Book Review: Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift
Love across the class divide is at the heart of Graham Swift’s Mothering Sunday, a wonderful novella that takes place on one day in 1924.
The story is told from the perspective of Jane Fairchild, an orphaned maid in a small country house who’s been in a secret relationship with the son of a nearby well-to-do family for several years. On a Sunday in March when the other servants depart to visit their mothers, Jane makes her own plans for a quiet day in the garden, reading books borrowed from her employer’s library. Her day — and her life — are changed when her lover calls with a proposal of a tryst at his parents’ house.
This may be their last ever assignation for Paul Sheringham is due to marry (purely for financial reasons) within a few weeks. So this time together in the empty house is especially precious. Neither want their morning of passion to end but Paul is expected for lunch at Henley with his parents, his fiancée and her parents. He speeds off to his appointment, leaving Jane lying naked in his bed, bathed in sunlight.
The older Jane remembers those hours of sheer joy and so too the shock of the news that awaited her when she eventually returned to her employer’s house. As the narrative moves back and forth from young woman in 1924 to her 80-year-old version at end of the century, we’re drawn further and further into Jane’s mind on that day. The shock over the catastrophe, the fear her secret will be discovered, her distress because she could not share her feelings with anyone. And her thoughts about what might have been:
She would brood over it like some passage that perhaps needed redrafting, that might not yet have arrived at its proper meaning
It’s a very personal and interior type of narrative. Are we always told the truth or the whole truth? Jane isn’t your typical unreliable narrator but as a successful writer, the older Jane acknowledges that over the years she’s laid several false trails to avoid her fans or the media getting anywhere close to the truth about her life.
She would tell in her books many stories. She would even begin to tell, in her later careless years, stories about her own life, in such a way that you could never quite know if they were true or made up. But there was one story she would never tell.
Mothering Sunday beautifully evokes the atmosphere of the 1920s, a time of sorrow still as families mourn the loss of their offspring during the war (Paul’s two brothers were themselves killed in action). But also a time of change with new possibilities for the future emerging.
It’s a tightly written piece of fiction with so many layers of subtlety that when you reach the end it’s tempting to begin afresh to discover what you might have missed the first time around.
theorangutanlibrarian
Oh wow, this sounds incredible!!
BookerTalk
It’s a really impressive piece of fiction
Calmgrove
A lovely review – I do admire fiction that gives us views of a moment in time seen from different temporal perspectives.
BookerTalk
I’m reading the first book in the Cazalet Chronicles right now and it’s wonderful at depicting the spirit of the years before WW2
kimbofo
I loved this when I first read it a few years ago. I also loved his novel Here We Are, set in 1959, about three entertainers who perform in the variety show at Brighton’s end-of-the-pier theatre during the summer season.
BookerTalk
Oooh that sounds wonderful Kim. Thanks for the tip
imogenglad
Such a great book!
BookerTalk
Even more remarkable when you think it is only 130 pages or so
A Life in Books
Great review, Karen. I came to this one after a number of disappointments with Swift’s writing but was very impressed by it.
BookerTalk
I’ve only read one other book by him – Last Orders – and really enjoyed it so now, having enjoyed a second I’ll keep my eye open for anything else by him
margaret21
This sounds like a Must Read, and in any case it’s ages since I read any Graham Swift. Thanks for bringing it to our attention!
BookerTalk
One level you could think there isn’t much to this book – the plot as such is quiet simple but it’s what Swift does with it that makes it intersting
Lisa Hill
Re the title: That’s an odd comment (above), because the cover of your book calls it Mothering Sunday, the audiobook that I had named it as Mothering Sunday too, and none of the editions at Goodreads or Wikipedia call it anything but Mothering Sunday. Which is relevant to the point that Jane Fairchild is a foundling with no mother to visit on Mothering Sunday 1924…
Anyway, whatever… this is a book I wish I’d read instead of listening to as an audio book because I know from your review that I missed things in the way that we do sometimes when we listen instead of read. It’s a terrific book, one of Swift’s best IMO.
BookerTalk
It was entirely my mistake – I didn’t check the post subject line before pressing “publish”. Was in too much of a rush to get it out so I could relax with some TV before bed.
I wonder how this work as an audiobook. Often I find the interior monologue kind of narrative doesn’t come across as effectively as on the page
Lisa Hill
Well, I enjoyed it. I used to listen to books for the daily commute and found that they worked well if the storyline wasn’t too complex, so this one worked for me. But I would hate to be relying on audio books for my reading ‘fix’.
BookerTalk
I used to be a big consumer of audio books when I was travelling for work. They kept me company on the drive to the airport and took my mind of the tedium of the flight 🙂
Lisa Hill
Yes, that’s what they’re good for.
hopewellslibraryoflife
FYi The title of your review is “Mothering Swift”, otherwise nice review.
BookerTalk
Thanks for spotting that – I should learn not to rush to press publish late at night !