WILD WOOD by Jan Needle. Reviewed by Dennis Hamley.

The reissue of this marvellous novel must rank as a Literary Event. First published in 1981 by Andre Deutsch with unforgettably brilliant illustrations by Wiiliam Rushton, Wild Wood should have been widely recognised for the classic book it undoubtedly is instead of going out of print early.

Well, to some of us, it always has been a classic and its reissue, revised and even improved, after nearly forty-five years, is an occasion to celebrate.

It’s not a sequel to The Wind in the Willows. It’s not a retelling in any but the vaguest sense. It’s a complete re-imagining, a companion piece, almost a concordance to the original, as Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is to Hamlet. 

Oh, in Wind in the Willows, how disturbed Ratty, Mole and even Mr Badger are by the Wild Wood. It’s a place of evil, fear, intimidation and danger which we as readers, feel tangibly with Mole as he nervously traverses it. Stoats and weasels are threatening, nightmare creatures who disturb dreams. They are, if you’ll excuse the word, oiks. The privileged upper class Riverbankers never think that the wild Wood may contain a viable, relatively comfortable and unthreatening society – unthreatening unless they themselves feel threatened. Well, they do feel threatened. We’re seeing Wind in the Willows from the Wildwooders’ point of view and it’s not hard to realise that this is a novel about class and revolution and a valuable social document about Edwardian society.

The tale is told by Baxter Ferret, an unassuming animal, a sort of wide-eyed Everyman who stands slightly apart from the main action with an engagingly critical semi-detachment. He loves his cars, his machinery, his family and his beer. Old cars and home brewing are among the novel’s main preoccupations and part of the warm, protective, though often cold and hungry world of the Wood. 

Concealed beer jokes abound. For example, the professional agitator who arrives to spark the Wildwooders into revolution is Boddington Stoat, who is ‘peculiarly yellow, a little lacking in body, extremely bitter but one of the best.’ Anyone who has spent time in a Manchester pub will know exactly what Jan Needle is talking about. Baxter’s first ‘gaffer’ on the farm has a petrol wagon, a Throckmorton Squeezer ‘with …six cylinders each big enough to boil Cider in.” Cedric Willoughby, the ancient journalist, drives an ‘Armstrong Hardcastle Mouton Special Eight. 1907 with the whirling poppets…’ Such madly exaggerated machines populate the story. Yes, it’s full of loving detail of a tightly-knit working class society. Yet the Riverbankers are not entirely excoriated. Baxter may dismiss Ratty as a poetic sort of dreamer but there’s a measure of affection there. 

 

However, it’s much more than that. As a satire, Wild Wood is on a par with Animal Farm. Both recount flawed revolutions. Yes, the Wildwooders do take over Toad Hall, rename it Brotherhood Hall, and the egregious Toad - a creation as gross as the Toad Grahame creates, still funny but also a symbol of repression - is driven out. But, unlike Orwell’s revolution, this is one is not entirely successful. Grahame’s narrative cannot be tampered with. The revolutionaries settle for less than domination. Boddington’s fanaticism is tempered as he marries Baxter’s sister Dolly. We know that Mr Toad will return. The revolution peters out rather good-naturedly with a sort of rapprochement between Riverbankers and the Wildwooders, the upper class and the working class. We can look round us nowadays and say ‘If only it had lasted!’ 

 

Funny, profound, superbly written, deeply satisfying: Wild Wood has so many qualities. Perhaps the book didn’t make the impact it should in 1981 because staunch Grahame supporters thought it disrespectful. Far from it. As with all good satires, there is a strong element of homage to the original. The Wind in the Willows is a quintessentially British book. 

Even though it springs from a radically different social and political perspective, so is Wild Wood. Read it, cry with laughter and close it knowing that the two books together have provided you with a conspectus of a whole society in a particular age but still relevant for all of time.

