Novel set in 1950s New Jersey

25th April 2019

Cape May by Chip Cheek, set in 1950s New Jersey.

It is Autumn 1957 and Henry and Effie, two young newlyweds from Georgia, arrive in Cape May for their honeymoon.  Effie has known Cape May since childhood and remembers glorious summers there but this is the off season and Cape May is mostly deserted. The couple try to make the best of things, enjoying discovering each other physically, but the weather is disappointing and there is nothing to do.

After barely a week, they decide it might be best to head home, cutting their honeymoon short, when they spot lights in one of the neighbouring houses and decide to call in.  And so, they meet Clara, a beautiful and dangerous socialite, her lover Max, a wealthy playboy, and Max’s beautiful and mysterious sister, Alma.   Max and Clara, bored with their own company, are delighted to befriend the young newlyweds who, at first, regard Max and Clara’s risqué behaviour with disapproval.  However, Effie and Henry soon find themselves sucked into this lifestyle, indulging in behaviour that they would never have contemplated back in conservative Georgia.  They walk naked through the deserted streets, make love in the open air, break into the empty neighbouring houses and drink copious amounts of alcohol and, almost inevitably, Henry finds himself increasingly drawn to Alma, with disastrous consequences.

Cape May is a startlingly good debut novel, not least for its wonderful evocation of 1950’s America and specifically out-of-season seaside towns.  Chip Cheek describes in detail the grand Victorian seaside houses with their slate gables, towers, porches and trellises.  He allows the reader to walk with Henry and Effie and to feel the emptiness and desolation of the town with its boarded-up shops and restaurants sporting depressing signs that say “Closed for the season.  See you in May!”  The end of season feeling is also powerfully evoked in the description of the deserted beach and empty pier with the backdrop of stormy sea and dark sky.

All in all, this novel leaves nothing to be desired. The characterisation is brilliant, particularly Henry, through whose eyes we view the events of the tale. Engagingly innocent and hopeful at the beginning, we witness his gradual change as he falls into behaviour that inevitably teaches him that life is often about loss and compromise. Cape May is also very sexy.  The many sex scenes are pretty graphic but exceptionally well written – something of a rarity. This is a sensitive portrayal of the social and sexual mores of 1950’s America but it is also really seductive storytelling – a wonderfully exciting read – one of those novels that you’ve just got to read in one sitting.

Ellen for the TripFiction Team

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