Victoria Clayton

Marigold, who narrates this story, is a talented and highly ambitious ballet dancer. But, as we learn in the first sentence, she has broken some bones... this leads to her recuperating in her family home in Northumberland, and that's where most of the novel takes place.

Supposedly a social comedy, this book touches on some quite deep and controversial issues. There's certainly some humour, and quite a few caricatured people, but the writing is excellent and the main characters realistic and likeable. I found some of the early scenes rather sordid, but that's not uncommon with Victoria Clayton. By the time I was a few chapters in, I could barely put the book down.

Plenty of references to literature, music and the world of ballet, and some nicely intertwined subplots. A few surprises, some of which I anticipated, but not all of them. All in all, I enjoyed this book very much.… (lisätietoja)

This is long novel (almost 700 pages) which takes awhile to get going. The first 150 pages or so explain why the protagonist, Bobbie, is escaping from England to be housekeeper in a remote castle in Ireland. There was a lot of flashback and discussion about the past, and it was hard to see where the story was going.

However, once Bobbie arrives at her destination and gets to know the people she will be working for, it picks up pace. It's a character-based book primarily, but it touches on some important issues and is set firmly in the context of Ireland in the late 1970s. The author evidently understands several different perspectives, and I felt the background to the Irish 'troubles' came to life, along with the staunch Catholic beliefs - often mixed up with superstition - that were common to so many.

All in all, I enjoyed this very much.… (lisätietoja)

The first sentence of the novel hooked me: ‘The day my father was arrested for murder began promisingly’. But after the first hundred or so pages, I began to feel much the same about the book. The narrator, 22-year-old Harriet, takes part in a violent demonstration, and is clearly in a rather degrading relationship. Worse, her sister Portia suffers humiliation and serious abuse. I could not conceive how this could be billed as a 'social comedy'. The only mildly amusing parts are their parents' frequent quotations from Shakespeare, and even those palled after a few chapters. The father is likeable enough, but the mother is selfish and neglectful.

However, the novel improves greatly when Harriet and her younger sister Cordelia are invited to stay at a stately home over Christmas. The house-party inevitably contains a variety of individuals, most of them caricatured, but that didn't matter. I didn't like the owner of the house, who is far too fond of young girls, and treats his wife appallingly. But the others are somewhat amusing in their interactions; Harriet is an interesting and self-deprecating narrator.

The writing is good, as with all this author’s novels, and the pace exactly right for my tastes. By about half way through, I could barely put it down. The ending is partly predictable but not entirely. Overall I didn’t like this book as much as the earlier ones by this author, but I look forward to reading more of her works.

I would award about two-and-a-half stars for the first part of the book, but closer to four for the latter half.… (lisätietoja)