"The Miniaturist" by Jessie Burton

The Miniaturist is Jessie Burton's debut novel and it is, quite simply, extraordinary. I know that it has been hyped to death (as is the way of things) but to my mind it still exceeded any of my pre-conceived expectations. I am in awe of her skill in creating such a brave, daring and thoroughly entertaining tragic novel.

 

Set in Amsterdam in 1686 it charts the fall of a wealthy dysfunctional family as their dark secrets are slowly revealed. Wealthy merchant Johannes Brandt commissions a cabinet-sized replica of his wife Nella’s new marital home. However its furnishings and puppet inhabitants are created for Nella by an elusive and enigmatic miniaturist, whose tiny creations mirror the lost loves and hidden hopes of their real life counterparts.

 

Burton's cast are brilliantly drawn, particularly Marin, Johannes’ dark and intriguing sister who slowly emerged as my favourite character. Everything about the book is meticulous, from the deft plotting to the complex interwoven narrative. I found myself totally immersed in this compelling story as meals went uncooked and the dog unwalked - (I'll make it up to her!)

 

Burton's foreshadowing of the darker secrets within the household is effortlessly done, and the intrigue grows around Nella like a spider’s web. Some of the riddles can be deduced by the reader, others spill out through chance observations and fate. However every aspect appears to be known to the mysterious miniaturist who sends Nella a succession of tiny gifts, each a metaphor that echoes Nella's life yet which also appears to accurately predict her future.

 

Elliptically convoluted, the story is like a maze, with half-truths wrapped within secrets and lies. The pleasure of unravelling these enigmas is palpable; as a reader I found some easy to deduce, whilst others were more skilfully concealed.

 

One of her hardest juggling acts is managing Nella's development from wide-eyed innocent to a strident and forceful woman in charge of her own destiny. Those are difficult waters to navigate successfully, and occasionally Nella seems to vacillate between the two extremes, but to me her voice remained convincing throughout.

 

If I'm being critical I find that occasionally Jessie's writing is a little overblown; it’s as if she feels the need to create a writerly description when sometimes a more direct and simplistic passage will suffice. To be honest it's nothing that a slightly harsher editor couldn't correct. I know myself that sometimes tough love is what is needed. However when she judges it correctly the beauty of her writing shines through and it can be jaw-droppingly good. The childbirth scene had me wracked with tears and cursing her for making me cry.

 

I enjoyed the fact that not every element is neatly tied up at the end of the book. Whilst there is a satisfactory resolution to the main issues Jessie lets her readers use their own imaginations for some of the minor story arcs, a space I found welcome; although I appreciate that this may not work for everyone. It can be quite a brave move if you deliberately don’t explain everything.

 

I was reminded of the writer’s maxim: - "if you care about your characters your readers will care about the story". I was entranced, and I certainly came to care about the characters, whilst Jessie reeled me in to the story with dexterity and with her meticulous plotting. It's a rare skill.

Curtis Brown Creative - Approaching the end

It’s hard to believe that we are approaching the conclusion of the Curtis Brown Creative six-month novel writing course. The weekly sessions (every Tuesday punctuated by the occasional Wednesday) have become a central part of my life over the last six months. I’m already anticipating a keen sense of loss once it’s all over.

 

My fourteen fellow students have been so generous with their time both within the sessions and more acutely with their evenings and weekends to provide such detailed feedback on the extracts we have all submitted. Do the maths; fourteen other students, three 3,000 word extracts each, equates to 126,000 words critically evaluated. But for me this has been one of the most gratifying and supportive aspects of the course.

 

As writers I suppose we all seek validation for our writing. However, more important are the constructive criticisms, no matter how hard it may be to hear them at the time. Personally I felt a little bruised immediately after my tutorial with Anna, but once I’d had a chance to reflect on what she’d said, to process her criticism, I realised that in most cases she’d been spot-on. I will be forever indebted. Out with the red pen then!

 

The peer feedback sessions (along with those harsh but fair tutorials from Louise and Anna) have helped to shape my novel “Ilona”. I feel that it’s a radically different and greatly improved novel now from where it sat when I first submitted my extract to Anna and Rufus to apply for a place on the course. The process has helped me to slowly change “Ilona” into the novel that I originally aspired to write, rather than what I had written. It’s an important distinction.

 

I have been re-writing “Ilona” throughout the last six months, a process which is still ongoing. My issue now is trying to determine just how much further work is needed at this stage.

 

If I’m honest with myself my aims at the outset of the course were to improve “Ilona”; to make it the best novel I could possibly write, alongside the longer term aim of securing literary representation. I feel certain that most of my fellow students had similar aims.

 

My short-term aim is now to complete the current re-write, incorporating much of what I regarded as valid criticism and largely ignoring the comments that I felt were made without any innate understanding of what I was seeking to achieve.

