A story of an orphaned child's growth into adulthood is thoughtful and affecting, writes Margaret Bannister.
JACQUES
Tanya Ravenswater
Allen & Unwin
By MARGARET BANNISTER
This novel begins with a prologue, in which the 20-year-old Jacques looks back on his early life. He goes on to write the story of himself, the only child of parents who love him as every child should be loved, with devotion, patience and good humour, and they encourage him in his painting and his piano playing.
Then tragically and suddenly, his mother dies. His father is of frail health and decides he must make arrangements for his son's care, in the event of his own demise, as there is no close family. He appoints a work colleague, one Oliver Clark, as Jacques' legal guardian. When his father dies in a motor vehicle accident, Jacques goes to live as part of Oliver Clark's family.
It is Jacques' story of his growth into young adulthood which makes this unfailingly absorbing. The writer has managed to explore and illuminate all the bewilderment of this small boy at these upheavals, and as he grows, the feelings he has in this family, not his own, and in fact an unhappy family with much marital discord. However, his secure sense of himself, together with his music and his painting, allows him to navigate these stormy waters, and those of his emerging sexuality, with a few mistakes naturally, but some grace.
The paragraphs of this tale are at times more widely separated, and after wondering about this, I decided that this adds a certain space, a time perhaps to absorb, or allow to settle. I found reading this was a really good experience.
Margaret Bannister is a retired Dunedin psychotherapist and science teacher.
