Chambers occupies a historical novelist’s vantage point, looking back on the mid-20th century with a bifocal perspective of immediacy and retrospect ... Pym’s drama is subtle, plot secondary to character, the events small-scale though of seismic importance. The tone is gentle, the observations shrewd and ironic as she explores the illusions and disillusionments, disappointments and victories, of her at least superficially decorous women ... Clare Chambers is an author to read, enjoy, and watch out for.
Confirms her as one of our most talented writers ... Just as quirky, acutely observed and beautifully written as its predecessor ... Chambers is a superb historian, but the earlier flashbacks that establish William’s existence of poverty and depression among eccentric aunts are a slow build that can be overloaded with period detail, for all the quiet irony and accurately portrayed despair ... The accuracy of Chambers’s observational skills can be almost uncanny, especially her descriptions of human emotions ... Infinitely moving.
I am now eager to devour all her other works – as soon as possible. This novel captured my attention from the very start. With its beautifully developed characters and rich storytelling, it is a story that is sure to linger in any reader’s mind ... Helen is a wonderfully flawed protagonist, and her choices are not always faultless; but she is sure to evoke sympathy and understanding, as we all know that being human sometimes means making the wrong decisions.
A tender tale ... Offers a satisfyingly plotted combination of slow-burn mystery and a deftly-drawn portrait of an unmarried woman in an era where that wasn’t such an easy thing to be ... Helen’s story is equally stirring; she’s another smart, stoic heroine, with deep wells of feeling below the surface.
You get the sense, as the plot unfolds, that even Chambers’s skilful, modest realism can’t quite digest the strange, lumpy and dark story it has somehow managed to swallow.
Chambers explores not only the damage of abuse but also of the silence and secrecy that surrounds it. Her touch is deft but delicate, her compassion strong. ... Chambers barely puts a foot wrong ... Wise, beautifully measured and as compelling as you want fiction to be.
Chambers’s characters are either timid, trapped by a troubled childhood, or uncertain, watching and waiting in the margins. One of the novel’s many pleasures is how convincingly unswinging 1964 is ... She writes with honesty and compassion about human experience, and the redemptive power of love and kindness.
This is a finely detailed and modulated work, based on true events, that looks benignly on its characters and their trajectories. A composed period piece that pays sharp attention to the little things.
