THE WELL

by Elizabeth Jolley ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1986

Again, as in Miss Peabody's Inheritance (1984), Australian writer Jolley explores the quasi-lesbian obsessions of an aging spinster; and again the effect is that of a short story puffed out to novel length--though this time the elaborations are gothic and psycho-suspenseful rather than satiric and literary. Hester Harper--middle-aged, lame, with memories of a beloved governess her only romantic involvement--lives alone with her ailing father on the big, declining family farm. . .until 16-year-old Katherine arrives from the orphanage to be an all-around helper/companion. And, while Miss Harper's old life fades (her father dies, the farm is sold), the subsequent few years bring a new life, one that revolves around sharing daily pleasures with bouncy, frivolous, eager-to-please Katherine: cooking, gardening, dressing up, movie-going. There are some shadows on this giddy, obsessive attachment--jealousy of Katherine's orphanage friends, fears of losing Katherine to career or marriage--but Miss Harper is happy as never before, achieving a kind of ecstasy when she watches Katherine dance. (""In the privacy beneath her strict clothing she knew she was capable of an inner excitement which belonged only to her."") Then, however, on the way home from town one night (with negligent novice-driver Katherine at the wheel), their car runs into a man (or so it seems) on the road, with apparently fatal results. Miss Harper ruthlessly disposes of the body in the old well near their cottage--only to discover that her huge nest-egg of cash is now missing, probably stolen by the dead man: the money must be down in the well with his body! And while Miss Harper stonily plans to retrieve her cash, Katherine lurches from hysteria to catatonia to apparent madness, blithely convinced that the burglar in the well is still alive. These final chapters, swatched in murky mystery (is the man alive or not? did Katherine steal the money? which lady is play-acting?), seem thinly contrived, on the verge of--but not attaining--black comedy. Flashbacks to Miss Harper's governess-crush--and subsequent disillusionment--belabor the obvious. So, despite some fine bits of flinty pathos and social observation along the way (Miss Harper vs. the local nouveau fiche), this is Jolley at her darkest--and least persuasive.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1986

Categories: FICTION