Wild Wood by Jan Needle. Published by Golden Duck 2014. ISBN 978 189926221 2 £9.99

Thanks to Authors Electric for this portrait of Jan Needle. Another excellent blog to visit!

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

THE TRIBUTE BRIDE by THERESA TOMLINSON. Reviewed by Penny Dolan.

This fascinating historical novel, by a twice Carnegie-nominated author,  allowed me to spend my weekend back in seventh century Britain. I loved the experience, even though it made me appreciate my own life and freedoms.

THE TRIBUTE BRIDE could be a book for older teens who love history, for young adults interested in the role of women in past and present societies, and is also a fine read for grownups. This is a novel about power and resilience, courage and survival, and about the possibilities of friendship.

I am slightly biased, as the story is set in the north of Britain, among landscapes I love, so there was a pleasure in matching the journeys and places against modern maps. 

The book had clearly been well researched; every page offers glimpses of everyday life: the cycle of the months and years, the power and role of dress and ornament, the importance of the rituals of court feasts and religious rites as well as the dangers of battle, the fear of famine and the anxiety of childbirth.

More than that, THE TRIBUTE BRIDE is a dramatic story. When Aelle’s kingdom of Deira is devasted by floods , he has no grain to pay his tribute to Athelfrid, the powerful war-lord of Bernicia. So King Aelle sends his sixteen year old daughter north, hoping she will be accepted as tribute instead, and be a peace-weaver bride between the kingdoms.

Acha, young enough at sixteen to give the warrior Athelfrid the sons he wants, is accepted, although she too must accept being in second place. Athelfrid already has a wife, the beautiful Queen Bebba.

For a short while, Acha is won over by her husband’s charm and glamour, but soon his attention shifts back to battles and to Bebba. Acha soon learns how true he is to his nickname and his personal god: the Trickster Loki, when without asking he takes back his wedding gift of brood-mares for his own warriors. Left with only a few colts, Acha must recognise that Athelfrid acts as lord and owner of everything and everyone.

 

Fortunately, helped by her wise old servant Megan, Acha’s attractive and generous spirit guides her to act in ways that brings her firm friends. Eventually, she even finds a sister and fellow-mother in the Pictish Queen Bebba, and it seems her life as a princess is settled. However, all is not over. During what should be Acha’s moment of greatest happiness, she discovers that Athelfrid has, been playing a long and treacherous game, and that she and those she loves are caught up in it.

Reviewed by Penny Dolan

The Tribute Bride by Theresa Tomlinson.

Published by Acorn Digital Press.

ISBN 978-1-909122-63-5 £7.99.

Available on kindle too.

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

DEAR THING by Julie Cohen, Reviewed by Tamsyn Murray

Claire and Ben and Romily have known each other since university. Claire and Ben are married, Romily and Ben are best friends, and Romily and Claire - well, they tolerate each other for the sake of Ben. Things might have gone on that way forever if Ben and Claire hadn't been desperate to have a baby and Romily hadn't offered to give them one...

On the surface, Dear Thing is about motherhood; one woman's need to have a baby of her own and another's well-intentioned offer to help, no matter what the personal cost. And certainly the subject of pregnancy is an integral part of the story: surrogacy, hormones, societal norms, stretch marks and ultrasounds all feature. But don't be fooled, this book is about so much more than that. It's about fatherhood, too, and marriage and family, about the secrets we keep and the lies we tell ourselves. It's about growing up and letting go and understanding our own parents better, about protecting ourselves and accepting failure. And most of all, Dear Thing is a book about love.

Every character is perfect and complete, from the protagonists down to Max, a boy in Claire's music class who engages her professional and maternal instincts. The details of Romily's work as an entomologist fit beautifully with her metamorphosis from Ben's friend into the mother of his child, a change that ripples out into every area of all their lives. And all the way through the story, we are subtly reminded that it isn't simply the act of giving birth that makes a woman a mother.

