P. H. Newby (1918–1997)

P H Newby anyone? Not the most popular author on LibraryThing. He was however the winner of the first Booker prize inaugurated in 1969, with his 1968 novel [Something to Answer For]. Few of his 22 other novels appear to have been read recently, but I picked up his 1951 novel [A Season in England], which held my attention right to the end.

Tom Passmore has been invalided out of the British army after traces of TB had been found in his blood after a fever. He finds a job as an academic in the University of Cairo and becomes fascinated by the country of Egypt. He finds it difficult to make friends, but strikes up a friendship with Tom Nash a fellow academic. Nash also struggles with friends, but Passmore gets invited home for dinner and becomes infatuated with Nash's young Greek wife Renée. Nash and Renée seem an unlikely couple, while Renée is strong and purposeful, Nash is weak and secretive. Tom Nash catches Typhoid, but before he dies he tells Passmore that he fears for Renée, because his estranged parents do not know he has married and she will find it difficult to live in Cairo because of their financial situation. When Nash dies Passmore asks Renée to marry him but she refuses. Passmore has the summer holidays to himself and he decides to go back to England with the intention of telling Nash's parent about the existence of a wife. Nash's parents are elderly and reclusive and they frighten Passmore a little especially when they seem to want Passmore to replace their estranged son. Passmore hesitates to tell them about Renée, but that decision is taken away from him when Renée arrives at the house. Passmore is completely out of his depth, when a merry-go-round of alliances develop in the household. Passmore still wants to marry Renée, but she thinks he is a bigger fool than her deceased husband.

The setting of the novel is towards the end of the second world war but life in the big house belonging to the Nashes feels few effects, Mr and Mrs Nash are an odd couple with Mrs Nash desperate to replace her lost son and Mr Nash worried about doing the right thing. It is a psychological novel that plays on the taught feelings within the household that become stretched to breaking point. P H Newby draws his characters well and leads them a merry dance. The woman are far stronger than the men, who are mostly clueless in understanding what is happening. It is by no means a comedy, but certainly Newby is holding up his characters to a certain amount of ridicule. Guilt, love and pride are some of the themes that run though this novel, which depicts well a social class and milieu that existed towards the end of the war in England. A good novel of its time 3.5 stars.… (plus d'informations)

I have decided to take a stab at reading all the Booker Prize winners that I haven't yet read, so started with this, the first one. This book was a slow burn. I had trouble getting into it, and the confusion of the man who was allegedly telling his story in this book. Townrow is a scoundrel, but even he's can't remember what he did. There had to be a reason for him to be in Egypt in 1956. I like how the actual historical events are woven into this story, and I like the confusion of never knowing where Townrow is coming from. The book is brilliantly written, and the total import of the story didn't hit me until the end. It was then I realized what a scoundrel Townrow was. I am sure that this book is the work of a master manipulator, and a fine example of an unreliable narrator. I am really glad I read this early work, and am looking forward to more surprises in the lengthy list of Booker Prize winners.… (plus d'informations)

A former British soldier named Townrow returns to Port Said, Egypt in 1956 after being summoned by his friend's widow. She's convinced her husband, Elie Khoury, was murdered. Once in Egypt Townrow's reality is tenuous. He's not sure at times of his identity, his nationality or even whether he's still alive. A blow to the head, his friend's death, the nationalization of the Suez Canal and subsequent invasion by the British don't help. He also meets a woman who "changed the chemistry of his blood."

Memory is integral to the story. Townrow's memory in particular. Events and timelines are muddled. "He must stop mis-remembering. He must clear his mind. What actually had happened?" An intelligent and skillfully written story with a great sense of time and place.… (plus d'informations)