Mary Costello's book 'written with masterfully crafted beauty'
This week it’s a small but very select little clutch of great reads.
The Woman in the Water, Henrietta McKervey, Hachette, €17.99
This novel imagines the identity of the unidentified woman’s body found in the Daphne du Maurier novel Rebecca, before Rebecca’s body is later found. This first body was initially thought to be Rebecca’s in the 1938 novel, but when Rebecca showed up later – quite dead – in the cabin of her sailboat, the first body simply disappeared from the story, never to be identified. McKervey creates a life for this unidentified woman and the result is magnificent. The woman is Lady Eleanor Nicholson, a profligate London socialite with money and no sense, a kind of prodigal daughter who instead of returning, penitent, to her family’s arms is banished to Cornwall, soon to set sail to America and under her father’s orders never to return.
Eleanor’s maid, housekeeper and childhood friend is Pearl Day, whose life has been less fortunate, in fact she relies on Eleanor for everything; money, clothes, the roof over her head. While accepting her station in life, Pearl is deeply unhappy. Marriage has passed her by, she lost her fiancé (Lady Eleanor’s brother, but that’s a whole other story) in the Great War, so her choices are limited. A murder will change the fortunes of both women, and Pearl jumps to take advantage of the situation. The abdication of Edward VII in the background is cleverly stitched into the story and to say more would be to spoil. This thriller is so very tight, the language so authentic and so close to Du Maurier’s own, it’s a virtually flawless gem. Stylish and smart, it’s as compelling as the wonderful work that inspired it; dark, slightly mothballed, deeply atmospheric.
A Beautiful Loan, Mary Costello, Canongate, €18.99
Mary Costello’s writing has never been about ‘big events’ but rather about the undercurrents and emotional states that lead to life’s ‘small events’ and about how quietly devastating these events can be, shaping our destinies and marking out our futures. It is this lack of high drama that is her great strength; she holds our rapt attention as she describes the minutiae of relatively insignificant private lives lived out in quiet desperation. Anna is a middle-aged schoolteacher, recently divorced from her manipulative and unfaithful husband Peter, who passed his STDs on to her and ruined her chances of having a child. She met him in Dublin when she was 19, a young woman ‘up from the country’, and was dazzled by his seeming capability and worldliness. She was to be bitterly disappointed over the years.
Her second love is Algerian software engineer Karim, a devout Muslim and as gentle as her husband was abrasive. She falls in love not just with him, but with Islam, for a time. But as the relationship progresses, she realises Karim is just as controlling and as her ex was.
Now in her mid-40s, she must establish herself as the central figure in her own life, with the help of good therapy and the writings of Jung and Camus. This is an intensely intimate novel about a quiet schoolteacher who longs for something other, something better. And that other, better thing is self-discovery and peace. It is quietly devastating, as all her fiction tends to be, but ultimately life-affirming and – because it’s Mary Costello – is written with masterfully crafted beauty.
Hooked, Asako Yuzuki, 4th Estate, €18.99
This is the second Asako Yuzuki novel to be translated into English from the original Japanese and will likely sell like Butter, her first novel in English published last year, which was a runaway success. Eriko is a successful executive in a large fish food distribution company. She is a merciless perfectionist and the first person at her office desk every day. She is married to a largely indifferent husband and has no friends. She relies on her career to keep her driven and frantic, which is her perpetual state of mind.
When she stumbles on a blog by Shoko, a stay-at-home wife who’s the opposite of Martha Stewart, Eriko is enthralled. Shoko doesn’t really care if the house isn’t perfect, in fact she’s a bit of a slob but she doesn’t care about that either. Shoko’s laid-back demeanour draws Eriko like a magnet and Eriko arranges for them to ‘accidentally’ meet. Shoko soon backs away from Eriko, disturbed by the ardour of her new ‘friend’ and so begins the stalking.
It’s an enjoyable black comedy but with serious undertones and a running commentary on the idea of perfection. It’s never a good thing. And obsession is never a good thing either! With lots to say about the role of women in modern-day Japan, no different than here, and the expectations of their largely clueless menfolk, it’s an immensely enjoyable novel from Japan’s hottest literary property.
It’s Not What You Think, Clare Mackintosh, Harper Collins €16.99
Mackintosh’s latest thriller is propulsive, gripping and the outcome is definitely not what you think. Nadeeka is tired of living with her partner Jamie, whom she is certain is cheating on her. In a frantic race home one day, earlier than expected as she’s determined to catch him in flagrante delicto, instead of a floozie in her bedroom she finds Jamie. Dead. He’s been murdered and her house has become a crime scene. Known for her surprising twists and turns in her fiction, Mackintosh, an ex-copper, delights in deliberately offering the reader one misdirection after another, so it becomes impossible to guess who the killer is and what their motive might be. If tense page-turners are your thing, then settle in and prepare yourself for a very late night.
Footnotes
It’s only a hop and a skip to two arts festivals happening soon that are well worth checking out. The first is the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival in Belfast, running from April 29 to May 10. See cqaf.com for details.
Secondly the City of Derry Jazz Festival runs from April 30 to May 4, a must for jazz fans. See cityofderryjazzfestival.com for details.