The Invader

At an Oxford dinner in the eighteen-eighties, a portrait of Lady Hammerton draws attention to an unexpected resemblance. Milly Flaxman, a shy scholar at Ascham Hall, looks remarkably like Professor Fletcher's ancestor. When Mrs Shaw arranges Milly's hair and scarf to echo the painted figure, the comparison becomes a small social performance, with Ian Stewart watching. Milly's academic record is already impressive: she has taken a First in Mods and hopes for another in Greats.

The Invader places this Oxford setting beside a more troubled question of identity. Its subject of multiple personality gives an uneasy edge to the attention surrounding Milly. A later river outing brings her into conflict with Maxwell, whose insistence that she leave her husband puts her wishes under pressure. Social observation, university life, and strained personal loyalties shape a novel in which being seen by others can become an uncomfortable experience.