It’s a bit of a jigsaw of a novel, centred on Rebecca, who generally narrates but not strictly chronologically, some key episodes in her life so far (she is about forty?)
To begin with: a baby in a shoebox, she is left outside the kitchen of an Italian restaurant to be adopted and brought up in full knowledge of her abandoned status. Later, a young adult, she shares a flat with Joe with whom she forms a strong but platonic bond. He introduces her to Adam, a doctor, who she marries and with whom she has a baby girl, Ruby. No spoiler, Ruby dies young; Rebecca struggles to cope.
While that is going on, Joe is writing a masterpiece about Stalin, or more accurately his wife, and relates much of it to Rebecca. Later, Joe moves on to writing a novel set in the first world war, in which the lead characters (William and Florence) seem to mirror him and Rebecca. Joe sends Rebecca chunks of manuscript, reproduced at length.
Somewhere in between is the life story of Rebecca’s employer, Mr Damiano, hotel proprietor and one time circus performer and creator of a ‘Dreamworld’ attraction.
Confusing? Not really. Each segment makes for pleasant enough reading, but with only Rebecca linking it all, there is no real cohesion. It might even have worked better as four short stories. I struggled to see how Rebecca’s life was impacted in any way by Stalin’s wife, Mr Damiano’s circus, or Joe’s unfinished war novel.
But maybe I missed
something?
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