Rating: 4/5
Review:
Good, but with reservations
I like Claire Fuller's work very much and Bitter Orange is a
beautifully written novel of repression, loneliness, guilt and the quest for
redemption. It is good but I did have my
reservations.
The book is told in the first person and set mainly in 1969
as an old and dying woman, Frances Jellico, recalls that time. It is the story of how Frances, newly
released from an all-consuming carer's role looking after her cruel and
critical mother takes a job cataloguing some of the contents of a derelict
country house. An eccentric and rather
bohemian couple are also working there and the stories of the three of them
emerge as the summer progresses and Frances
begins to experience new aspects of life.
It is very well done.
Fuller writes beautifully and again inhabits the mind of a thoughtfully
and richly portrayed female narrator.
She creates a fine atmosphere of decay and a sense of impending
catastrophe along with a wholly convincing sense of place, so the whole thing
is very readable. However, I wasn't
always convinced by Frances's actions, the "twist" didn't come as
much of a surprise and overall I wasn't sure Bitter Orange had said much new to
me.
I did enjoy Bitter Orange, but didn't quite grab me in the
same way as the outstanding Our Endless Numbered Days and the very good
Swimming Lessons. Claire Fuller is a
very fine writer and I can still recommend this, but with a slight note of
reservation.
(My thanks to Penguin Books for an ARC via NetGalley.)
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