Harriet Devine's Blog

The Stone Circle by Elly Griffiths

Can this really be the 11th outing for Dr Ruth Galloway and DCI Harry Nelson? How time flies. I'm not a great follower of series but there are a few that I won't miss and this one is pretty much at the top of the list. I enjoy the crime plots - they're never too visceral and it's interestingly challenging to try to guess the perpetrator - but, like many others, I imagine, I'm also always anxious to know how things are progressing with the complicated love life of Ruth and Nelson. He is, of course, the father of her now seven-year-old daughter Kate, but he has a home and family, whose problems have been looming rather large of late.

As an archaeologist, Ruth is often brought in by the police to assess bones that have been discovered, and this time is no exception. In fact two sets of bones have been uncovered in the course of a dig at a prehistoric circle, a dig that Ruth is not herself involved in. One set of bones clearly dates from the ancient origins of the circle, but the other set looks much more recent, and the police quickly ascertain that they belong to a twelve-year-old girl who disappeared without trace some thirty or more years earlier. The girl's family has mixed feelings: relief that closure can be found at last, grief at learning that all hope of Margaret still being alive has to disappear. And as if this were not enough, a baby of less than a month old, the daughter of a young family member, is abducted. Can there be a link between the two events - the long dead daughter and the new born one?

Meanwhile, this time around it's not just the relationship between Ruth and Nelson that is hanging in the balance - or rather, another expected event is going to have a great influence on how things go for them. Nelson's wife Michelle is in the final days of her pregnancy, and so it will soon become clear whether the new baby is Nelson's or whether the father was Michelle's lover Tim, a black detective sergeant who was killed in the last book. I'm not about to spoil things by telling you the outcome of this particular cliff hanger, but the family dynamics are particularly well drawn here - not just between Harry and Michelle, but also with Laura, the older of their two daughters, who is living back at home while she completes her teacher training course. 

Nelson and Ruth rarely if ever discuss any possible outcomes of their affair - they see a lot of each other in the course of work but occasions when they are on their own are very rare indeed. What is clear to both of them is that the arrival of Michelle's new baby is going to have an important bearing on how things will progress in the future. One crucial factor in this novel is the increased openness that is forced onto the family by developing events. Michelle has unwillingly accepted that Kate is her husband's daughter, who he takes out every two weeks. But Laura and her sister have no idea of the relationship, and Harry thinks it's time they were told. How will this affect family dynamics?

These are thoughtful, intelligent novels and Ruth is a terrific central character. What will happen next? Time will tell.

 

Woman with Books

This is 'Juliet, daughter of Richard H. Fox of Surrey', by Alfred Lambart (1902-1970). Looks like she can't decide what she wants to read - or maybe she's looking for a quotation she wants to amaze the dinner guests with.

Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson

I first encountered Peter Swanson when I read his second novel, The Kind Worth Killing, back in 2015. I was hugely taken with it and wrote a rave review for Shiny which you can read here if you're interested. I subsequently read his first, The Girl with a Clock for a Heart, and indeed everything he has written since. All have been good but nothing blew me away like my first experience - nothing, that is, until now. Before She Knew Him, published today, is a superb, twisty, disturbing picture of a plausible, charming man who happens to be a psychopath, and the young woman who knows what he is but cannot convince the police of his guilt.

Hen (short for Henrietta) and her husband Lloyd have recently moved into a new house in West Dartford, Massachusetts. When they are invited to a neighbourhood party, they are pleased to meet another couple about their own age, Matthew and Mira Dolomore. Not only are the Dolomores equally childless, but it turns out they live next door. The couple invite Hen and Lloyd to dinner, but while she is in their house Hen spots something that deeply disturbs her. On the mantlepiece in Matthew's study is a small skiing trophy, which Hen is convinced originally belonged to a young college student, whose unsolved murder she is interested in. A few days later, she returns to the house when Matthew is at work, and persuades Mira to give her another tour, saying she's looking for ideas for designing their own place. But when she reaches the study, the trophy has gone.

Certain that Matthew must be guilty - why else would he move the trophy, which he must have seen her reaction to? - she contacts the police to tell them her suspicions. Unfortunately Hen is not believed, on the grounds of her own personal history. For Hen is bipolar, and until she was diagnosed and put on the effective meds she is now taking, she was involved in a situation at college in which she became wrongly convinced that a fellow student was guilty of a terrible crime, and actually attacked the girl concerned. So the police politely dismiss her allegations.

You might think at this point that the novel is going to be a 'did he or didn't he?' sort of book. But you'd be wrong. There are numerous shocks in store which I have no intention of revealing, but the first one - which was indeed a profound shock when I encountered it as early as p.30, was the fact that Matthew is definitely guilty. I feel a bit worried about telling you this as it does I suppose count as a spoiler, but it's impossible to get any further with the story of the plot without revealing this crucial element. We get to see inside Matthew's head, and it's not an attractive place. Profoundly damaged by his appalling childhood, Matthew sees himself as a saviour of oppressed women, and to carry out this role he kills the men who are oppressing or deceiving them. He's careful to use different methods each time and to prepare convincing alibis, and feels confident that he won't be caught.

Matthew is clever and perceptive, and soon becomes aware that Hen has guessed his secret - indeed, she actually witnesses him committing his latest crime, though once again the police don't believe her. Knowing this, Matthew visits Hen and tells her the whole story of his exploits, secure in the knowledge that she will be unable to convince the police that any of this is true, given her history of mental problems. A terrible dance is thus set in motion, with Hen and Matthew locked in a secret, compulsive relationship.Who will Matthew murder next?

