Sweet Sorrow, Death in Summer and Master Georgie

The only "sorrow" for me was when I finished the book. David Nicholls has written a wonderful story about what it's like to be sixteen. Only these people are far more mature than I was at their age. But the book did bring back many memories of those days. Sweet Sorrow starts on the last day of school, our last assembly always finished with the hymn "Lord Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing", corny but with an emotional tug. In the book, "they trooped out to the disco" that was in the gymnasium. Ours was outside on the playing fields, at eighteen in 1963 we "danced" to The Beatles' first LP.

The book is set in 1997 and Charlie is at a loose end for the summer holidays. Convinced he has flopped his GCSE's due to family turmoil, he becomes a little estranged from his gang (thank goodness) and ends up at the Full Fathom Five theatre company who are putting on Romeo and Juliet. It is only because of meeting Fran that he reluctantly joins. Their blossoming relationship is at the heart of the story, although we guess that not everything will go to plan. There are some vague parallels with the plot of the play, but nothing obvious. Nobody dies.

Any novel that describes the workings of putting on a play will grab me every time, especially as it is written with warmth, humour and poignancy. All the characters Charlie meets there are superbly drawn, a real mixed bag. Charlie is given the part of Benvolio. "Benvolio was a sidekick, a conformist and observer; characters confided in him but felt no need to listen in return. Amazing, really, that people I barely knew had cast me so well". Quite a big part, actually!

All the roads where Charlie lives are names of authors. When Charlie learns about Fran's favourites: "She liked Thomas Hardy, but thought of him more as a poet than a novelist, to which I could only nod because I only knew him as a street name, and so thought of him more as an Avenue than a Crescent".

Near the end Charlie mentions "Lipstick on your collar. Told a tale on you". Not sure why the author mentions The Andrews Sisters. I only know (and own) the Connie Francis version. Sad, I know. There are many cultural references, most of the nineties stuff I didn't know (heard of Pulp, couldn't name a song). Although, again near the end, I had seen Webster's "The White Devil" in 2014 at the RSC in Stratford.

You would think from the back cover of Death in Summer, that the story is about Thaddeus Devanent, whose wife has just died, and Mrs Iveson, his mother-in-law who comes to look after baby Georgina. But for me the plot revolves around Pettie, the ex-children's home damaged "survivor" and would-be nanny whose experiences have left her bitter and dark. Early on, as the author paints in the background of these characters, he sometimes gets too wrapped up in character at the expense of moving on the story.

On occasions. William Trevor's undoubted masterly language is all that matters. When Thaddeus ruminates on the death of his wife: "The cruel ending of a life aggravates this shrouded disposition, while permitting it's exposure now." But as usual, the expert later development of the plot leads to a dark and emotional but satisfactory conclusion. The writer seems to be at his best when describing difficult or troubled young women, his brilliant "Felicia's Journey" being a case in point.

Despite the excellent prose, there is no real story to Master Georgie. Just a number of set pieces told by three alternating narrators who are from the same family or group. So almost short stories. The second half of the book describes how these characters get caught up in the war with Russia in 1854. I just found it terribly boring.  Quite a disappointment as I had enjoyed  the other six novels by this author.