FICTION

CITY OF THE MIND by Penelope Lively (Harper/Collins: $19.95; 231 pp.). Architect Matthew Halland has an insight as he contemplates his own loneliness: “Nothing matters but other people. There is nothing else, for any of us.” That’s the reality that runs beneath the surface of his mind while he deals with building plans, an unscrupulous business competitor, a bewildered daughter, an ex-wife’s new life and his own future. But he spends even more time contemplating the city of London, its past, its present, and the timeless ghosts who haunt its nooks and crannies. The relationships are intriguing, but the plot is merely a thin thread through the narrative and the characters are only briefly described.