 

That can still seem like a Sisyphean task (analogies of rolling boulders uphill can step forward) but it’s one I’m embracing. Just once in a while I’ll write something that has me punching the air both metaphorically and literally and just in that brief moment I feel it’s all been worthwhile.

 

It turns out that that the act of writing can sometimes be the best part of the whole process. No matter what happens for me in the future just occasionally the craft of writing turns out to be its own reward. Who would have known?

"Living With It" by Lizzie Enfield

"Living With It" is Lizzie Enfield's third novel and for me it represents a significant change in her writing style. Her previous two novels could be seen as clever re-workings of the themes of Brief Encounter; intelligent romances with an edgy uncertainty about the potential of infidelity. This novel has a much darker tone and, to my mind, far greater depth and emotional resonance.

Essentially it is a novel about the choices we make in life, both for ourselves and for our families, and the unforeseen consequences that can result from those decisions. Ben and Maggie are devastated to discover that their baby daughter, Iris, has become profoundly deaf after being exposed to the measles virus. Their friends Isobel and Eric feel guilty that the virus was passed on by their daughter Gabriella, particularly as Isobel had refused the MMR vaccination for her children. Ben blames Isobel for his daughter’s deafness. The situation is complicated by the fact that Isobel is the woman that Ben fell in love with at University, who eventually married his best friend, Eric. The central question is whether Ben’s decision to sue Isobel and Eric for damages is motivated by a sense of justice for his daughter or a sense of revenge for past emotional betrayals.

Enfield previously used first person narration sporadically within "Uncoupled" for the character of Anne-Marie, although I personally felt that these sections were the least engaging of that particular book. Here she has embraced first-person narration fully and completely by telling the story through alternate first person voices, those of Isobel and Ben, her main protagonists. It's a device that gives the novel a sense of immediacy and enables her to present alternate views of the same situation to great effect. The novel has an intense focus which makes it a disconcertingly uncomfortable read at times. There were moments when I felt like a voyeur observing a series of fractious arguments between strangers.

Enfield’s real skill lies in the voices that she creates for Isobel and Ben. Her ability to write from a male perspective and her innate understanding of the male psyche give the novel a raw edge, and also provides much of the gentle humour, alongside her observations of Isobel’s children. I feel certain that Lizzie’s own children probably provided much of the source material.

As a reader I did initially question whether Lizzie had made a mistake in writing a novel where the central characters are all so flawed and unlikeable. Isobel’s husband Eric is so unsupportive and downright unpleasant that I began to question why he and Isobel were still together. However as I worked through the book I began to realise that the balanced approach to Isobel and Ben means that the reader is not encouraged to “side” with either one of them. Each of them has made mistakes, and each has to learn to live with them.

I found this to be a compelling, thought-provoking and ultimately satisfying novel that bravely tackles some complex and emotive issues. I would recommend it without hesitation.

"Worldwide Adventures in Love" by Louise Wener

“Worldwide Adventures in Love” is Louise Wener’s forth novel and it is a poignant and moving reflection on love, loss and the fragility of life.

Wener’s character’s crackle with life and carry a real emotional punch. The plot is both charming and engaging as two sisters struggle to come to terms with the death of their eccentric and reclusive elderly neighbour, Edith, just as their own family begins to unravel.

Discovering Edith’s letters from the 1930’s reveal her past as an explorer and adventurer, along with the doomed love affair that shaped her life. The resonances between her past life and the fragile and chaotic disintegration of the girls’ own family provides a rich and satisfying seam that Wener exploits with consummate skill.

Wener fashions a pitch-perfect evocation of growing up in the late seventies, where the problems of modern life could be successfully resolved by the combination of a Tarzan movie and a Battenberg cake. I loved the fact that her protagonist’s sister chose a Mohawk haircut because it could be successfully self-administered, rather than having anything to do with the blossoming punk-rock scene of the Sex Pistols.

For me this was as satisfying as Wener’s debut novel, but carries far greater emotional weight and currency. She had me in tears with the ending of the novel. I found her writing brave, knowing and wise. Given that this was originally published in 2008 I hope that Wener is close to publishing her next book. It will have been worth the wait.

"The Sixth Lamentation" by William Brodrick

This intelligent novel examines the consequences of secrets and lies from the past and their emotional resonance to the present.

It follows two main narrative threads that slowly intertwine. The first concerns Father Anselm, once a barrister, now a monk, and the suspected war criminal Eduard Schwermann who claims sanctuary at Anselm’s priory. The second thread follows terminally ill Agnes Aubret who decides to reveal the secrets of her war-time exploits to her Granddaughter Lucy. Agnes had once been a member of an underground brotherhood who smuggled Jewish children to safety from occupied France until the group was exposed and betrayed by a young SS officer: Eduard Schwermann. The two parallel investigations into the shadowy events of the past begin to collide and intertwine with compelling consequences.

