At the far end of the long white gallery is a painting of a woman, in pale flowing clothes and lying on a sofa beside an open window. The muslin curtains billow out towards her like clouds. There is a touch of brilliant red, the ribbon on her hat. The rest is white, cream, palest grey. It is a painting which leads Flora on, beckoning her away from her childhood, her complaining, clinging mother, pert younger sister, and the confines of a small community, to a proud and self-reliant future. But later, its image is to prove the catalyst for the most significant event in her life, and at the very end of that life, the pale images haunt her. Just as they haunt Dr Molloy, walking the corridors of the hospital for the old and dying, so many years later.

Isolation, separation, solitude, betrayal. The shocks of life. The consolations and the beauty of death. A few piercing moments of absolute joy and perfect understanding. The Service of Clouds is about these things, and also about love, loyalty, friendship, growing up and growing old.

Condition: Pre-loved book. Mild yellowing of pages.

Format: Hardcover
Year published: 1998
Pages: 271
Sub-genre: Literary fiction
Imprint: Chatto & Windus