WISH HER SAFE AT HOME by STEPHEN BENATAR

WISH HER SAFE AT HOME

BY STEPHEN BENATAR

THE BLURB:-

Rachel Waring is deliriously happy.  Out of nowhere, a great-aunt leaves her a Georgian mansion in another city- and she sheds her old life without delay.  Gone is her dull administrative job, her mousy wardrobe, her downer of a room-mate.   She will live as a woman of leisure, devoted to beauty, creativity, expression and love.  Once installed in her new quarters, Rachel plants a garden, takes up writing, and impresses everyone she meets with her optimism.  But as Rachel sings and jokes the days away, her neighbours wonder if she might be taking her transformation just a bit too far.

In Wish Her Safe At Home, Stephen Benatar finds humour and horror in the shifting region between elation and mania.   His heroine could be the next-door neighbour of the Beales of Grey Gardens or the sister to Jane Gardam's oddball protagonists, but she has an ebullient charm of her own.

THE REALITY:-

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, was I glad to finish this book!   With thick pages that made it appear more than it actually was, and at only 263 pages long, this- thankfully- didn't take that long to do.   It was certainly not a gripping read and at times I even dreaded picking it up.   I was speed-reading parts towards the end to hurry up the process, but I still got the jist of Rachel's descent into mania.

I think part of the problem was that I read the introduction so I knew what was going to happen, which stole away my element of surprise (essential for turning a novel into a page-turner).  That is totally my fault, but in future I'll read any intro after reading the book. On the other hand, it does explain what is actually going on when Rachel does get confused between reality and fantasy and turns into one weird woman.  Not that that was too hard to pick up on- I just found the character irritating.

Rachel is my age and yet I couldn't relate to her.   Like me, she has never married or had children, but for her it seems to be very much a cause for regret.   Me, I like my freedom!  She is also a virgin... Nope, I got rid of mine at fourteen and am glad I did so.  She's also never really had a boyfriend, apart from her first abortive attempt with Tony.  Nope, I can't relate there- I have a partner and he's hardly the first!😉  She's also been through the menopause.  A definite no there- I'm sitting here bleeding to death!  Maybe it's because she's from a different era; that being 1981.  I mean, for Pete's sake, did women really wear hats or drink sherry at her age in that time?  There are elements of a sad old lady in her, but I think that's the point and that, up until now, she's never really had much of a life, what with a domineering mother and a not very likeable flatmate forever on her case.  It's such a shame she was never able to truly stick up for herself.

The male author does, I think, do well to try and explore the psyche of the opposite sex, but the story did not grip me. I think we all have the element of the dreamer in us (I certainly do- part of a writer's world is making things up, after all.)  Rachel would have done well to put her thoughts on to paper and actually complete her novel, as opposed to letting her imaginations run riot in her head.   She's also have done well to get a job, not only to keep the wolf from the door but to help keep herself grounded.   And she'd DEFINITELY have done well to get herself a man and get some good hard cock.   These might- just might- have helped her to retain her sanity, as she didn't come across as someone who's beyond repair, and who was destined to go ga-ga from birth.

On a plus note, I've never heard of 'Beales of Grey Gardens' or 'Jane Gardam's oddball protagonists' so will check them out.  This book had some interesting characters and a pleasant enough setting but it also had a rubbish title and, unfortunately, the story didn't do much for me.