It is a remarkable debut novel and Brodrick deftly juggles a labyrinthine plot which is full of complex moral ambiguities. His writing is extraordinary; he moved me to tears on more than one occasion and his narrative revelations caused me to gasp aloud.

I’m now looking forward to reading his other novels. I had the opportunity to hear him speak at a Polish Crime Night at Belgravia Books in Victoria recently, organised by Magda Raczynska of The Polish Cultural Institute. William shared a platform with another of my literary heroes, Anya Lipska, author of “Where The Devil Can’t Go” and “Death Can’t Take a Joke”. William spoke eloquently about the craft of writing and the importance of truth. I rather wished that I had read The Sixth Lamentation prior to hearing him speak. Hopefully by the time I have the opportunity to hear him speak again I will have read the rest of his canon.

In the meantime I would urge you to read this wonderful, wonderful novel.

"The Galton Case" by Ross Macdonald

“The Galton Case” is the first Ross Macdonald novel I have read, but it won’t be the last. I still get a buzz from discovering an author whose work moves me. Macdonald’s work spans from the mid-forties to the early eighties, but many critics feel that this novel, originally published in 1959, marked a shift into a deeper and more complex phase.

Macdonald was often compared to Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. Indeed his detective Lew Archer owes his name to Sam Spade’s murdered colleague Miles Archer in Hammett’s seminal work “The Maltese Falcon”. Yet Archer is a very different character to either Spade or Chandler’s Philip Marlowe. He might be as hard-boiled, yet beneath his tough exterior he somehow has more in common with a therapist that a traditional detective. In Macdonald’s hands he often makes an initial wisecrack about a character that foreshadows a much deeper truth.

“The Galton Case” is a surprisingly complex and literary detective story. Archer is hired by a dour lawyer to trace Anthony Galton, missing for over twenty years and heir to the Galton fortune, held by Anthony’s dying mother who seeks a reconciliation.  Is Anthony alive or dead and is a man claiming to be his long-lost-son real or an imposter? Archer has to pick his way through a cast of disparate characters, most of whom are not as they first appear. The plot is deliciously complicated and has more red herrings than a Baltic trawler.

This isn’t a simple “whodunit” but a beautifully layered work bout identity, greed and the power of myth. It owes as much to the Oedipus archetype, classical tragedy and Freudian analysis as it does to the tradition of Hammett and Chandler.

It also includes some powerful and timeless writing. One phrase that will stay with me for a long time occurs when Archer opens a dead man’s suitcase. “Its contents emitted a whiff of tobacco, sea water, sweat and the subtler indescribable odour of masculine loneliness.”

Definitely not your average detective novel.

Curtis Brown Creative - The Mid Point

On the Curtis Brown Creative six-month novel writing course we have been discussing the importance of the mid-point in our novels. This represents the point of no return; the point where the narrative has achieved a critical mass. With a certain symmetry I realised that we had reached the mid-point of , and personally I feel that my novel “Ilona” has also reached a critical mass. I have been re-writing the novel throughout the course using the feedback from the group to address some of the core issues.

For me the process of submitting extracts for a group critique has been one of the highlights of the course so far. The comments from our tutor Louise Wener and the other fourteen students have been supportive and encouraging. The criticism has been constructive throughout and particularly illuminating for me. I think it helps that as writers we are all facing similar challenges, yet are prepared to share insights and suggestions. The sense of support for each other has been tangible and I am very grateful. “Ilona” is slowly becoming a better novel in the process.

We have all now submitted two 3,000 word extracts and we are just about to start on the third and final round of submissions. These have provided tantalising glimpses into the various works-in-progress, rather like watching a succession of film trailers. I have found it fascinating to observe the physical writing process and the different ways that we each approach our craft.

I have been impressed by the format of the Curtis Brown course and by the excellent way it has been managed by CBC Director Anna Davis and new writing editor Rufus Purdy. The range of speakers they have organised have been superb and I particularly enjoyed Nathan Filer and his agent Sophie Lambert, and the engaging Tom Rob Smith with his agent Felicity Blunt. Both authors were very open in sharing stories of their own journeys which I found inspirational.

The quality of the teaching has been first rate with a great mix of tutors. Louise Wener’s practical and down-to-earth advice has been motivational. As a crime writer I particularly enjoyed the sessions with guest tutor Tobias Jones, and I will be forever indebted to him for introducing me to the writing of Ross Macdonald.

So as we move into the second half of the course I am excited about the ongoing work with “Ilona” and in finalising the novel ready for submission. However, in the first instance maybe my third and final 3,000 word extract needs one more polish!