A.L. Kennedy is a very remarkable writer. And her new novel — the first since Day won the Costa prize in 2007 — is a remarkable book. What is really extraordinary about it is that at one level it is a pretty trite love story with dark secrets to be revealed and lots of reflection on truth and lies and how the past lingers on and affects the present — bog-standard stuff. The basic set-up is somewhat improbable, and (as always with Kennedy) somewhat elliptical, even evasive.
Elizabeth, the protagonist, is crossing the Atlantic on a cruise ship with her boyfriend who may or may not be planning to marry her. Also on the ship, by design it transpires, is her ex-lover who is an internationally famous medium and with whom she worked in the past on what she has come to see as a massive con act. Luckily for her, Derek, the worthy present partner, is hideously sea-sick, allowing her to re-involve herself with Arthur and her own memories.
The whole thing feels fairly implausible to me and it was impossible to feel much engagement with Elizabeth or much interest in either of her two men. Although Kennedy’s observations are acute, and Elizabeth’s reflections often instantly recognisable and clever this does not somehow add up to ‘character’ in the sense that one anticipates in a novel. This is partly because the narrative is handled in two voices — a third- person authorial voice and Elizabeth’s first person ‘inside her own head’ voice — but they are not easily distinguished, and have a very similar perspective so that the extra effort of working out how to read the novel is not instantly rewarded by fuller understanding of the central character.
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