Volunteer Reader Review

Local Customs by Audrey Thomas

I was reminded of the The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger when reading this book. The heroines of both novels were adventurous Victorian women, who embarked on voyages to exotic locations where they died. In Pullinger’s book, the heroine was a high born English lady, suffering from tuberculosis, who went to Egypt because of the salubrious climate and later died. In Local Customs, Letitia (known as Letty) Landon, an early 19th century English poet, marries the governor of Cape Coast Castle on the Gold Coast of West Africa. She only lasts eight weeks before dying, rather mysteriously.

Local Customs by Audrey Thomas

The author has done meticulous research on the period and the conditions, with a great deal of foreshadowing. Thus the demise of Letty does not come as a surprise to the reader. At the same time, I found the frequent comments about her impending death somewhat excessive.

The author also focuses on a disparate group of characters. Governor George Maclean, a career diplomat, is a rather taciturn Scot. Mr. Thomas Birch Freeman, son of a freed Jamaican slave and an English woman is a righteous Wesleyan missionary intent on converting the natives. Mrs. Bailey acts as Letty’s travelling companion and helper, and Brodie Cruickshank, another Scot who is the governor of a neighbouring area becomes a good friend to Letty. These principal characters and the events, with the possible exception of Mrs. Bailey, were real.

The author evokes the oppressive heat and humid conditions of the area and I certainly felt that I was there. Living in this climate was very difficult and many Westerners didn’t survive, succumbing to malaria, dysentery, and other fevers, and often very quickly after arrival.

I would like to hear Audrey Thomas talk about the research process which she followed in writing this book, as it covers many topics. These include women and their place in the 19th century, especially those who were accomplished and bright but who were not recognized, women writers in the time period, the fate of spinster women, missionaries, religious and cultural assimilation in the British colonies, local superstition and many more.

Reviewed by Hilary Munro

Volunteer Reader Review

Wake by Anna Hope

Wake by Anna Hope

Wake is Anna Hope’s debut novel. Set in 1920 in London, three women with very different lives grapple with the legacy of the First World War and its influence on their lives. Hettie is a dance instructor longing for excitement and freedom. Evelyn’s fiancé was killed in the War and now she works processing veteran’s complaints, a dreary and depressing job. Ada has never learned what happened to her son during the war, other than that he has never come home. The setting is believable and interesting – 1920 London seems on the verge of big change but not sure how to move on, and the dance hall setting and details in Hettie’s story feel unique and captivating.

Wake is successful historical fiction. People who enjoyed Cathy Marie Buchanan’s The Painted Girls will enjoy Wake as well. There are shades of Downton Abbey in some of the storylines, particularly as we learn more about members of Evelyn’s family, who are quite wealthy at a time when the class structure of the day is starting to come apart. It’s an appealing time period in which to set the narrative, and the story itself is well written and skilfully told. It’s an admirable goal to explore the lives of women in the wake of war, and how drastically they have changed – both personally and culturally, as their role has been altered.

Even though Wake is supposed to be about the women, for me, the most interested character by far is the mysterious Ed, who frequents the dance hall but carries a traumatic past filled with the terrors and realities of war. We uncover several different sides to him through the perspectives of other characters, which together paint an intriguing, realistic, sad, rich portrait of who he has become.

At the same time, I had some challenges with Wake. When we finally learn the truth about Ed’s actions in the war (and how they pertain to another character, as the disparate storylines come together), though, it is narrated to us directly by another character. We don’t get to see it happen ourselves and make our own judgements, rather we are strictly told what happened, and to me that narrative technique falls a bit flat. We are also fleetingly introduced to other viewpoints throughout the book and in relatively short sections that have been set apart in italics – e.g. of soldiers digging up the body of the unknown solider, of people watching trains and reminiscing about the war.  While I understood what the author was trying to accomplish, for me these sections acted as an unnecessary distraction.

Nonetheless, I think this book has wide appeal and that many readers, particularly readers of historical fiction, will find this a satisfying read.

Reviewed by Kelsey Attard