- The Orchard on Fire by Shena Mackay
I loved this novel. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1996, it is everything a good novel should be.
It is beautifully written, but very unsettling. Evocative of a 1950s childhood in a small village, with underlying themes of menace, fear, loneliness and isolation even at the heart of a family. It also shows the support and love (but ultimate loss) of friendship.
The novel is narrated by April Harlency, looking back on her childhood in the 1950s. She moves with her parents, Betty and Percy, to a small village to take over the tenancy of a tearoom, The Copper Kettle.
April makes friends with a girl called Ruby, whose parents run the village pub. We see the huge difference between April's loving childhood and Ruby's dysfunctional one.
April is targeted by Mr Greenidge, an old man with paedophile tendencies. He insinuates himself into her family's life, becoming a regular in the tearoom and invites April to tea at his house sometimes even when his invalid wife is not there. He begins a campaign of grooming her - kissing and groping her in secret, and telling her not to tell anyone about it. She is terrified of him but also cannot find the words to tell anyone else about what he is doing, fearing that no-one will believe her. He is a menacing presence throughout the novel. We are left in no doubt as to his intentions, but April does try to stand up to him in spite of her parents' innocent and unwitting encouragement of their friendship. She never does tell her parents, opting to suffer in silence. Her childhood is all but destroyed, and she struggles to come to terms with this as an adult with a failed marriage behind her.
It would be wrong to assume that this is a relentlessly sad novel. There is a lot of humour in it, particularly Ruby who, in spite of her unhappy home life, is sharply funny, often using her quick wit as a defense mechanism.