Reading Turgenev, A Handful of Dust and Old Filth

"Two Lives" consists of two short novels by William Trevor. I had already posted in June my review of "My House in Umbria" and waited a few weeks before starting on "Reading Turgenev". This book is about the repercussions of bad choices. Mary Louise is an innocent in rural Ireland and totally unsuited to the older man she marries. Whilst there is much melancholy in the story, it is such an emotional book, written with that warm, comfortable intelligence typical of the author. But he still knows how to wring out the depths of human feeling with characters who are out to destroy the young bride's welfare. Short listed for the Booker Prize, Trevor comes in that bracket of top novelists that includes Anne Tyler, Elizabeth Strout and Ann Patchett.

There is one particular passage that stirred a memory from my childhood. The drapery shop had an overhead network for sending money back and forth to the accounts office. I just thought of the cash carriers by pneumatic tubes in big London stores for the same purpose. I found Pontings on Kensington High Street had this system, although John Barker's next door had overhead wires.

If it wasn't for the last quarter of the book, this might have been a five star read. Before then it was a wonderful portrayal of upper middle class lives between the wars. Part satire, part farce, I found it light and jolly, occasionally funny but with an understanding that with this pathetic society there was always something darker loitering in the background. Tony and Brenda are in their early thirties but have inherited his father's Gothic mansion complete with 15 servants. But that expense has actually left them a little hard up. Brenda can only afford a third class ticket on her excursions to London.

There have already been emotional twists and turns in the story, but almost exactly half way through there is an unexpected tragedy. Tony and Brenda's relationship was already complicated but this event heralds that last section that I mostly found terribly boring. I could just about see what the author is trying to do, but I found Tony's decision to be unrealistic and totally out of character. Such a shame.

This was the best book I have read for a long time. Jane Gardam won the Whitbread/Costa prize for her "Queen of the Tambourine" that we read for book club. But I wish I had chosen this instead as it was much better. The story is about one the oldest QC's who may have invented his own nickname: Failed in London Try Hong Kong. Also referred to as Fevvers, Eddie, the Judge, Teddy and Sir Edward Feathers. It follows his childhood and teenage years alternating with him in his eighties looking back to those times. I can relate to that!

Gardam's prose has never been better. Somehow it seems as if she revels in the character and this shines through in her writing. There is some magic in the first twenty pages and this is followed by a wonderful piece in Wales at the age of eight. His wife, Betty, enters the story when Filth is looking back. I loved the passage when she goes for lunch at the National Theatre and walks along by the river. Something I have done more than a few times. "The silver wheel, high in the air, dotted with silver bullets".

Typically, Filth reprimands his elderly wife with "The toast-rack needs cleaning". But she stands no nonsense: "So do the salt-cellars. I'll get you the Silvo. You've nothing else to do today". There is a lot of humour, especially in the first half, although there is also that undercurrent of darkness we wait for ages to be explained. Even later when the mood is more somber, the emotion never lets up.

There is a tiny diversion two thirds through that I wondered what it was doing there as two new characters are introduced. But this is a splendidly clever piece as I will never forget her reaction when she finds out it was Old Filth she met. Then finally I found out what was a "parhelion". This is a staggeringly brilliant novel. I have already ordered the two sequels.