The Librarian, The Girls of Slender Means and The Old Boys

 

I was thirteen in 1958 when the book is set, so not very different in age from the children who meet the librarian. Sylvia is twenty four when she moves to East Mole to supervise the children's section of the library. There are reminders of the popular culture of those days. We never missed "Six Five Special", Cliff's "Move It" was in the charts, but like The Beatles first hit "Love Me Do", it never reached number one.

The first half of the book, although interesting, is nothing special, however after half way it suddenly gains momentum and turns into an emotional drama. The children who dominate early on, are left behind as the writing and the story become more intense. The characters are all well drawn, even Ned (who I thought might be more important) with "his ugly lumpish face, innocent of any malice, seemed to her suddenly beautiful". And an unexpected, but marvellous, short section at the end.

There are so many words to describe the prose of Muriel Spark. Enigmatic, subversive, idiosyncratic, quirky, astounding. Just some typical extracts from "The Girls of Slender Means": "Tilly ...... was a tiny redhead of lively intelligence and small formation". And sentences ending "...but was youth, merely" and "she was highly thought of for it". Not the grammar we were taught.

The book is centred around The May of Tech Club, the name in honour of Queen Mary, wife of George V, and originally Princess May of Tech. The area around the building is so familiar, situated as it is opposite Kensington Gardens and a short way from The Albert Memorial and the Royal Albert Hall.

I was, unusually, unimpressed by the early part of this short book. However, it takes an amazing turn in the latter section, almost the script for an early disaster movie. This is brilliantly written.

This was the first novel that William Trevor acknowledged as his own. He always disowned an earlier book. After the first chapter of an old boys committee, we jump back 50 years to schooldays at their boarding school. This clever flashback explains the tensions that inhabit the first. Somehow their lives now revolve around memories of school. Each character gets their own introduction so we know their background and how the old boys are with each other.

The most amazing thing about this book is the brilliant dialogue. There are vast quantities in what is only a short novel. The arguments between Mr and Mrs Jaraby are a joy to behold. Similarly, the conversations between Mr Ridley and Mr Sole. Even the similarly elderly Mr Turtle talking to a young scholar at the open day is superb.

The book was written in 1964, ten years after Trevor moved from his native Ireland to England. His obituary in the Guardian reads "To say the novel was a hit is to underestimate both it's brilliance and originality". Adding "Perhaps he never wrote a better book". For me, it doesn't quite stand up to "Felicia's Journey", but the dialogue makes it a five star book. Maybe I'm biased as the main characters are all in their early seventies.