Deborah Lawrenson’s latest novel comprises three separate stories beautifully written and full of memorable characters says HELEN MACLEOD
The Sea Garden is the latest novel from Deborah Lawrenson, whose debut novel The Lantern was very well-received. Unusually structured, the book comprises three separate novellas, the connection between the three only being revealed in the penultimate chapters.
Taking its name from the book’s title, the first novella The Sea Garden is set in the present day and tells the story of a young garden designer, Ellie Brookes, who travels to the island of Porquerolles off the Cote d’Azure, to meet a potential client to discuss his plans for a memorial garden in his vast estate leading down to the sea.
However, the tranquillity and beauty of the location is unsettled by the disturbing actions of his elderly mother, who does not welcome the Englishwoman. Ellie’s sense that spirits are roaming the secluded areas of the gardens adds a sense of mystery, as does the shocking event which occurred on the boat crossing.
Lawrenson’s writing is skilful in creating a climate of fear and tension, and a thriller seems to be in the offing.
The action then moves to Provence and back in time to the Second World War. This novella, entitled The Lavender Field centres around a small family-owned perfume factory and in particular Marthe Lincel, a young blind girl.
When we meet her she has already turned her disability into an advantage, as her heightened sense of smell enabled her to obtain work creating new perfumes. She slowly becomes aware that her employers are sheltering American and English pilots and agents, and is herself drawn in to the missions of the Resistance in Nazi-occupied France. The courage in overcoming adversity is repeated in acts of great bravery and her blindness and work in the perfumery combine in sending vital messages in a most unusual way.
In these chapters Lawrenson’s excellence as a wordsmith is most evident, her writing evoking vivid pictures of the colours and fragrances of the region in the mind of the reader. She portrays an atmospheric juxta-position of the beauty of the landscape and the exquisiteness of the scents in the perfumery with the brutality of war occurring at its very heart and danger close at hand.
The third novella, A Shadow Life, is also set in World War II, but in London, and tells the story of another brave young woman, Iris Nightingale, who works as a British intelligence agent. She becomes involved with a French agent, Xavier, who disappears, which raises the question of his allegiances. We watch her as she watches people travelling to France on secret missions and once France is liberated, Iris seeks out the truth about her lover.
In this part Lawrenson provides a very informed insight into the workings of the Secret Service, and depicts the raw courage of those involved in this dangerous espionage superbly. Her writing is fast-moving and gripping.
Finally, in the closing pages of the book, the relationship between the characters in the earlier stories is revealed, and Ellie’s fate disclosed.
I enjoyed reading this book for its rich and evocative language, events taken from history side by side with fiction, cleverly embellished with period detail, and memorable characters, in particular the courageous young women serving their countries.
I was, however, quite puzzled by the three apparently independent stories, and was eagerly trying to anticipate the connection between them. When this is disclosed in the final pages, which also contain the telling of the mystery which we were promised in the opening chapters, we understand the relationship of our principal characters in the stories, separated by time and location.
However, there is an element of disappointment that the anticipated mystery is relayed after the event, when the early chapters promised a book of great suspense. And by creating three stand-alone stories, the author offers no clues to tantalise the reader along the way to the denouement, the absence of which was something of an anti-climax.
Nevertheless, I would thoroughly recommend The Sea Garden as a very enjoyable read. Deborah Lawrenson is a talented writer, telling historically detailed stories clothed in a rich language which transports you in time and place.
