Harriet Devine's Blog

Kismet by Luke Tredget

When this book arrived in my mailbox, I took a quick look and decided it probably wasn't for me. The combination of the cover picture and the fact that the blurb compares to it 'the romance of David Nicholls One Day', a book I didn't't care for, made me put it one side. But it fell into my hands one sunny afternoon when I was looking for something to read in the garden, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. It took me a while to really warm to it, but I ended up enjoying it quite a lot.

This is the story of Anna. She works as a copywriter for an online magazine, and lives in Kilburn with Pete, who she's very fond of but doesn't think she's in love with. She's generally slightly dissatisfied with her life, and is on anti-depressants (though Pete doesn't know). And (obviously he doesn't know this either) she's just joined Kismet, an online dating app that assesses its users' character and feelings in what is claimed to be a very complex and subtle way, and alerts then to any suitable matches in the vicinity. The matches are graded by number - at the start, Anna is disappointed to see a 57 and quite interested to spot a 66 from the bus on the way home. Pete, she knows, is a 67, perfectly adequate but not terribly exciting. Soon, however, she meets Geoff, who bears the almost unattainable number 81. Geoff is handsome, suave, and highly intelligent, and Anna agrees to meet him, basking in the knowledge of their very high compatibility. Indeed, that 81 makes her feel extremely comfortable with him - she needn't worry about her less than perfect body or any of her other supposed deficiencies as the high score will mean he doesn't mind them at all.  So she drifts into a secret relationship with Geoff, which entails a lot of lying to Pete and involving her friends in covering for her. She's drinking a lot, staying up late, and feeling extremely guilty about her forthcoming birthday party, when she knows that Pete is planning to surprise her with a proposal and a ring. Should she ditch Pete altogether and settle down with gorgeous Geoff?

So far, so romance. But this is a much cleverer book than I've made it sound. It's thoughtful, and thought-provoking in its use of social media, with its obvious advantages - a sub-plot has Anna reaching out via twitter to find the owner of a suitcase full of clothes which has been abandoned for four years - and disadvantages - too much reliance on an app such as Kismet, obviously, which proves in the end to have surprising and discomforting effects. London life for Anna and her thirty-something friends is portrayed in all its pleasures and pains - more pains than pleasures for Anna, who constantly feels she doesn't really fit in, or share the interests of her somewhat shallow contemporaries. She has an interesting mind, full of quirky ideas and projects, most of which she doesn't actually put into action. She drinks far too much - her consumption made me feel quite dizzy myself at times - tries not to feel guilty about deceiving Pete, and goes on deceiving him and feeling guilty about it anyway. Altogether Anna is a wholly believable character, flawed but sympathetic, and her creation is something of a triumph on the part of her male creator. It just goes to show you shouldn't judge a book by its cover or its blurb, though naturally we all tend to do this anyway. How else can you judge it?

 

 

Woman Reading

Painted by the American artist Seymour Joseph Guy (1824-1910), this is called 'Dear Polly'. Guy was known as a genre painter (one who depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities, according to Wikipedia). This lady's apron and clothing suggests she's the housekeeper - perhaps the letter is from a fellow employee who's moved on?

With a Bare Bodkin by Cyril Hare

I was in Guernsey for a few days a week or so ago and was pleased to have the opportunity of exploring some charity shops, one of the things I miss about not living in the UK. The books selections didn't altogether grab me, but I seized on this one and read it with great pleasure.

Some time ago I read a novel by Cyril Hare called An English Murder. I quite enjoyed it but don't appear to have reviewed it on here. I seem to remember that the denouement turned on a fine point of English law, not very surprising as Cyril Hare's real name was Gordon Clark, and he was a barrister and later a judge, in addition to writing crime novels. In his most famous novel, Tragedy at Law (which I haven't read though I'd really like to) he introduced a character by the name of Francis Pettigrew, himself a barrister though not a terribly successful one, with a penchant for solving crimes. Pettigrew reappears in With a Bare Bodkin. The book was published in 1946 but it's set in the middle of WW2. In this novel, Pettigrew has been unwillingly removed from his chambers in London and sent to do war work for an obscure Ministry, the Pin Control, which is located in the north east of England. The staff work in a 'monstrous structure' a sort of Victorian pleasure dome of marble halls, built by an eccentric peer, and live in a sort of residential club nearby.

