A highly original work, in Making it Up , Penelope Lively examines alternative destinies, choices and the moments in our lives when we could have chosen a different path. In this fascinating piece of fiction, Penelope Lively takes moments from her own life and asks what if she had made other choices: what if she hadnt escaped from Alexandria at the outbreak of WWII? What A highly original work, in Making it Up , Penelope Lively examines alternative destinies, choices and the moments in our lives when we could have chosen a different path. In this fascinating piece of fiction, Penelope Lively takes moments from her own life and asks what if she had made other choices: what if she hadnt escaped from Alexandria at the outbreak of WWII? What would her life have been like if she had become pregnant when she was 18? If she had married someone else? If she taken a different job? If she had lived her life abroad?