I knew that Dear Thing would make me cry, but it wasn't the most obvious places that moved me - Claire's despair at her body's failure or Romily's anguish as she battles her own demons - it was this paragraph, where Claire is at a concert, listening to some music:

When the mother theme came at last, she recognized it: slow and soft, warm and sweet, full of the smell of a baby's head, a cheek tilted against hers, the brush of eyelashes. The papery skin of her mother's hand, which had once been the most beautiful hand she had known.

Julie Cohen effortlessly captures the hardest part of parenthood; how we love and cherish and ultimately let our children go, just as our own parents did before us. It made me think when I read that last line, reminding me of my own children growing up now and of my mother, whose hand and face really were beautiful to me. In fact, I am still thinking about them now and I have a lump in my throat.

Dear Thing is more than a book about motherhood - I challenge you to read it and find out what it means to you.

Published by Black Swan, out in paperback 8th May 2014.

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

THE MEMORY BOOK by Rowan Coleman - reviewed by Tamsyn Murray

By complete coincidence, I've also chosen an adult book to review this time around as well. My choice is The Memory Book by Rowan Coleman, published by Ebury Press and out on 30th January 2014.

The Memory Book opens with Claire and Greg. On the surface, they seem like a perfect couple but it soon becomes apparent that there’s a shadow hanging over them – Claire has been diagnosed with an illness, one that she’s all too familiar with – Early Onset Alzheimer’s. Claire’s mother knows the disease too - it took the life of Claire's father years earlier. So both women are dreadfully aware of what the future holds – bit by bit, Claire’s memory will be stolen away, until she can no longer remember her name, her husband or even her own children.

The story is split between Claire and her teenage daughter, Caitlin. Interspersed between these two narratives, there are extracts from the memory book, a record of stories and events involving Claire over the years. Some of them are by Claire herself, written while she can still access her memories. These provide a poignant counterpoint to the unfolding story and give great insight into each of the characters, especially Greg and Claire’s mother.

As Claire’s condition worsens, her family struggle to keep her safe and tensions increase, especially as Caitlin is facing demons of her own. When Claire blurts out a long-held secret about Caitlin’s father, the family begins to disintegrate. Can Claire hold onto herself long enough to pull everyone back together? Or will her illness tear all of them apart?

I suspected from the very first chapter that The Memory Book would make me cry and I wasn’t wrong. It's a moving, compassionate, heart-rending account of an illness that must be desperately hard to live with - I defy anyone to read it without sobbing in places. But it’s also a compelling read that is uplifting in so many ways. As the mother of a toddler who hasn’t got the hang of sleep yet, I rarely allow myself the luxury of reading into the early hours these days but with this book, I couldn't help myself; the urge to find out what happened next was overwhelming and I couldn't put it down. And even though you know there can be no happy ending for Claire, The Memory Book still manages to end on a high, which is a major tribute to the skill of its author, Rowan Coleman. Once I’d finished reading, I immediately wanted to go back to the start and begin again to pick up all the subtle clues that lead eventually to that beautiful, clever ending.

Look, I know it's only January, and I never usually say things like this, but seriously, you can call off the search already – I’ve found my book of the year.

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

LIFE AFTER LIFE by Kate Atkinson, reviewed by Penny Dolan

I’ve chosen a grown-up book - Kate Atkinson’s latest novel LIFE AFTER LIFE - for this January review. The novel is currently in hardback (or as a kindle edition) but the paperback is due out soon.

First of all, for all Jackson Brodie enthusiasts, LIFE AFTER LIFE is not another in the Atkinson crime series. The novel spans the first half of 20^th century, so it could possibly be described as historical fiction. Certainly, I felt,  it is the popular “historical” knowledge of the World Wars and surrounding decades that helps to hold this unusual book together.

In the very first chapter, Atkinson introduces the idea that this is a differently constructed novel: in 1930, a young English girl enters a café in Germany and attempts to shoot Hitler. Then, in the next wintry chapters, each dated 11^th February 1910, we find three alternative versions of the birth of a baby girl, Ursula, including as a stillbirth. So the book continues.

