute, and the fact she abandons her children when they are still young enough to need their mother isn’t the most appealing characteristic to me…

Overall though, I devoured Free Love in a few days over the Christmas holidays – it was a great slice of escapism with more than a few clever plot moments and a wonderful trip back to the 1960s, I do recommend it. Really, when I think about it, maybe I’d like to be a bit more Phyllis and just abandon all responsibility to live how I want.

Tessa Hadley’s novel ‘Free Love’, follows Phylis, a woman in early middle age, who makes the choice to escape the confines of societies expectations of her. After a dinner party, she leaves her husband and children to pursue a relationship with Nicky, a much younger man with very different political beliefs to her husbands and contemporaries.

Throughout the novel, Hadley is without judgement. Phylis is not portrayed as a fallen woman, and she doesn’t get her comeuppance. At the same time her life isn’t easy or charmed, and she does face some unforeseen consequences.

I really enjoyed this book. Hadley’s characterisation is excellent and the novel had a great deal of pace and colour. The clash between old ‘respectability’ and tradition, with the political movements of the 1960’s is brilliantly portrayed. I would recommend this novel.

Tessa Hadley’s characters are always interesting but in this book she gets their context so precisely right that they become even more credible. The changes of the 1960s are beautifully evoked through the story of Phyllis who suddenly embarks on an affair with a much younger man and leaves her husband and two children to plunge into a very different world from the post-war middle class environment of her family. While this is a big emotional and cultural shift, she is still conveniently cushioned by inherited money of her own. The staggering selfishness of her behaviour inevitably makes the reader sympathise with her husband but he turns out to be a more complex character than he originally appears. Their children merit more concern: I finished the book wanting to know how they would navigate their lives beyond a damaged adolescence. The writing is superb: social position is neatly signified by tiny observations of the characters’ clothing and surroundings. Highly recommended.

I really loved ‘Free Love’ by Tessa Hadley. Despite disliking the characters I still enjoyed the descriptions of life and fashion in 1960’s London.

I really enjoyed this book, it was a great evocation of the late 60s. Phyllis annoyed me with her complete turnaround not giving any thought to her children, and her husband Roger was even more annoying with his total lack of empathy towards his family.
I enjoyed the foray into 1960s London and Phyllis's journey from suburban housewife to the 'Mrs Robinson' figure. But I would have run a mile if I had encountered Nicky's flat from hell!
The character development is sublime, so well written. I loved Colette, she triumphed in life with no thanks to her distanced and uninterested parents. I also loved how Hugh was written, very perceptively and realistic.
I thought this book was extremely clever, some of the characters such as Roger and Phyllis were totally self absorbed and their poor children were left to pick up the pieces.
Clever, touching and ultimately sad.

For me, this book wasn't so much about free love as it was betrayal, selfishness and mid-life crises - which may well have been the point. There's no doubt that it's beautifully written, but I struggled to engage with or really even like any of the characters. Colette, the teenage daughter, was the character that intrigued me most, and I found her character arc the most interesting part of the novel. The story centres on suburban housewife Phyllis having a sort of sexual reawakening when she spontaneously kisses a young man, Nicky, a family friend's son, when he comes to visit them for dinner. She ends up starting an affair with him and ultimately leaving her family for a new bohemian life in the city. But we don't really get a chance to get to know Phyllis before the kiss, so it was hard to really get a feel for how stifled she must have been feeling (although there are moments of claustrophobia that the author really does put across with mastery). Nicky, the supposed heart throb at the centre of if all, was the least appealing character for me - arrogant, immature, selfish, rude - and it was just hard to imagine someone completely losing their head over him. The writing is excellent, though, and the writer's sense of time and place is striking.

This felt like a reprint of a novel from the 1960s as this book perfectly captured the time and energy of the 1960s. It's a wonderful novel with a new take on a historic era that has been captured by artists, musicians, film makers and writers over and over again. It was like watching a movie with all details carefully carved, I could even smell the meals the family ate!

I liked the non-judgemental stance as the main characters grapple with far reaching consequences of their decisions. The characters were allowed to develop and bring their own story into the light. I felt a lot of compassion for every character as the truth was just always slightly out of sight.

I was completely absorbed in this unfolding drama and every character was skilfully drawn. I won't spoil the ending but I feel as though there is another story to tell, the story of the children and how the events of this story impact on their lives.

A very enjoyable read and I'll be recommending it.

This is a great read, and Tessa Hadley is definitely a name I’ll be looking out for again.

Phyllis is the main character, in her forties, married with two children and a pretty conservative lifestyle, One night she kisses someone else, a much younger man, and embarks on a passionate affair which turns all their lives upside down.

I loved the characters and the relationships between them all, and the flow of the story as events unwind. Great twist near the end that I didn’t see coming. Highly recommended.

Free Love depicts the effect of the new ways of thinking that flooded through society in the nineteen sixties upon a middle-class woman. Phyllis, the wife of a senior civil servant in the foreign office, begins an affair with a much younger man with devastating effects upon her family

Tessa Hadley’s examination of her characters is acute and unflinching. However, I do find her use of multiple third person narrative perspective a bit off-putting. It facilitates a wide canvas, certainly, but sometimes at the expense of empathy - by which I mean that the reader gets to know all the characters but doesn’t necessarily get to like any of them.

The overall effect is a painfully recognisable portrait of the times for anyone who lived through it, highlighting much that was destructive as well as liberating about the birth of the so-called counter-culture.

This book was a bit of a slow starter, with the 1960's suburban life of the Fischer family, but that all changed when Nicholas came for dinner. Phyllis and Colette really blossomed through the book, and the era and the London locations were vividly described. The tenants at Everglades were entertaining; I particularly liked Paul and Barbara. This story shows how life can be more enjoyable if you refuse to be bound by convention. Very moving with memorable.