It was one of those books where I almost gave up on a number of occasions. There was just enough interest in the story that kept me going. The trials and tribulations of two families in the first third of the book had very little to recommend it. Jane is married to Guy and struggling with the youngest of her two children. Guy is a newly installed headmaster and no help at all. Harriet is a menace. Nina, on the other hand, is single and has a grown up son James, soon off to Uni. But their background is a mystery, clever how the author keeps you reading to find out what that is.
In the background is Hugo, one of the most horrible creations I have ever read. He comes to the fore half way through in Part 2 when the story backtracks to maybe eighteen years ago when Nina joins an expedition/research trip to the Sahara with Guy, Hugo and Martin. It is here that we start to piece together the background to their relationships in Part 1. I thought here that the novel might perk up, but no. It is just terribly boring. It just sounded like the author had done so much research in this overland journey that everything had to go in. Even the drama at the end of this section was spoilt by something terribly obvious in the last sentence.
So the last part is back to where we were at the beginning where it tries to tie together the threads of the past. Possibly the most interesting part of the book. But for me, the writing seems very plain and ordinary. It's an easy read but could easily have been a hundred pages shorter.
Sometimes called Anne Tyler's forgotten novel, this is her fourth and by no means the worst. Her previous novels were equally poorly received. I did read her third "A Slipping Down Life" and was not impressed. Young Elizabeth has left home, seemingly under a cloud (we here about that later) and ended up at old Mrs Emerson's. She has just sacked her handyman and Elizabeth takes the job and a room in the big house. She "awoke every morning feeling amazed all over again". That she may have finally become a grown up. All Mrs Emerson's children (seven of them!) have moved away (unsurprisingly when we find out what a difficult person she is". They do appear at different times. Suddenly Mathew, Timothy and Andrew are at home. But the girls: Mary, Margaret, Melisa are all gone. There is a certain competitiveness for Elizabeth's attention from the young men. Then Peter (age 19), the awkward and youngest, arrives. "He grew up whilst their backs were turned". Then it's a funeral that has brought the family together.
Jump forward to 1963 and we hear about Margaret's marriage and a previous boyfriend who occupies her thoughts. Elizabeth has left and it's her wedding that Margaret has decided to attend. The narrative ends in 1970, a slightly peculiar conclusion. It's Peter who arrives out of the blue to find the family all together, including Elizabeth? He finds they are all just the same. All argumentative and now with young children in tow. I thought the book had definite glimpses of what became the author's trademark exploration of family relationships. I thought it was fine.
There are eleven short stories in this collection by, perhaps, my favourite author Jane Gardam. Her "Old Filth" trilogy is just brilliant, I think her novels are better than the shorter versions listed below:
THE TRIBUTE
A lunch is arranged in remembrance of Denchie. The elderly Nelly, Mabel and Fanny are meeting in Harrods. Nelly has driven there (well these were written over 44 years ago). "She eased her legs out of the car and felt for Hans Crescent with her Dr. Scholls". The talk is about how Denchie looked after all their children for just bed and board. "I wonder if she had the OAP (old age pension)?" But nobody had bought a stamp. Denchie's niece is late and this is when the story takes a decidedly unexpected turn.
HETTY SLEEPING
Is it all a dream? Or just part of this story. You have to guess.
TRANSIT PASSENGERS
The weakest of all the stories.
FOR HE HEARD THE LOUD BASSOON
A proper short story where an unexpected event happens. Our narrator looks in at an almost deserted church. But a wedding in a small chapel needs him as a witness and from there there is an amazing turn of events.
LYCHEES FOR TONE
Absolutely priceless. Narrated by Tone's mother in her northern accent. Her husband is dead and Tone is bringing home a bird to stay. She ruminates for ages about how this is not right, driving herself mad. Then a huge twist at the end.
THE DICKIES
A small dinner party in Pam's garden. Our guest is there with her mother and other mature people. Who arrives but the two Dickies, a strange relationship. Very strange.
THE GREAT, GRAND, SOAP-WATER KICK
Narrated by Horsa, actually a tramp. Not quite illiterate but almost. His lucky day (see title).
LUNCH WITH RUTH SYKES
Or maybe not. Rosalind's mother tells the story of lives in a muddle.
DOSSIE
Pass.
A SPOT OF GOTHIC
The captain's wife narrates as he has left for a posting abroad, leaving her alone in the best army house they have ever found. Here in the North Yorkshire hills he was worried she would feel isolated by the wary locals. But no, the opposite turns out to be the case. Then leaving a dinner to which she has been invited, and driving in the dark out of Wensleydale, she thinks a woman waves to her at the side of the road? Should she have stopped? She goes back later to investigate. What follows is pure Gardam genius.
THE SIDMOUTH LETTERS
The last of these stories gives the book it's title and no wonder. Annie tells us about an American professor when she was chosen for a post graduate year at a mid-west university. Shorty Shenfold arrives in the UK, now a writer and plagiarist. He is becoming successful despite having had three wives in tow. Annie is now also a success and, despite him having hi-jacked her thesis, agrees to accompany him and his latest wife Lois to look at some Jane Austen writing in her old cottage, now a museum. But the next morning Lois has died while they were staying at Claridges and Annie is persuaded to carry out a chore for Shorty. That is where it all gets very interesting. He had forgotten her link to Devon where her arrival causes a stir. Wonderful.
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