A Year of Marvelous Ways
Marvelous Ways is nearly ninety and lives in a gypsy caravan near a creek in St. Ophere, Cornwall. She’s an eccentric woman convinced a new person is about to enter her life. This proves to be returned soldier, Francis Drake, who’s damaged both by the war and the traumatic parting from a woman he loves. Marvelous rescues him and cares for him in her father’s boathouse. They form a bond and share stories of their lives and loves.
Apart from being set in the post-war 1940s and with flashbacks, this is far from a predictable historical novel. It’s packed with magic realism, dream sequences, folk legends and wordplay (St. Ophere is signposted as STopHere). Dialogue is blunt and contrasts with rambling prose that varies between the perceptively brilliant and utterly impenetrable. The lack of conventional grammar adds another layer of literary pretension.
Describing Paper Jack, lover of Marvelous: “… he came with bluebells behind his ears and ramson stalks in his mouth and was trailed by lovelorn bees who knew the scent of a good man.” While fishing: “… the fish surrendered with a last flick of fin on the ignominious mud, staring wildly at the idiot who had caught him … God, what a silly way to go, thought fish.”
After a death: “But Death said, My, my, what a lot of fiddle-faddle, and it laughed and left through the front door (instead of the back) …”
What could have been a fine introspective story with its unusual characters ends up being obscured by its own cleverness. Historical anachronisms and unresolved issues hardly seem to matter. There are no half-measures: you’ll either love it or hate it. A bizarrely compelling novel that will leave a mark on any reader seeking a challenge.
