Page 51 - Phonebox Magazine October 2006

Review by Kim Locke
The Girl at the Lion D’Or by Sebastian Faulks
In the anonymity of a rundown French hotel, Anne seeks refuge from her past midst a cast of unusual characters. From the formidable concierge to the thug-like chef, the hotel staff provide a colourful background to Anne’s bleak existence. However, even work at the Lion D’Or fails to stifle Anne’s capacity to adapt. Her instinctive need to
overcome the rejection of her furtive past ensures that she ensconces herself securely in her surrounds, perhaps a slightly oval shaped peg in a very round hole.
Hartmann, a local landowner befriends the new waitress. Subtly their friendship slides into a love affair forcing both to confront their problems and face an unforgiving future. Hartmann, committed to a childless and lacklustre marriage, finds the scars of the Great War have left him raw and unusually empathetic to those around him. Anne, who entrusts Hartmann with the secret of her past, finds herself exposed and vulnerable. Faulks dwells on the thought that a single and perhaps ill-considered word or action can have devastating repercussions in the lives of others.
This is a sensitive novel, wracked with passion and threat. Descriptions are meticulous and vivid, providing revealing glimpses into the lives of the 1930s French middle class. The torment of adultery and the grief of abandonment are investigated in Faulks’ perceptive romance, and one marvels at the endurance of the individual as Anne grasps, yet again, the unfair hand that fate has dealt her.
Mister Candid by Jules Candid
Jules Hardy allows her characters to introduce themselves in a variety of ways: first Flanagan, who opens the novel by reflecting on the events which will gradually unfold; then the desperate Twyla Thackeray, owner of the Emerald Rest Home, which is running out of money; finally Iris Chandler, frail inhabitant of the Rest Home and nurse Bronwen. Interspersed throughout the novel are letters addressed to M from C, which consist of seemingly inconsequential reflections, which gradually build up a picture of Charlie Kane, Iris’ son.
The plot moves backwards and forwards, between the 1930s, the late 1950s and 1997, and the phrase ‘genetic memory’ is used to link up events which have happened with the unfolding ‘detective’ story of 1997. Mr Candid, for whom the novel is named, is an elusive character who has made it his life’s work to hunt down and execute those who have escaped conventional justice after raping and murdering children. That, of course, is not his real name, and he has escaped capture for over seventeen years by his anonymity and his ability to fade into the background. But when Governor Jefferson’s son, a connections, there is a strong possibility that Mr Candid will strike again, and when he does the FBI will be ready for him.
This book, the second novel by Jules Hardy is unusual for various reasons. First, although based in the United States, with characters who are undeniably American, it was written by someone born in Bristol, who grew up in and around London. Secondly, although the male characters are strongly drawn, and much of the story is told from a male perspective, Jules is a woman.
I found that I was drawn into the story as I continued to read it, and, midway through, it became quite compulsive. It is well worth the effort of disentangling.
Review by Thelma Shacklady
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