MY LOVER'S LOVER by MAGGIE O'FARRELL

MY LOVER'S LOVER

BY MAGGIE O'FARRELL

THE BLURB:-

When Lily moves into Marcus's flat, she is intrigued by signs of his recently departed ex-lover. A single dress left hanging in the wardrobe, a mysterious mark on the wall, the lingering odour of Jasmine.

Who was this woman? And what exactly were the circumstances of her sudden disappearance? It doesn't take long for Lily's curiosity to grow into an all-pervading obsession.

THE REALITY:-

At just over 300 pages long, this was typical Maggie O'Farrell fodder- easy to get through and interesting and paced enough to be a page-turner. But... I don't know why but it didn't move me and wasn't her best offering. I'm a fan of 'big' words in novels as I'm all for expanding my already higher than average (so I like to think!😉) vocabulary and I make a point of learning anything I don't already understand, but it got to a point where too many were popping up. I don't know why that should irritate me- maybe it's because I haven't really had the time, at present, for any further self-educating. But I shall make the effort to schedule that. Even so, the prose seemed more mealy-mouthed than any of her later offerings. Oh well, it was Ms. O'Farrell's second book- maybe she needed to prove herself, too.

Lily walked into a tricky situation that she would have done well to walk straight out of, and she knew that. She just refused to listen to her intuition; silly girl. This book is a good study in what imagination can do versus fact. Without knowing the full truth, Lily thought up a really overblown scenario which led her down the route of playing detective. It was extremely unhealthy, and we then had to question whether she was seeing the actual ghost of Sinead or whether her overactive imagination was seeping into her time with Marcus (it was the latter). The reason Marcus's previous relationship permeated Lily's time with him is because he was a total shit- a person who couldn't be bothered to be faithful to- spoiler alert!- the 'love of his life'- Sinead, and who jumped into a new relationship with Lily way too soon, then referred to her in an extremely disdainful fashion. Both women are better off without his total cunt of a man. This novel perhaps clearly prescribes why we should get to know someone before falling into bed with them, and how a lack of communication can be the death knell of a love relationship.

This novel is supposed to be about Lily, and the imprint of her man's former lover, but it's also about Sinead too, and we learn a lot about her, her heartbreak, and also about the changeable character of Aidan. I love the idea of the warehouse where they lived, but found the descriptions a bit lacking.  It wasn't that easy to visualise, which is an important thing for me. Also, we know they lived in London, and some locations were mapped, but others a bit vague. This didn't harm the story, but I like to kind of tie loose ends up.

A strange ending. Maybe Sinead and Lily's lives are destined to be entwined or maybe the ending really was a full stop. Give this book a go, but I think the author has written better.

JANE AUSTEN AT HOME by LUCY WORSLEY

JANE AUSTEN AT HOME

BY LUCY WORSLEY

THE BLURB:-

Historian Lucy Worsley leads us into the rooms from which our best-loved novelist quietly changed the world.

This new telling of the story of Jane's life shows us how and why she lived as she did, examining the places and spaces that mattered to her. It wasn't all country houses and ballrooms, but a life that was often a painful struggle. Jane famously lived a 'life without incident', but with new research and insights, Lucy Worsley reveals a passionate woman who fought for her freedom. A woman who was far from being a lonely spinster in fact had had at least five marriage prospects, but who in the end refused to settle for anything less than Mr. Darcy.

THE REALITY:-

This book was my treat to myself whilst visiting Bath. I didn't buy anything else as I'm not a lover of shopping, and the only shops we popped into during our three day stay were charity shops (apart from Poundland and Tesco, to pick up snacks!) We visited the lovely Jane Austen Centre and picked up a good deal of information about this lady's life and work. I always enjoy watching Lucy Worsley's historical television offerings, and have seen her programme dedicated to Jane Austen. As books conjure up a more detailed perspective than any televised biography ever can, I decided to give this a go.

I'm so glad I did! During my lifetime I've read all but one of Jane's six novels and will make a point of checking them out again, as it was a long time ago. The Jane Austen Centre was up the road from one of Jane's four Bath residences, but the Centre kind of glosses over the fact that, although two of her novels strongly feature the city, she wasn't actually very happy here. I get the impression that she was a real country girl at heart and possibly associated Bath with the death of her father. It's interesting that someone who devoted her work to the whole prospect of finding a husband and making a financially advantageous match never married, and we learn that that's probably because she didn't want children. She did, after all, see two of her sisters-in-law die following childbirth and, in those days, with marriage came babies.  But, maybe, she also was happy and content as she was, living closely with her beloved sister, Cassandra.  Maybe Cassandra was the love of Jane's life and maybe she was the reason there was no room for a man?  Or maybe Jane simply didn't meet the right man?  These options are all discussed here.  The point of this book is that it goes into detail and delves into the whys of Jane's life but- as Lucy Worsley has pointed out herself- history is expressed via the point of view of the writer, so we are really only getting her opinions. Even so, it is nice to know them.

The main point that came across for me was that Jane's work is rather tongue-in-cheek and must be read with a sense of humour. She cleverly described situations that were very real to her, as she witnessed them and, like many writers (myself included) based her novels upon real life. But we mustn't regard them with too much seriousness and, with a little education and reviewing them on this note, they can come across as almost satirical.

I love finding out about social history- in other words, what people got up to on a day to day basis, what they ate, what they wore, etc. This biography delves into that and paints a good portrait of what life would have been like for Jane during Georgian times. As a lover of history I certainly enjoyed reading this, but we must always remember that no-one will ever know the exact truth. As to what Jane was thinking, we might learn that by reading her novels.

A rich and detailed book, tailor-made for Jane lovers. Am I one such a person? Not really. I like her work but prefer something a bit darker. BUT, if you delve beneath the pleasantries of her work, it is all there- you just have to dig deeper and separate and define what is reality and what is an eyebrows-raised, crafty dig. And we must not forget that Jane paved the way for later female writers to 'come out' and write and have a profession- as they are still doing today. The book makes the point that we women owe a lot to Jane- and we do. This was a very detailed biography, offered up a rounded description of Jane's life, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Up the road from the Jane Austen Centre is 25 Gay Street, the house where Jane lived for a few months after her father's death.

Here is my Bath review blog link:-

http://elainerockett.blogspot.com/2019/02/miss-elaineous-visits-bath_18.html