Lead Review
- Book: The New Mrs Clifton
- Location: Berlin, Clapham, London
- Author: Elizabeth Buchan
The novel is beautifully written, with a layering of melancholia that never really lifts, reflecting the era. The wording, too, is suffused with monochrome tones and detai,l as the people in Clapham try to pick over their lives and get back on their feet:
“The colours just aren’t as vivid as they were fore the war”.
It’s 1945 and Gus has been on secret operations in Berlin, and after the war returns to his sisters Julia and Tilly, and to face Nella the woman he was due to marry before he left England. But now he has a German wife in tow, Krista, and together they arrive, to shocked reactions all round.
This is a story of loss and survival, and what people do to get by. Gus, now living in Clapham with his family members, is still the master of secrecy. His wife Krista is plagued by dreadful memories of the war, only alluded to initially.Their marriage is, well, odd – it seems more of an arrangement…
Teddy, Nella’s brother is hell bent on revenge, wishing to punish Gus for rejecting his sister. And his shrewd and shady dealings start to ensnare others into his unpleasant world.
The setting is bleak, the houses around Clapham Common are scored with cracks from German bombing – they look like rows of teeth, with gaps, as portrayed on the cover of the book (pictured). Berlin, where both Gus and Krista spent the war is an utterly devastated city, where women – die Trümmerfrauen – now search the ruins for any means to survive. Krista, as a German living in London so soon after terrible events, meets all kinds of hostility, but she has a strength and perspicacity that helps her manage the onslaught of demeaning and aggressive encounters.
As the novel opens, it is 1974 and new owners in the terrace discover a body, so we may guess that someone somewhere along the line dies….
This book is in part an exploration of the luxury of having a good moral compass. When life has been destroyed, people have to resort to scheming and subterfuge to cleave their way through daily routine. No food, no luxury and a hand to mouth existence inevitably can lead to moral turpitude. How do you get back to normality and lead a decent life after such a deeply devastating period in world history?
The author pens a fluid and thoughtful contemplation of human resolve and resourcefulness, bringing the aftermath of war to vivid life. Recommended.
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