A detailed review from one of our readers, Gabrielle:
Just as the hitherto thriving cultural life on the Isles of
Sheppey is in danger to be swept away by the tide of cut backs the local
council has had to impose on culture a small book has been published on the
Island with the title ‘A Roof Over Their Heads’. The book owes its gestation to
a local writer’s workshop (still financed by the council before the latest cuts
were announced) where participants were asked to write about local houses. This
could be either from personal memory or through research in local archives for
any information that could become the seed for a story to be written about.
This brief was enthusiastically taken up by all six writers with
each of them giving a short introduction to their story. Some of the stories
are from personal experience or witness account, the rest have been inspired by
some historical fact the writer used for his imagination to shape into
fictional history.
The strength of each one of these stories is the vivid evocation
of life on the island during different epochs from the sixteenth to the 21th
century. Sometimes the narrative leads the reader back and forth in time, as in
‘Tales of Marine Parade’ which tells the story of one family over several
generations in stories within the main narrative as told by the grandmother to
her grandchildren in our time. The problem with this imaginative if complex way
of story telling is that the reader might get confused by the characters now
old, now young, popping in and out of the narrative. It requires careful
reading and sometimes re-reading not unlike reading a novel by Tolstoy that is
peopled by a multitude of characters, some of whom make a short appearance and
disappear only to make their come-back much later in the narrative. However the
dialogue in this story is a good guide through the different epochs and the
social standing of a character, as when Polly informs her granddaughter Sally
(the main narrator of these stories) ‘I have ter say that being in service
wasn’t all that good if you got a rotten family, but the Sutherlands were a
lovely couple’. Polly’s tale and vernacular places her clearly back to the turn
of the 19th to the 20th cent. Whereas Polly’s
great-great-granddaughter Laura’s diction ‘ Mum says we are to leave you after
lunch’, is that of a middle class girl of our time.
The title story ‘A roof over their heads’, takes a similar
approach by letting the characters tell their tale, though contained over a
shorter time span of about twenty-seven years as the first narrator, Brian,
indicates at the beginning. Here the narrative roles are very clear and each
character’s individuality well defined. Though at heart decent, Brian is easily
led by Carol into a life of deceit and criminality. When Brian’s resentment at
Carol finally leads to their final argument with him stating ‘I didn’t want to
make all those cons, that was you’ she replies ‘You’re so weak; I should have
hired someone else, not a coward like you’ the reader is left in no doubt as to
who lacks moral scruples. Brian’s murder of Carol does not change this as his
immediate horror at what he’d done in self- defense, almost accidentally,
overwhelms him. The dramatic scene of the murder as told by both Brian and
Carol is riveting, the tension of the moment palpable, and each of their
narratives illuminates their very different character. The ending of Carol’s
narrative is particularly well constructed with the unfinished sentence ‘And
now I feel…’ mirroring her final thoughts being cut short by death.
The use of such taut prose, leaving it to the reader to infer what
is happening or how a character feels instead of over-detailed descriptive
would have made Mr. West’s account that follows Carol’s tale less
self-righteous. The tension created by the irony of the murderer actually being
morally conscious, whereas his victim Carol is not, is weakened by Mr. West’s
somewhat patronizing contemplations that delegate the riveting narrative of the
two main characters to his own narrow minded moral judgment.
Colorful characters, interesting juxtapositions of different
social backgrounds at the end of the 19th century dominate ‘Fleeting
Glimpses’. Emma, a prostitute, is pitted against the middle class in person of
‘Harridan Hall’, and the upper class as personified by Sir Cedric Greet, his
mother Lady Dora, and Lady Victoria his fiancé. They and Emma’s servant and
companion Bea are distinctly characterized. The aged Bea, suffering from a bad
back, is particularly well evoked when ‘she run her free hand over her hip and
across her spine, as far as she could reach, trying to squeeze the pain away,
knowing it was useless but only realizing she was doing it when it was already
done’. The climax of this story is the encounter between Emma and Lady Dora at
the ball. Emma’s defensive address to the assembled society in the ballroom is
splendid. She has all the sympathy of the reader and one hopes of some in the
audience too. Emma’s speech leaves no doubts about the gulf between her, the
despised prostitute and the so-called respectable society in front of her,
listening aghast to her outburst, which reveals them as hypocritical, since not
only Sir Cedric but also ‘several others’ present ‘pay very well for her
company’. The narrative is compelling, the structure of the story well thought
out, though sometimes a detail seems either unnecessary as when Sir Cedric
‘chewed his thumb’, or somewhat far-fetched as when Emma remembers her ‘time in
Africa, among the tribes in the wilderness’. Equally Emma’s emotional state of
mind is clear after her speech at the ball, the reader doesn’t need to be told
that her she has a broken heart. The end of this story finds Emma in Marrakesh,
ready for new adventure, a liberated woman more of our times one feels, for
what freedoms could be awaiting her in her time in this town peopled by a
strict patriarchal society and a few Europeans of largely dubious background.
The story of ‘29 Manor Road’ focuses on a local ‘upright common
English, British family’ and the issue of renting the house the family ‘dwelt’
in. The writer remembers what happened when his mother refused to pay the rent
until the landlord carried out long overdue repairs to the house. It is a story
of courage against injustice, and also about the question of trust and the lack
of it. ‘ What do honest upright people need receipts for? Our word is evident’
young Steve declares after the magistrate advised that the mother should have
got a receipt for paying the rent and rates. The story is told in 4 sections
that create a tableau of domestic life in the 1950th, as when the
family watches a repeat of the 1953 Coronation, or when the family celebrates
the mother’s return from prison with the table laid out plentiful for teatime.
This is a charming story, well told in lively scenes that illuminate the
situation of many a ‘lowly proud ordinary families’ who dwelt in rather than
owned their ‘roof over their heads’.
‘Groene Vitriool’ is narrated through a letter written by Mathias
Falconer in the 16th century to his wife Anna when he feels close to
death. The narrative offers a fascinating insight of the historical background
of that time which is well researched, though the characters, except for
Mathias, are fictional. Mathias and Anna are protestant Dutch immigrants who
escaped religious persecution in their country that was ruled by ‘those Papists’
of catholic Spain. Since he was a copperas processor in the reign of Elisabeth
the 1st, who ‘‘offered up monopolies ‘to certain Dutch Mynerall men’ he took up
this offer to start a new and safe life with his family. Copperas was used to
make gunpowder and men like Mathias were instrumental in the difficult and
dangerous production of this raw material. The description of how copperas was
extracted from copperas stones gathered on the beach below Minster and Warden
bay is captivating. The reader almost holds them in his hands ‘Those heavy,
knobbly, dull grey pebbles full of iron’. Then, when the stone is broken, ‘Pale
green globules like fish eggs lie on the cut grey-green surface which shines
like metal’ the dull stone’s mystery is exposed by the two imaginative similes
followed by the tangible ‘bad egg smell of Brimstone’ emerging from the stone
which makes the reader recoil. This is descriptive at its best, the reader can
literally feel, see and smell what is described as he follows the narrative.
This story’s strength lays not only in its vivid descriptive but
also in the skillful juxtaposition of Mathias’ personal story with the historic
background of the copperas production. Mathias’ personal story is emotive but
never melodramatic. We feel for him when he implores Anna who’d only
reluctantly come to England and was never quite happy in her new home land
‘with all my heart, I am very sorry for the pain you have endured over the
years’. The well-informed account of the copperas production is fascinating
with the story of Toby, the ‘whippersnapper’ (a wonderful nick-name) who kept a
copperas stone in his pocket that ‘burnt a hole through his breeches and singed
his legs’ demonstrating just how dangerous these stones could be. The political
background, brought to the fore again and again in the story underlines the
importance of copperas production at that time since gunpowder became a vital
part in the defense of Elizabethan England, as well as a means to revolt as the
gunpowder plot shows. This story in the form of a relatively short letter, but
full of interesting facts and told in imaginative fiction is a pleasure to read
and proof that even an obscure theme can be brought to life by a truly creative
writer.
‘Flora A. Wisdom’ creates a vibrant picture of life in Sheerness
in about 1917 against the background of the Great War with its social and
political upheavals. The story as related by Flora, a servant in one of the
houses of Shrimp Terrace, is highly theatrical and full of wry humor as when
she lets the applicant for her position come into the house; ‘ Come for my job,
have you? My Job? Well you’re welcome to it’. The characterization of Flora is
vivid (she doesn’t need the stage directions that litter the narrative, though
her monologue would lend itself very well to a stage production!) she comes to
life as we see her stuff the chicken whilst explaining the duties awaiting the
new servant ‘otherwise I won’t get finished ‘til midnight’.
Flora’s personal story is that of many girls at that time who had
to find a position early in life, she was only seventeen, usually to escape
difficult conditions at home ‘what with three brothers a step da and no room of
my own’. Finding a position and having to share a room with only one other girl
was ‘heaven’ for Flora and many servants like her.
Flora’s language is forthright, daring ‘some of you (applicants)
looks a bit long in the tooth’ but she’s also caring and astute in her
observation of the world around her as the war destroys old certainties. She’s
not carried away by the general hysteria that makes people suspicious about
everything and of everybody. ‘We’ve gone spy mad’ she tells the job applicant
for she realizes that such hysteria unleashes hatred which can culminates in
tragic injustice as in the case of Mr. Losel, or in absurdity such as when the
postmaster of Eastchurch and his entire family were arrested for having a map
of new sewage pipes on the wall.
When we meet Flora she’s the only servant left at the house for,
as she says to the job applicant, ‘domestics aren’t so easy to come by’.
Flora’s story mirrors the social change, the end of an era that saw many
servants seek employment in industry and commerce rather than be tied to the
confines of domestic service. Flora herself is planning to emigrate to America
with the ‘young man I am seeing’. She’s not only ‘plain fed-up with all this
war’ but also adventurous and eager to start a new life. ‘ Oh, I know all about
me patriotic duty and all that’ she tells the applicant who looks at her
disapprovingly, but Flora is determined and eager to break with the past by
seeking a new if uncertain future.
Though this story is told from an entirely subjective viewpoint
Flora’s narrative moves seamlessly from the private to the wider public sphere,
intertwining both and creating a rich tapestry of local life during the war
that brilliantly mirrors the wider world outside.
This compendium of stories is a welcome addition to the existing
literature about Sheppey that ranges from Folklore to modern literature. From
Nicola Barker to Uwe Johnson, the East-German writer who came to live in
Sheerness, writers have taken the Island’s contrasting landscape and social
condition as inspiration for their writing. But their voice was that of the
outsider looking in. ‘A Roof Over Their Heads’ is as one of the contributing
writers in the book phrases it ‘that Sheppey voice speaking loud and clear’
from the island itself.
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