Lead Review

• Book: Vanda
• Location: Marseilles (Marseille)
• Author: Katherine Gregor (translator), Marion Brunet

Review Author: Tina Hartas

This is the story of Vanda who is a young woman on the edge of society. She is managing reasonably well with her young six year old son, living in a shack on the beach. It’s an alternative lifestyle but it seems to suit her and her child. She works at a psychiatric unit and this enables her to get by financially but she is only just about holding everything together – childcare, work, social life and home – and at times it is a real stretch for her.

She is perceived as a person on the fringes because she looks different, she has innumerable tattoos and is dark skinned, and of course she lives in what appears to be a basic beach hut. Yet she is coping. To be honest, it isn’t a great life by conventional standards and as a reader, conditioned by society, it is concerning to see how and where mother and son live. It is certainly an uncomfortable read at times.

Then Simon – the child’s father – arrives back from Paris because his mother has died and he needs to clear her apartment. He meets up with Vanda and only now discovers he is the child’s father. He dithers about what to do, should he return to Paris, should he take an active part in the child’s life?

There is quite a lot of social commentary in the novel, a kind of ‘live and let live’ thread. It examines how a familial eco system works, particularly one that has been cobbled together out of necessity and how ultimately it can be so easily destabilised.

This is a short and thought provoking read. There is a decent sense of place and the translation is seamless.

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