The melancholy seven

The ordinariness of tragedy, its bread-and-butter nature at odds with Shakespearean grandeur or tabloid-style sensationalism, is the subject of Margaret Forster’s new novel. Is There Anything You Want? examines the lives of seven women in a small town in the north of England. Mrs Hibbert, Edwina, Dot, Chrissie, Ida, Rachel and Sarah are connected through work or illness to the cancer clinic of the local hospital. They share further connections, so that their lives overlap outside the hospital confines: Mrs Hibbert is Chrissie’s aunt by marriage; Edwina’s daughter is Mrs Hibbert’s garden help — just as Ida’s husband was Mrs Hibbert’s mother’s garden boy; Sarah is Dot’s daughter; Ida and Dot and Mrs Hibbert have known one another since girlhood; Dot and Ida share the flower rota at St James’s church. Responding to the question of the novel’s title, all could answer a resounding yes. Only Ida and Chrissie do and in each case only once — Ida confronting the vicar, Chrissie calling on Mrs Hibbert for help.