 

All through this novel, Atkinson offers alternative versions of the Ursula who survived. We see her through family childhood, during girlhood, as a young woman and wife and aunt, as an early professional career woman, as a firewatcher in the 1940’s - and on into her eventual retirement in the 60’s. 

The “plot” of the novel loops back time and again, retelling and revising incidents, revealing different versions of Ursula’s life and the altered relationships between the characters. Often her stories end badly, with the refrain "Darkness fell".

I admit that, at the beginning, I noted down the dates and years used like chapter headings to get some hold on when we were, as well as where. The places and the people are strongly and clearly written. Atkinson writes some harsh and shocking scenes but never wallows in the awfulness. 

The book has moments of quiet humour. I enjoyed the way that Maurice, the older brother, is continually an unpleasant character, and the times when already known characters such as Renee, reappear as  strangers.  Death is sometimes a surprise but rarely a dreadful experience for Ursula. There's a feeling of relief when, after another story “goes wrong”, the novel shifts and a younger Ursula appearing, with another chance of happiness.

The poignant sadness of one tale is balanced by hopeful moments in another. For example, Ursula's vindictive husband is not married on her second trip through time. Several themes re-appear, structuring the book: Atkinson writes of loneliness and deprivation; of innocence, ignorance and deceit; of childhood abuse, domestic violence and the brutality of war.

In all her alternative selves, Ursula remains a constant, brave and likeable character for the reader. The book gains pace through the reader’s curiosity. How will this current loop work out? What the next story will be? LIFE AFTER LIFE is a hard style of book to conclude: Atkinson offers variations of the ending, suggesting the differences between what happens and what you would want to happen - which is, I suppose, what fiction is all about.

You might be thinking, as I once did, that this book sounds a bit too bothersome to read among so many other things to do. All I can say is that LIFE AFTER LIFE works. The book is "believable" and, possibly against the odds, some of the moments stay with you.  There should be hardback copies in your local library, if you don’t want to wait for the paperback - and it is available as a kindle e-book too.

Penny Dolan

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

BELLMAN AND BLACK by DIANE SETTERFIELD, reviewed by Adele Geras.

Happy New Year, and welcome back to the Awfully Big Blog Adventure Review page.


We're welcoming in 2014 with another review by Adele Geras. This time the book is BELLMAN AND BLACK by Diane Setterfield, a historical novel for adults. 

The review first appeared in THE VIRTUAL VICTORIAN, author Essie Fox's fascinating history blog, which is well worth a visit .


 A dramatised version of Diane Setterfield's first novel, THE THIRTEENTH TALE, was shown on tv over the Christmas period, and might be ideal catch-up-tv for grown-up viewing on a lazy grey day like today, the first of January. 

Adele Geras writes:

This novel, the second from the writer of the thrilling and very popular THE THIRTEENTH TALE is shorter, less thrilling but oh, how much more haunting and moving and altogether more memorable than its predecessor.

 I have been haunted by it since I read it for the first time some weeks ago.  I don't often reread books. There are too many new and exciting things being published all the time for me to want to go back to something I already know.

I made an exception for this book, because I was reviewing it. I must try and convey what it is about B&B that has so got under my skin without giving away too much of the plot. Although it's fair to say that the twists of the plot, on the face of it, are not Setterfield's main concern. 

This is  the story of a man, William Bellman, who succeeds in all his does in life, and who even though he loses much, is also a provider of work for his fellow man, a devoted father, a very diligent and obsessive worker who stops at nothing to perfect whatever enterprise he is engaged in. He also becomes extremely rich. There are tragedies in his life. There are shimmering triumphs. And there is also something that infects his every thought and deed.

In a short first chapter, which is easily the match of Ian McEwan's famous ballooning scene at the beginning of ENDURING LOVE, William kills a rook with a catapult. He is ten years old. This murder...because that's how he feels it and so how we do too...threads its way through the whole narrative. The dead rook is like  black ink dropped into clear water. It colours every page.

