Hand Me Down World – Lloyd Jones

This is the story of a woman’s search for her child, taken by the father who used her as an unwitting surrogate mother. It is told through the sequential accounts of those she interacts with en route; some encounters are fleeting, almost inconsequential, others are more substantial and influential.

Geographically she travels from North Africa, through Italy, to Berlin. Emotionally it is harder to chart her progress, as the statements by the third parties reveal more about them than her, and lead to a range of tangential mini-stories which become more relevant as we reach Berlin. It is an interesting approach, but eventually, thankfully, we get her first-hand account to fill the gaps and weave together the other testimonies.

The book is also about the kindness of (some) strangers, how the same events are recollected differently by those involved, and the city of Berlin.

The New Zealand author created the work while on a writer’s residency in the German capital, and he depicts well how it feels to be a stranger in unfamiliar surroundings. The same author’s “Mr Pip” had a similar element of cultural dislocation.

Both books were a good read, well written and taking the reader a little off the beaten track.