Adultery as a theme in fiction is as old as the genre
itself, so Anthea Church, in Sleeping with Mozart
(Virago, $34.96, pbk) faces a challenge in providing her
reader with something sufficiently nuanced to lift her story
out of the common trough.
She doesn't make too bad a fist of it, either.
It is told in the first person by the narrator, Dorcas, whose
much older lover, Jamie, an English professor, is initially
obsessed with her, but finally opts for the safer choice of
remaining with the missus.
Dorcas, a schoolteacher, meanders through the affair,
alternately just as obsessed as her lover and just as
determined to mend her broken heart.
Though sketched only as a somewhat remote character the
professor's wife is the key to this story, for she refuses to
give the permission her husband craves, and treats his
obsession as the peccadillo it really is.
It's a novel a cut above its competitors, with a kind of
off-stage mockery undercutting the earnestness of the
narrator.
- Bryan James
Late last year I reviewed Notwithstanding by
Louis de Bernieres, which was a collection of stories all
connected to a quintessential English village with all the
eccentrics and antics of such a timeless and charming place.
With Helen Simonson's Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
(Random, $38.99, pbk), I felt I had slipped within a
protracted story in Notwithstanding (the village) and was
able to get a good, long look at the ways and wherefores of
their life.
It was a joy to read.
Simonson has written a classic love story about breaking
taboos and upsetting social convention while detailing with
charm and sympathy, the weird and wonderful village life.
The book is narrated by the ageing, widowed Major who is
grief-stricken again as his brother dies unexpectedly.
Throughout, the Major maintains a terrifically dry sense of
humour and I repeatedly laughed out loud as he confronted the
more greedy and obnoxious within his family and community.
There is a lot going on at the moment in his village and he
is uncomfortable with most of the activities.
They represent change and noise, two things he dislikes more
than phones and phonies.
His own son proves to be a sticking point but, true to his
training, the Major does what is right in the finish, pride
and prejudice be damned.
This is Simonson's first novel and I look forward to her next
offering with anticipation.
- Kathy Young
One
of the many benefits of reading novels is that they can take
you to countries and periods of history you know little or
nothing about and give you a flavour of a foreign place and
time.
Brigid Pasulka's novel A Long Long Time Ago and
Essentially True ( Hachette, $38.99, pbk) tells two
stories of Poland - one set before and during World War 2,
the other in contemporary times - that are linked by a family
connection across three generations.
The story begins with a rustic, almost fairy-tale air as
Pasulka introduces the 1940s characters, in particular a
beautiful village girl called Anielica and her ardent suitor
Czeslaw (also known as The Pigeon).
A more matter-of-fact tone is adopted to relate the story of
their granddaughter, Baba Yaga, who has just moved to
modern-day Krakow from her family's village.
Anielica's seduction by The Pigeon is only a gateway into a
much more substantial story about the survival of their
village's inhabitants during the war and the small acts of
heroism that get most of them through it intact.
When the couple move to Krakow after the war, The Pigeon's
disappearance at the hands of the State touches on a murky
part of Polish history.
Baba Yaga's experience of life in Krakow 50 years on may not
be overshadowed by such malevolence, but she has her own
torments to deal with, not least her involvement in the death
of someone close to her.
What gives this book its shape and substance is not the
tragedies that befall its characters but their moments of
human frailty, courage, humour, disappointment and,
occasionally, happiness.
The small events are as captivating as the life-changing
ones.
In weaving a family history, Pasulka encapsulated so much of
Polish society - how things were during the war and how
things are now.
It is not a complete picture, of course, but I felt
enlightened about an unfamiliar country by the time the novel
drew to a close.
- Caroline Hunter
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