On a plot level, the dead rook haunts Will as first as a figure dressed in black on the edge of any funeral he attends. Later,  a man dressed in black makes a kind of Faustian pact with him and Will recognises this person from glimpses he's had of him before. He calls him Black and agrees to open a Mourning Emporium at his suggestion. This is a second business enterprise for Will. He'd already turned a  mill where he worked into a real success, creating colours that sang, and fabrics that were greatly in demand. Now, to save the life of his beloved daughter Dora, he goes to London and a shop called Bellman &Black is born.

Detail. That's what marks this novel out as unusual. We learn everything about both the mill and the shop. We have Will's life itemised and inventoried.  Will lives and dies. Dora lives.  The rooks go on and on forever and the last few pages of the book are simply beautiful: a description of the birds gathering and swirling through the sky and then settling on branches, seen by Dora, the artist, who will then, we know, always see them and always try to convey the beauty and terror of that moment. The book ends with a monologue from the rook-voice which has accompanied us through the story. I haven't mentioned that before now, fearing that a novel in which  one of the points of view is that of a rook, might not be everyone's cup of tea. Please don't be put off. You will be enchanted by the rook-lore and feel yourself initiated into a secret world that other people don't know about.

This isn't, in spite of what it says on the very beautiful cover, a Ghost Story.  You will find no revenants, or at least, none of the kind you might expect. No rattling chains. No headless horsemen. It's much more about psychology; about what goes on in Will's mind, and yet of course in many ways, the Mourning Emporium is by definition a haunted house

The prose feels Victorian. It's plain, elegant and pared down.  The accumulation of detail about processes, fabrics, landscape and buildings is very powerful and creates a world that stays with you long after you've finished the book. There are people, characters, interactions between them (the relationship between Will and his wife is particularly tenderly drawn as is the parallel relationship between Will and one of the seamstresses in the shop) but this isn't a novel about people's feelings and romances and disappointments. It's about the soaring parabola of a very simple story: the consequences of the single, dreadful act we witness  in the first few pages. That slingshot starts Will on a journey through life that he can neither avoid nor alter. We follow him. We listen to the rook.  It's a stunning novel and  perfect for this time of year. It's one that I am sure will haunt you as it haunts me. And you won't look at rooks again without a shiver going up your spine.

 
http://www.adelegeras.com/

I blog at History Girls (http://the-history-girls.blogspot.com) , a joint blog written by authors of historical fiction and fantasy history for Junior (middle Grade), YA and adult readers.
 

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

A GAME OF THRONES by George R. R. Martin. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull.

I don't watch much TV, but even I have become aware of a popular TV series called Game of Thrones, though I have never seen it.  This review relates only to the book by George R. R. Martin, which I was very surprised to receive for my birthday, in a beautiful hardback edition.

The book is huge.  You need to rest it on a table or a pile of cushions.  It has several pages of maps with place names reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings.  There is also an Appendix with nineteen pages of characters.  All this daunted me somewhat.  But once I got started I was hooked.  The writing is excellent; the numerous characters are interesting and their connections to each other soon become clear; and the action unfolds at just the right pace.  Although there is a fantasy element, it's not at the forefront, and when it does occur it is all the more terrifying.

This is a saga about the struggle for domination between several great houses, set in an incredibly detailed medieval-type society.  Martin's characters, both male and female, burn strong and clear in the imagination, and their actions drive the story.  Outcomes are uncertain.  Good people may be betrayed, injured, exiled or murdered.  The story is full of shocks and surprises, and the conclusion builds to an amazing scene of power and transformation.

Martin presents us with an entire world imagined down to the last detail, including language, heraldry and history.  For those with time, there are six more books and plenty of characters and threads to pick up and follow.  I can imagine it could well become addictive.  Although it's written for adults, I think it would appeal greatly to many older teenagers. 



Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE