Alan Bradley - The Dead In Their Vaulted Arches

 

Rating: 5/5

 

Review:

An excellent, touching instalment 

 

I’ve enjoyed all of this series and I think this is my favourite so far. It is rather different in tone from its predecessors, which works very well. (I think you do need to have read at least some of the earlier books to appreciate this one, by the way. Don’t start here.)

The Dead In Their Vaulted Arches revolves around the discovery of Flavia’s mother Harriet’s long-lost body and its return to Buckshaw. This provokes a mystery about her death and another tragedy closer to home, plus a lot of revelations about Harriet, the de Luce family and ultimately Flavia herself.

The mystery, though, is a relatively minor part of the book, with Inspector Hewitt and others playing rather a background role. Flavia’s delightful voice this time is used to explore an eleven-year-old’s response to grief, her relationships with her father and sisters (and Dogger and Mrs. M, of course) and her own awareness of the world. It’s beautifully done, I think; there are fewer of those laugh-out-loud moments although the humorous tone is there to provide just the right balance, and Flavia’s perceptions and responses are often very affecting. She is beginning to grow up and this series is beginning to grow up with her.

Alan Bradley writes beautifully here, I think. He captures the mixture of bewilderment, desperate sadness, anger and love which Flavia experiences, and also the clear-eyed child’s response to the rituals and behaviour of people around death and the bereaved. Somehow, he manages to keep the book from ever becoming either too grim or too flippantly humorous and the balance is a remarkable achievement.

I loved this. I was a little surprised by its tone, but it was a very pleasant surprise and I can recommend it very warmly indeed.