The work is desperately monotonous, and Pettigrew has nothing in common with his 'brother or sister pin controllers', though he develops a definite soft spot for his serious, efficient secretary Miss Brown, whose beautiful eyes have rather swept him off his feet. Unfortunately Miss Brown is being courted, apparently successfully, by the middle-aged widower Mr Phillips, who nobody thinks suitable for her. Nobody, that is to say, apart from the decidedly eccentric Miss Honoria Danville, whose main purpose in life seems to be making tea for the staff, and who is energetically encouraging Miss Brown to accept the proposals of Mr Phillips.

Another staff member is a Mr Wood, a completely unremarkable man who proves very unexpectedly to be a successful crime writer, working under the name Amyas Leigh. When the bored inhabitants of the club discover this fact, a group of them decide to pass the dreary evenings in constructing their very own crime story, in which they themselves will be the characters. Started as a joke, the whole thing takes off in a big way, and the group decides that the rather peculiar Miss Danville should be cast as the murderer. However, everything goes off in a completely different direction when Miss Danville is herself found murdered in the room she uses to make the tea. The murder instrument is an instrument known as a bodkin, normally used for spearing the endless piles of paperwork accumulated in the course of work. Present in the area happens to be Detective Inspector Mallett, an old acquaintance of Pettigrew's, who is visiting to investigate quite a different matter but becomes involved in the Danville murder case. He and Pettigrew spend long hours discussing the matter but can come to no conclusions as to who might possibly have a motive for murdering this undoubtedly irritating but completely harmless woman.

This is a novel of great charm and wit. The solution to the mystery is not entirely astonishing, but Pettigrew's knowledge of the law is crucial and it is he who eventually works out what the motive was. The novel is wonderfully evocative of the period in which it is set, and filled with delightfully vivid characters. I shall be looking out for more of Cyril Hare's novels. 

 

Woman Reading

This is 'Madame Hassan in a Red Robe Reading' by Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940).

What You Want to See by Kristen Lepionka

I'm always pleased when books turn up in my mailbox unsolicited. I don't always read them, of course, but it's a great way of discovering excellent books and authors that have escaped the radar. And this smart, entertaining PI novel is one such. The second in a series of which I've yet to read the first (though I plan to put that right as soon as possible), the novel features Roxane Weary, Ohio born and bred, daughter of a policeman, working as a private investigator.

Roxane is bright and determined, but she's carrying a lot of baggage from a recent case and is still mourning the death of her father and the apparent end of two relationships, with cop Tom and with beautiful Catherine. She's hired by a middle-aged man who fears his beautiful fiancée Marin in cheating on him. Roxane spends some time tailing this elegant woman, but sees no sign of infidelity - curiously she seems to spend her time in shops, looking round but never buying. Then Marin turns up dead, shot in an alley. At first the police think it's a mugging, but when they decide it's murder, they focus on Roxane's client. Determined to prove his innocence, Roxane starts to investigate Marin's life and finds she  was by no means all she pretended to be. Among other things she had a criminal record and a decidedly unpleasant son who has recently been released from prison. Roxane soon finds herself facing some ugly scams, including one to defraud vulnerable old people out of their property. And when her own family is made a target, she's more determined than ever to bring the true culprits to justice.

I took a great liking to Roxane - she's good hearted but extremely vulnerable and full of self doubt. It's great that her bisexuality is simply a given, a part of her interesting and sometimes complicated nature. She's fiercely protective of those she loves - her own family, of course, but also a young girl, Shelby, who comes to her for help and advice. I can't wait to read more about her in the previous novel, and will certainly be on the lookout for the rest of the series.

 

The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths

A new Ruth Galloway novel by Elly Griffiths is always one of the high points of my reading year. This one actually came out in February, but I've only just read it - I was saving it up for the right moment. Needless to say I enjoyed it tremendously, though I did feel the crime element of the plot was not quite as strong as it usually is in this series.

It's hard to believe there's anyone out there who hasn't read this brilliant series, but in case you haven't, the central character, Ruth Galloway, is an archaeologist whose speciality is bones. She works at the fictional University of North Norfolk, and lives nearby in a remote seaside area with her now six-year-old daughter Kate. Owing to her speciality she is frequently called upon by the police to help identify bones that have turned up in unexpected places. This has brought her into contact with DCI Harry Nelson, with whom she has had a decidedly on-off relationship. Harry is Kate's father, and loves her to bits, but he also has a wife, the beautiful Michelle, and two grown up daughters.  Recently (in the previous novel) Harry and Ruth have become closer and both have acknowledged that they would like to be together. Unfortunately this has coincided with Michelle finding she's pregnant. If this isn't complicated enough, she has been having an affair with a member of Harry's team, the beautiful black Tim. Will the baby turn out to be Tim's, and what effect will this have on Harry and Michelle's relationship? That's how things ended in the the past book.

