THE NIGHT FALLING
BY KATHERINE WEBB
THE BLURB:-
Puglia, Italy, 1921.
Leandro returns home now a rich man with a glamorous American wife, determined to make his mark. But how did he get so wealthy- and what haunts his outwardly exuberant wife?
Boyd, quiet English architect, is hired to build Leandro's dreams. But why is he so afraid of Leandro, and what really happened between them years before, in New York?
Clare, Boyd's diffident wife, is summoned to Puglia with her stepson. At first desperate to leave, she soon finds a compelling reason to stay.
Ettore, starving, poor and grieving for his lost fiancée, is too proud to ask his Uncle Leandro for help. Until events conspire to force his hand.
Tensions are high as poverty leads veterans of the Great War to the brink of rebellion. And under the burning sky, a reckless love and violent enmity will bring brutal truths to light...
THE REALITY:-
At first I was worried, as this book quickly jumped from a chapter about Clare to a chapter about Ettore, and I thought that this was something that could turn out to be off-putting, especially as the initial Ettore sections were really grim, with poverty and desperation seeping off the pages. But the lives of these two main characters soon intertwined, and maybe we all need to know about these events, inspired by actual history. Sheer misery is one reason I dislike war and uprisings sections in novels, but sometimes we need to be told straight that life is definitely not all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. I'm glad I didn't let reviews of this book put me off, as they were rather damning- for the reasons I've just described. Far from being the worst of Katherine Webb's novels (and different from the rest, as had been suggested) it was up there with the best, and really touched me.
Every one of the varied characters was carefully explored, with the same resonating conclusion- and that is that they all had a heart. Passions are explored, and how strong sexual feelings can be just as important (and damning) for a woman as they are for a man. I'm glad the author had the courage to clear that one up, as many people seem to assume otherwise! The backdrop of this area of Italy has been very carefully researched and it came to life on the page, as depictions of social history are given legs through detail. I'm glad that most characters weren't marked as either “bad” or “good,” as life is not like that, and most human beings possess many different shades of grey inbetween. The real baddies, though- Ludo and Federico- I grew to hate with a passion. It's interesting how a line used with regard to sex- “a perfect angel” for Boyd, with both Emma and Clare, and (spoiler alert) “tell me I'm your sweetheart,” when Federico rapes both Livia and Clare is the signature which ultimately catches both men out, and I like the way this was explored. I also liked how a reusable rubber johnny (eeewwww!) became a symbol for distance between Clare and her husband, and I finished the story wishing her all the best- for both her and the illegitimate child, she so desperately wanted, tucked safely in her womb.
Written in the third person present tense, this story keeps pace and rises to a crescendo. Perhaps the surprises are more minor that major, in that you can see them coming. But I'd highly recommend this novel. And I'm off to work on a short story- written in the first person present tense!