Matthew is a brilliantly conceived character. A popular college lecturer, pretty much teetotal, faithful to his wife, he has a strong though perverted morality, believing he is doing the world a favour by ridding it of untrustworthy men. Beneath his surface confidence, though, he suffers from a nervous stomach, throws up easily, finds it difficult to eat when he's worked up about something. We learn a great deal about his dysfunctional childhood and it's not a pretty picture. So his revelations to Hen, secure in the knowledge that they will go no further, act as a form of release for him. As for Hen, who has her own problems, she is forced to keep his revelations secret but determined that in the end she will be able to find a way to bring him to justice. 

This was the kind of book you whizz through, and think about when you're not actually reading it. I can't recommend it highly enough.

 

 

Woman Playing the Piano

This is actually a detail from 'A Favourite Melody' by Bernard Louis Borione (1865 – 1920). I just love her jacket!

He Knew He Was Right by Anthony Trollope

 

As I'm sure you know, I've always got an audiobook on the go - I have a monthly subscription to Audible which allows me one book a month, so I'm always pleased to get something which is going to last me out the whole time. Trollope is your man if you want to be sure of that - some years ago now I worked my way through the Barchester Chronicles and the Palliser novels as well as a few standalones, including the amazing The Way We Live Now. But I'd never even heard of He Knew He Was Right till I saw a very positive recommendation on somebody's blog. And how right they were - this is a brilliant novel and I loved every minute of the 27 hours of listening.

There are numerous interweaving stories here, but the chief plot, the one which gives the novel its title, is the story of a young married couple, Louis and Emily Trevelyan. Louis is independently wealthy, though I don't think we ever find out the source of his riches, and they live comfortably in London with their baby son, another Louis. The marriage is a happy one and they love each other very much. But then everything changes. Emily's father, Sir Marmaduke Rowley, is governor of the Mandarin Islands (somewhere in the Far East) but he has a good friend in London by the name of Colonel Osborne, who is something of a ladies' man. Osborne takes to calling on Emily and, though nothing improper occurs, Trevelyan becomes increasingly jealous and suspicious. He forbids Emily to see or communicate with Osborne, but Emily judges this to be unfair and continues to receive his visits. This leads to so much fury on Trevelyan's side and obstinacy on Emily's that the couple separates. Louis deteriorates increasingly and eventually, in a very painful episode, kidnaps his small son and moves to a secret location in the country. Later, his mental health by now giving great cause for concern, he takes the child to a remote country house near Sienna in Italy.

While all this is going on, there's a lot of other action among their friends and relations. Emily's younger sister Nora, who has been living with her, is courted by a young aristocrat Mr Glascock, the heir to an Earl. When he proposes, Nora turns him down, much to the displeasure of her family and friends - however, Nora has fallen in love with Hugh Stanbury, a well-born but impoverished young journalist. At the point of turning down the proposal, Nora does not even know if Hugh returns her feelings, but luckily he does and the two plan to marry when the time becomes favourable.

Meanwhile, Hugh's young sister Dorothy is invited to live with a wealthy elderly relative, Aunt Stanbury, who has willed all her money and possessions to a young man named Brooke Burgess, to whose family she feels under an obligation for reasons in the long distant past. Brooke falls in love with Dorothy and asks her to marry him, but at first Aunt Stanbury forbids it - however as time goes by she softens her attitude. She had originally wanted Dorothy to marry a local clergyman, but Dorothy refuses him and so he.... Well you get the general idea.

What is really interesting about this novel - apart from the fact that it's a cracking story - is the way it interrogates marriage and women's roles. Louis' jealousy is undoubtedly unreasonable - he is compared at times to Othello - and becomes an obsession that completely takes over his mind and renders him unbalanced. But Emily, in resisting his requests that she should admit to her imagined infidelity, shows great strength of mind, despite the fact that she loves her husband and is devastated when her child is taken from her. Louis insists that the marriage can be saved if she will admit to adultery but, as she points out, he would then be living with a fatally tarnished woman with whom he could never be happy. Nora, meanwhile, is under great pressure from her parents (on a visit from the Mandarins) who are appalled that she should have turned down the offer of a title and a stately home to live in. Lady Rowley hopes Mr Glascock will try again on his return from Italy, but he has met a pretty young American woman and will marry her instead. As for Dorothy, finding the strength to act on her feelings rather than allowing her life to be ruled by Aunt Stanbury helps the timid young girl to mature into a confident young woman. So under the machinations of the complex plots seems to be the message that young women should be trusted to think and act for themselves.

In the end, after many pitfalls, everybody's lives are wrapped up satisfactorily - apart from poor Louis, who cannot survive the serious illness brought about by his mental disorder. This was one of those books where I was really sorry to see the end approaching so fast - I could have gone on reading, or rather listening, forever. Highly recommended!

Woman Reading

As this was painted by Helen McNicholl, who wasn't born till 1879, this is presumably a fancy dress or a stage costume - crinolines would have been long out of date by the time she was born, let alone old enough to paint this.

Woman Reading

For the third week in a row we have a painting by the Canadian artist Helen McNicholl (1879-1915). You can see a whole lot more of her lovely paintings here.

Woman Reading

This is called Reading in the Tent and it's by the Canadian artist Helen McNicholl (1879-1915). A lovely painting to remind us that warmer days will come soon (we hope). Thanks to Claire for the link.

Woman Reading

Last week we had a painting of a woman reading painted by the Canadian artist Helen McNicholl(1879-1915) and here's another of hers, this time complete with a baby. She was only 35 when she died, but had become celebrated internationally.

Woman Reading

A photo for you today instead of a painting. Don't know who it's by but it shows the great American novelist Edith Wharton (1862-1937). She didn't start publishing novels till she was forty but became hugely successful. Have you read her? If not, please do!