Helen Dunmore is one of my favourite authors, and I went back to a novel she had written in 1995. A Spell of Winter is about a family in turmoil in the early part of the twentieth century. It won the 1996 Orange Prize and therefore it is no surprise that the writing that is so moving. Narrated by Catherine on the verge of womanhood, we explore why, as we are lead to believe in the introduction, she has been left alone. Sometimes the story of her relationship with her brother, grandfather, governess, housemaid etc. is a little slow, but I found the whole book wholly engrossing. It is beautifully structured and the characters are very well drawn. Every couple of pages there is a sentence you want to read out loud. "Miss Gallagher could make a sunny day look like a funeral"..... "She wears a hat that looks more like a testament of respectability than an ornament".
Ladder of Years was the best Anne Tyler novel I have read so far, which says a lot. She not only writes my favourite kind of book (family dramas) but her prose and dialogue are perfect. And this time we have a brilliant story about Cordelia (Delia, Dee?) Grinstead, forty years old and mother of three grown up children and a doctor husband, who walks away from a family beach holiday and keeps on going. The characters she meets and her family back home are so wonderfully described, and places so real you can touch them. Reading an Anne Tyler is like slowly savouring your favourite meal. I mentioned the book to a sister in law and she said she loved it wanted to read it again. I have just ordered "Breathing Lessons" but will save it for another day.
I could have given The Goldfinch a posting of it's own. Not quite as good but longer (800 plus pages) than her brilliant "The Secret History", Donna Tartt's latest novel is extremely intense, highly literate and totally engrossing. I don't think I have read so many pages in such a short time; this is a book that keeps you hooked from the first page to the last. Like "The Secret History" it is narrated by a young man. Theo Decker is not what you would want as a friend but his story is quite remarkable. And at the soul of this book is the piece of art that gives it it's title. There are times when our involvement with the main character takes us to places that are so nerve wracking that when they are over you shut the book with relief. And there are times when you get so angry for Theo that your sympathy for him is entirely inappropriate. The main part of the book is located in New York and her name checking of places and streets will mean much more to other people. But her mentioning Central Park, Paragon Sports and Union Square as well as Mulberry Street brought back memories of my two visits to the city.The only reservations I had were that the story turns into a run of the mill thriller three quarters through, although this does have meaning for the conclusion. And one fundamental plot point that I still find unbelievable. Otherwise this is at least a five star novel. The book has so much to say about life and death and the randomness of chance that impact on our existence, as well as love and beauty and how they can influence a life for better or worse. It has a lot to say about the paradoxes of good and bad. Yes, there are lots of philosophical questions that punctuate the story in great chunks. But these are so well written that the long paragraphs sweep over you like elevator music. A wonderfully gripping story.
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