To lead into the holiday season, and quite possibly to bridge the old and new years, I thought I’d take a look at some of the more interesting books I’ve read in 2017, encapsulating them in a series titled “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed” – and yes, you guessed it, I’ll have a stab at “Something Blue” for the last installment of the post quartet.

My entry for “Something Old” is The Sea Change by Elizabeth Jane Howard, first published in 1959 by Jonathan Cape. I’ve always been captivated by the title but until now never quite got around to reading the novel, which I have to say, did not disappoint.

I would term the genre “Contemporary Realism”, as it was that for its time and still stands the test of time (nearly sixty years) very well, in my humble opine (imho.) The length is 349 pages, which while nothing to a contemporary epic fantasy novel, still satisfies in terms of a novel-length work.

But what about The Sea Change itself: what’s it all about?

The story follows four characters: Emmanuel, a successful actor and producer, and his wife, Lillian; Jimmy, who is Emmanuel’s manager and aide-de-camp; and Alberta (not her real name) who comes on board as Emmanuel’s secretary. Or more correctly, the events that form the story are observed and experienced from the perspective of these four characters.

In some ways the story may seem predictable, with both Emmanuel and Jimmy falling for Alberta, and her part, together with Lillian’s reaction, forming the crux of the book. However, The Sea Change is not so much a story about what happens as a character study of the four people to whom it happens. And because the reader is drawn deep into the four characters and their interaction, a story that is very slow-paced in terms of plot is nonetheless very absorbing.

No, I’m not going to tell you ‘what happens in the end.’ The delight of any story, but particularly one of this kind, is not so much the destination, but the journey that leads the reader there. Like most journeys, to “get” it, you have to experience it for yourself.

“So read the book for yourself,” say I, “and make up your own minds.” In terms of my mind, I enjoyed The Sea Change very much and recommend it to anyone who likes an in-depth focus on character and realistic stories. I suspect it will be enjoyed by readers of more contemporary authors such as Kate Atkinson, Anita Shreve, and Ann Patchett.

Oh, where did I acquire my copy? From the ‘book fridge’ that popped up on the site of an inner city earthquake demolition, that’s where. 🙂