 | By: V.G. Lee Binding: Paperback Publisher: Millivres-Prowler Group Ltd ISBN: 1873741804 ISBN-13: 9781873741801 Released: 31 Mar 2003 RRP: Average Rating:  |
The central character & narrator, Lorna Tree, draws us into her world from the start, when she first sights 'the woman in beige' on a train, & keeps us in suspense about this mysterious person who flits in & out of her life from then on. But although this is ostensibly the main story-line , the interest of the book for me lay chiefly in Lorna's family life, & the episodes she relates from her childhood.. She describes appallling parents, so absorbed in each other that they have little interest in their two children & leave them to be brought up by their grandmother, but swoop down on them occasionallly, mainly to criticise & disrupt their lives. They are still doing this in the present, & the author depicts the relationship between the two parents, between the parents & their now grown-up children, & between Lorna & her brother with great subtlety and, perhaps surprisingly, with compassion.
The story is firmly rooted in Stoke Newington, & having lived there myself I can vouch for the authenticity of the setting. The descriptions of the crowded multi-cultural High Street, of the walk in Springfield Park, ( which fails to delight the woman in beige), & of the hilarious guided tour of Abney Park Cemetery at 4.30 am to hear the dawn chorus, are full of significant details, & alll contribute to the plausibility of the story. The area is described as being full of counsellors & the counselled, & of course lesbians. We are introduced to several of these in their various & fluctuating relationships, & they are portrayed with humour & insight. Lorna too is searching for love, & thinks she may have found it with the woman in beige, but she knows it is likely to end in tears. Read the book, to find out whether her fears prove groundless!
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