by Pamela Hansford Johnson ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 14, 1981
Once again--in her efficient, cloudless prose--Johnson records the flagging exuberance of simple, loving innocence within a rapidly kindling ring of deadly and perverse chance. The childhood and youth of Emma Sheldrake in the Twenties and Thirties seem to be watched over by benevolent, jaunty spirits: that ""merry man,"" her father Reggie; pretty mother Agnes, who (with her rather severe sister Issie) had once performed on the musical stage and teaches Emma to talk ""posh""; and blind, brave Grannie. But Reggie dies of a heart attack on Guy Fawkes night, just hours after he ritually stamps out the holiday bonfire (to Emma's delight); and it's on that same night Emma first hears the facts of life from an embarrassed Agnes--so death, sex, and the image of the burning Guy Fawkes effigy will ever seem bewilderingly joined. Yet death is less real than school, mates, or boy-and-girl dancing parties at home under Agnes' watchful eye--with the inevitable bread pudding and Aunt Issie's warning entrance with a clock at eleven. And later, along with a job, there's true-love Stephen: after Grannie's death, they'll marry and live with Agnes (fearful, possessive, smothering), baby Paul is born--a happy time, marred only by the newlyweds' affectionate frustration at Agnes' constant presence. . . and, more acutely, by a curious series of obscene anonymous postcards. But then, while Agnes marries generous, pleasant Mr. Winter, Stephen is killed in a car accident--so young Emma, leaving larger imperatives unexamined, follows the urgings of her lonely body, her homing instinct towards cushioning warmth, to marry seemingly secure Alan, who provides a handsome home in the suburbs. The postcards, continue, however; Alan drinks and ends up a suicide; when Emma becomes pregnant from an affair with young student Mark, she refuses marriage, soured by tragedy. And only after a miscarriage and the discovery of Mark's homosexual proclivities does Emma, now a stranger to expectation, settle for a marriage of ""tolerance and pity."" After all, as Emma sees it, ""She had not been a good girl and she had not had a happy life""; the bonfire her father had tried to trample awaited her in the end; and the tired ordinariness of evil is emphasized by the revealed identity of the postcard writer. A crystalline novel with a teasing shadow of irony--fine work from a splendid, underrated writer whose skills have not diminished one iota.
Pub Date: July 14, 1981
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Scribners
Review Posted Online: N/A
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1981
Categories: FICTION
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.