Micro Review 14 (2024)

 

Edith Holler by Edward Carey (Gallic Books)

I couldn't resist this book when Gallic Books were offering advance copies to reviewers, after all a book about theatre set in Norwich ticks so many of my personal preferences and to cap it all it also focuses on many of the tales/legends about Norwich that I know so well.

Norwich, 1901. Edith Holler spends her days among the eccentric denizens of the Holler Theatre, warned by her domineering father that the playhouse will literally tumble down if she should ever leave.

Fascinated by tales of the city she knows only from afar, young Edith decides to write a play of her own about Mawther Meg, a monstrous figure said to have used the blood of countless children to make the local delicacy, Beetle Spread. But when her father suddenly announces his engagement to a peculiar woman named Margaret Unthank, Edith scrambles to protect her father, the theatre, and her play – the one thing that’s truly hers – from the newcomer’s sinister designs.

Teeming with unforgettable characters and illuminated by Carey’s trademark illustrations, Edith Holler is a surprisingly modern fable of one young woman’s struggle to escape her family’s control and craft her own creative destiny.

I was a little surprised by the horror inflections in this book - it was a little creepier and more bloody than I usually like but as I did pick this up to read whilst poorly with Covid it might just be my fever talking!

The book is wonderfully visual, not just because of Carey's sketches which definitely add to the experience, I really did find myself wandering around Edith's Norwich. I think that there is scope to base a walking tour of the city on the book - just as they have done for Shardlake's Norwich!

I loved all of the local history - it will be interesting to hear from other readers as to what they think are true events, what are local legends and what come from Carey's incredible imagination! 

Like the previous book by Carey that I've read (Little) this book won't be for everyone, he has a style all of his own but however much they drag me out of my comfort zone I will keep reading him!

Many thanks to Claire at Gallic Books for the advance copy of this book which is published on Oct 3rd.

Norfolk settings

Redshank's Warning by Malcolm Saville

I used to be an avid collector of children's books from the 1920s/30s/40s but in recent years this has changed from an indiscriminate 'try everything' hobby to my only collecting books by a specific few authors. The exception to this rule is books set in locations I am familiar with.

It was with great excitement this week that a new to me kidlit book was waiting on the doorstep when I got in from work. I knew the name Malcolm Saville but I'd not read anything by him however as Redshank's Warning has a Norfolk setting I just knew I had to give it a go.

Not only is the book a Norfolk story, it is also set in Blakeney up on the North Norfolk Coast - an area I know pretty well. As it would seem the author did, for unlike so many books that have a Norfolk setting Saville barely plays around with geography and you could still walk around the village using the novel as a travel guide.

The sea has changed a little of the geography when the protagonists leave the village and go out to the Point and the marshes but it is still all incredibly recognisable - and the main hotel talked about is still reasonably posh even 70 years on! Knowing two people who work in the modern day Post Office added another (unintentional) layer of amusement for me as I read the parts of the book set there. I also now want to explore the church more, taking care not to get locked into the tower!

To be honest the thriller-esque plot left me a little cold but I really wasn't reading the book for this at all, just the wonderful descriptions of Blakeney, the marshes and the wildlife.
I'm not sure I'll seek out the following books in this series (unless they too have a Norfolk setting) but this has joined two of my other favourite Norfolk-set kidlit books -When Marnie Was There and The Great Gale.

Blakeney village from the marsh

looking towards the point from near the Quay

Too impatient to wait any long to talk about a book

Book Review Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson

(many thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy of this title)

It feels like I've been waiting to talk about this book forever and although it isn't officially published until mid-May that is less than a month away so now is the time to pre-order with your favourite bookshop or to get an early reservation in at your local library.

Anyhow back at the start of the year when I was still really quite unwell and despondent because I hadn't managed to read any fiction for over a month I saw people talking about this book on Twitter and then in lists of 'books to watch out for in 2018.' It sounded just my thing and I was approved for an advanced copy on Netgalley and then tentatively opened it up.

The joy - this book was written in an epistolary style and while the letters crossing to and fro the North Sea did link to each other as the tale unfolded they weren't forming a long, continuous narrative. The letters themselves were also reasonably short and so I could really stop and start with  as I needed while thanks to the format the story was almost recapped in each new letter so I was always able to pick the plot up.

This is a very gentle novel and is primarily about Tina, a Suffolk farmer's wife, and Anders, a Danish museum curator. Slowly we learn about them - their lives, families, thoughts and sorrows - nothing is off limits however hard the topic may be. Letters allow both characters to share their inner most thoughts and a real, believable, friendship grows between the writers, and I was so immersed in their worlds that I almost felt guilty for reading their private letters.

There are twists and turns, I didn't spot most of them coming but they all felt convincing - I hope that this is true for all readers and not just because I was ill when I read the book. Reviews are comparing this to another of my favourite books, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and I can definitely see why - and not just because the book is made up of letters. It is a gentle story but with a realistic edge that stops it becoming saccharine sweet, it also doesn't take the easy or obvious route which was a nice touch.

The final selling point for me was that while most of Tina's story takes place in Suffolk, around Bury St Edmunds, there is also a trip to a couple of archaeological sites in north Norfolk. I was aware of the Warham Iron Age Fort (and indeed have visited it) but I didn't know that there was also an Iron Age Barrow in the area and I plan on luring Mr Norfolkbookworm to visit it soon with the promise of a pub lunch...

Even a few months on from reading this book I am still not managing to read long or complicated fiction books but this one will always be special to me as it did show that I could still read and enjoy fiction and that mood boost was incredibly important.

Theatre 2016: Review Thirty-Two

Jess and Joe Forever, The Garage, Norwich. October 2016.

A very brief review on line had me wishing I could see this in London and I got very excited when an Internet search said this would be in Norwich for one night only - tickets were hurriedly booked.

Why the interest? Well the reviews saying it was fabulous but nothing more for fear of giving away the plot plus the fact that it was set in Norfolk. How could the Norfolkbookworm resist? In a busy month the 70 minute run time was also a bonus!

Like everyone else I'm not going to review the plot more than to say it follows two young people from the ages of 9 to 16 in a series of snap shots of their childhood and it alternates between hysterically funny and tear-inducingly sad in a heartbeat.

It is performed by just two actors and they have you utterly believing in them whatever age they are being. Jess is a rich kid in Norfolk on holiday and Joe is a local.  The Norfolk accent is notoriously hard to perform and for the most part Joe is credible throughout, I didn't wince and it only occasionally slipped into generic 'yokel.'

I wish I could say more about this play but I don't want to spoil it for anyone else who may catch this on tour and I urge you to find it and go and see it.  I'm pleased to see that it has also earned an award nomination for the playwright, Zoe Cooper.

In a stupidly busy fortnight it would have been all too easy to skip this after a long, stressful day at work but I am so pleased we braved the unreserved really uncomfortable seats to see such a great play.