Anyone (and that includes me) who hoped things would be resolved by now will be disappointed. Michelle is still pregnant and everything is still hanging in the air. Ruth is feeling stressed, and is happy when an old friend, an Italian archaeologist named Angelo, invites her to stay in a beautiful hill village in Italy and help him to identify some bones that have recently been uncovered in an excavation. He offers her the use of a flat, so she decides to make it proper holiday. As well as Kate, she takes her friend Shona and Shona's four-year-old Louis.  The village, Castello Dei Angeli, is lovely and Angelo, his students, and the villagers as a whole make the visitors feel very welcome. But there's something odd going on under the surface, and this comes to a head when the local, much-loved priest is found murdered inside the church. 

But where's Harry in all this, you may be wondering. Well, by a just about credible piece of plotting, he has turned up in Italy, together with his friend, the druid Cathbad. There's been an earthquake in the area, all phone connections are cut off, and he's worried for the safety of Ruth and Kate, so he's flown over to make sure they are OK. Unfortunately, while they are enjoying some rare family time together, back in Norfolk Michelle and one of her daughters find themselves in a life-threatening situation with a recently released convict...

There's always so much to enjoy in these books, and this one is no exception. Ruth is an exceptionally likeable character, as always - clever, sceptical, concerned about her somewhat overweight body (which doesn't stop people being attracted to her), she struggles endlessly with her feelings for Harry and her desire not to rock the boat of his marriage. Kate is turning out to be a wonderfully conceived child, bold, bright and imaginative, and it's great to get to know Harry's daughter Laura, who takes centre stage in one of the elements of the plot. We see a lot more of Michelle than usual as well, and it's hard not to sympathise with her predicament. But of course regular readers will be rooting for Ruth and Harry - will they ever get to be together? Developments towards the end of the novel seem to suggest that a resolution will not be easily reached, but that's for another day. 

If by some mischance you haven't yet discovered this series, do please put that right. If you have, you won't need any urging to read this novel.

 

 

Quartet in Autumn (1977 failure)

When Simon and Kaggsy announced the 1977 Club, I immediately checked a list of publications for that year. I was overjoyed to find a Barbara Pym I hadn't read, and ordered the book well in advance of the date when I'd need to read it. However when the date of the week came into view, I couldn't find the book - I'd no idea where I'd put it. Luckily I had another read lined up, and reviewed Staying On in good time. Then a few days ago, a large pile of books got moved and there was Quartet in Autumn underneath. So, full of joyful anticipation I started reading it straight away. But oh dear - I've given up.

This is very sad. I've been a huge admirer of Pym since I was introduced to her in the 1980s, and have read, and re-read, all her earlier novels. I've often said she's someone I hesitate to read in public places because she makes me chuckle out loud. But those books were published between 1950 and 1963, after which she stopped writing and publishing for  fifteen years, until the appearance of Quartet in Autumn. I'm happy for her that it was shortlisted for the Booker (though even happier that it was beaten by Staying On). Unfortunately, though the brilliant observation of the middle classes and their foibles remain, the wonderful ironic humour is not there any more. Instead I found this a deeply depressing book. It's about four people in their sixties, working together in an office but having very little to do with each other outside of work. None of them have had very fulfilling lives - only one, Edwin, has been married and has children. He's also obsessed with everything to do with churches, and is never happier than when reading the boards outside ones he hasn't visited before, or looking up vicars in Crockford's Directory. Then there's Norman, a 'strange little man', and the two women, Marcia and Letty. Marcia, like Pym herself, has had a mastectomy, and has become obsessed with the surgeon, longing for her next visits to the hospital. As for Letty, she does at least take care of her appearance and has some interested in life, but essentially she is lonely and feels life has passed her by. 

I feel like a real wuss giving up on this. I see it was reviewed by quite a few people for the 1977 club and they all found things to admire. I guess I found things to admire too, but I'd so much been looking forward to some humour, and instead found the mood just too low key. It made me think of Pym herself, recovering from a serious operation, getting older and not seeing much to look forward to in the future. It also made me want to re-read the Pyms I've loved in the past, which can't be a bad thing.