# According to Mark

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/penelope-lively/according-to-mark/9780141196831

![According to Mark](https://quivercdn.com/covers/penguin-classics/penelope-lively/according-to-mark_978-01-4119-683-1.jpg?v=2026-04-23%2013%3A23%3A11)

- Book: [According to Mark](https://www.bookquiver.com/penelope-lively/according-to-mark) ([According to Mark.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/penelope-lively/according-to-mark.md))
- Authors: [Penelope Lively](https://www.bookquiver.com/penelope-lively)
- Publisher: penguin_classics
- ISBN: 978-01-4119-683-1
- Pages: 224
- Published: 2011-11-03
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Softcover

## Description

A respected literary biographer, Mark is working on the life of Gilbert Strong - a writer about whom he thinks he knows everything. Happily married, and apparently dedicated to a life of letters, he nevertheless falls in love with Strong's granddaughter Carrie, a vague and unsophisticated young woman more interested in bedding plants than books or passion. As Mark's obsessions develop over a hot, complicated summer, he begins to understand that nothing is ever what it seems; not Gilbert Strong, and certainly not himself. According to Mark is a witty and moving look at love, literature and the dangers of middle-aged folly.