The Memory Chalet – Tony Judt

Tony Judt, scholar, historian, essayist, became increasingly disabled by a motor neuron disorder that left him largely immobile, trapped in his own body. But his mind remained active and sharp as ever. To cope with the hours of uncomfortable and sleepless nights he ‘visited’ his past and composed essays that he could dictate during the daylight hours. This book is the result.

In equal parts memoir, critique, manifesto, and whimsey, he shares his experiences as a child of Jewish heritage in post-World War Two London; his youthful political enthusiasms; his academic career in England and the United States; and a late-blooming involvement in eastern Europe.

The essays are of easily digestible length but consider meaty issues – politics, education, religion, freedom of speech. They often meander enjoyably down asides and go off at interesting tangents of less moment. before returning to the main point and a pithy conclusion.

Insightful and commendably free from any hint of self-pity or resentment at his fate, the collection provides a vivid celebration of all aspects of life: the good and the bad; the beautiful and the ugly.

The Sleeper – Emily Barr

Lara is dissatisfied. The outward idyll of life in Cornwall, married to Sam, is a mask. She resents giving up her London life and career for a support role as wife and mother, especially now no babies have arrived and the IVF has failed again, leaving them unfulfilled and in debt. Her only local friend, acquaintance really, is Iris, in whom Lara recognises a similarly troubled soul.

When an opportunity arises for a job back in the city, she argues the case for taking a six-month contract to clear the debts. She can commute, getting the Sunday night sleeper from Truro to Paddington, sleep at her sister’s flat during the week, returning on the Friday night sleeper. Sam reluctantly agrees.

She falls into the routine, enduring her sister’s company midweek while revelling in the Friday night sleeper scene, enjoying gin and tonics with new friends Ellen and Guy. Then one week she does not arrive back in Truro, and the train is declared a crime scene when it gets to Penzance. Lara is missing, a victim or perpetrator. The police favour the latter, so it is up to Iris to find her and clear her name.

In the first third of the book Lara’s first-person narrative, up to her disappearance, is compulsive as her Jekyll and Hyde character emerges. Then the point of view switches to Iris and becomes less satisfying as she stumbles her way towards locating Lara. In the process the backstories of both women emerge, explaining their respective current issues. The helter-skelter finale ping-pongs between them to provide a tense climax.

It is a decent enough mystery thriller, the first part sufficiently intriguing to carry readers through some mediocre stuff to discover the resolution. The settings of Cornwall, London and somewhere else (no spoiler) seem authentic but of the characters, only Lara and to a lesser extent Iris, engage.

The Muse – Jessie Burton

London 1967, Odelle Bastien, five years since arriving from Trinidad with her degree, leaves her job at Dolcis shoe shop to start work as a typist at the Skelton Institute of Art. It is a glorified gallery and art dealership owned by the urbane Edmund Reede and managed by the formidable Marjorie Quick.

Quick takes Odelle under her wing, and Odelle finds the older woman intriguing, bordering on mysterious. Her curiosity intensifies when a young man brings in a painting inherited from his recently deceased mother. It is a striking work depicting a glorious Andalusian landscape behind, in the foreground, a girl holding in her hand a severed head. When Quick sees the painting, she is visibly shaken.

Cut to 1936, Andalusia, in a Spain on the brink of civil war, where the Schloss family of three arrive at a rundown quinta. Harold is an exiled Austrian Jewish art dealer; his English wife, Sarah, has money and issues; their nineteen-year-old daughter Olive has a decision to make. She has an offer of a place at a prestigious art school in London but is entranced by the local landscape and light. The Schlosses are met by Isaac and Teresa Robles, young half siblings looking for casual employment. Teresa becomes housekeeper and Isaac, an aspiring artist, is commissioned by Harold to paint a portrait of his wife and daughter.

The novel toggles chunkily between the timelines, the connection between them slowly and sinuously emerges. Never obvious, never forced, just perfectly done. Each setting has a fine sense of time and place. Each character has depth and nuance. The writing is easy on the eye, yet full of both wit and grit. In each timeline pace is slowly built up to twin exciting climaxes and a resolution uncertain to the end.

It is simply an exceedingly good read.