On the House
A tragic incident in the author’s family history triggered this accomplished first novel.
Edgar Lawes and Ambrose Hudson, two professional men initially unknown to each other, become determined to expose the corruption and dereliction of proper managerial duty that resulted in the extreme cruelty and abuse prevalent in a particular 19th-century workhouse. This process eventually results in a close friendship between the two men.
The wretched inmates of the Seddon workhouse are vividly presented to the reader as well-rounded characters with contrasting histories of hardship, ill health and the other misfortunes from which, once virtually interned in the workhouse, there is little prospect of recovery. When a critical situation in “the house” escalates into a suicide, followed by a particularly gruesome murder, the full ramifications of what has been, for far too long, the status quo is fully exposed.
The novel maintains an interesting pace, involving a measured and well managed tension. There is, however, a marked similarity between the temperaments of Lawes and Hudson, which raises the question of unexplored possibilities if, for instance, one or the other of them had been a woman.
The section at the conclusion, the “postscript,” is perhaps a touch too detailed in its resolution of everyone’s situation: the “happily ever after” tone is at odds with the solemn delicacy of the preceding 288 pages.
I would recommend this novel to anyone who appreciates good prose, well-used but not intrusive research, and the confident evocation of a particular time and place in our history.
