Novel set in North West England and Segovia

22nd August 2019

Her last Promise by Kathryn Hughes, novel set in North West England and Segovia.

“..in the heart of Spain lies a secret….”

The novel opens with a couple of time periods – 1978 and 2018/19, and the threads of several stories. In the present, Tara is coming to terms with the end of her marriage to Ralph (who has long since sired a couple of children with his secretary). She receives a formal letter to say that she is to claim the key to a box, and she discovers that the content of this box is an utter surprise to her. Her quest for understanding forms the basis of the novel.

Back in the day, Larry and Martin are two brothers who have fought over girlfriend Carol and ultimately she ends up with the latter. Theirs is clearly a situation, taut with tension.

Back in 1978 Violet “Skye” Dobbs is struggling to make ends meet and has to take her young  daughter Tara (yes, the very same Tara mentioned earlier) to all kinds of variety and singing performances which are her only means of income. Violet has absolutely no practical support and a mean landlord to contend with. However, the above-mentioned Larry (who remember is still pining for Carol and that means trouble, obviously) soon finds himself courting Violet. You can just see this is not going to end well – he is the man with avocado bathroom and probably a stack of Duran Duran records, living in a large house, all set to impress. But is he really who he seems to be?

In Spain, again back in ’78, in fictional San Sedeza, (Segovia, Castilla y Leon, based on the real village of Pedraza), a small family has acquired a new horse, Diablo – a devil in name and in nature. The two young sons Mateo and in particular Leo, train the horse with love and care. Gabriela, and her horse Armonia soon catch Leo’s eye…

Gradually, as the story unfolds, the reader gets to understand how each narrative interconnects – their presentation, however, could at times feel a little disorganised and it did take a while for the storyline to sort itself out and settle into a rhythm. There are further extraneous characters down the line – an ex flame, a monk, a poorly Nan – who slide into the narrative to help move the story along.

Overall Her Last Promise is an undemanding read (a relaxing read by the pool as it were, and indeed that is where I read it, in Spain!), written in easy prose. The dialogue was perhaps peppered with too many “Erm”s  (which sometimes felt reminiscent of cartoon strip dialogue – giving the story immediacy, making it catchy but you can just tell that the author is capable of so much more). For me fundamentally I would have liked to see more depth and characterisation which would have taken the novel to the next level. For me, again, there were too many implausible situations which are clearly essential for the story to progress – would a monastery, populated purely by men, really take an injured woman into their care? They couldn’t have an errant woman in their midst, surely they would bundle her off to a convent to be cared for by women?  I don’t know…. This situation is of course however imperative to the narrative and cliffhangers are  plenty to keep the storyline taut.

This was an interesting story. An Epilogue adds the final pieces to the mystery.

I chose this novel to take with me on a trip to Spain – seduced by the cover – only to discover that much of it is set in the North West of England! Never mind, whilst I was sitting in the sun I thought how lucky I was to be away from rather dreary weather! The parts set in Spain were delightful! At the end of the book the author does share some photos from a cycling trip in 2017 that inspired the setting for the novel, that the Hermitage of San Frutos was the inspiration for the Monasterio de Justina. Here around the year 680 Saint Frutos did penance with his brother and sister, Valentin and Engracia….

Please do check out the author’s #TalkingLocationWith… piece.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

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