The Faithful
Hazel, just sixteen, anticipates a long, boring summer at Aldwick Bay in Sussex. Her best friend won’t be there and Hazel’s self-indulgent mother, Francine, is preoccupied with her lover, Charles. But then the Blackshirts, followers of the British fascist, Oswald Mosley, arrive and a curious Hazel is attracted by the air of danger that surrounds them. She meets Lucia, one of the movement’s most ardent upper-class supporters, and Tom, a working-class lad who has been dragged along to the camp by his parents. When Francine and Charles abruptly leave for London, Hazel is left on her own to cultivate her new friendships. The choices she makes will affect her whole future. When she meets Tom again a year later, she is unable to tell him the real reasons she was forced to cut contact with him.
The characters are all interesting. Hazel has to grow up fast and become self-reliant. Likewise, Tom becomes an adult after he faces the guns in the war in Spain. Lucia’s delusions and selfishness must catch up with her. Then there are the hidden secrets in the intriguing relationship between Charles and Francine, and also that of Tom’s parents, that will catch the reader by surprise.
Although on one level, this might be described as a coming-of-age love story set in that turbulent era of the mid-1930s, it is so much more than that. It has an expertly light touch. The historical background with its clashes of ideologies and loyalties is superbly handled and often it is what is left unsaid, or only slowly divulged, that gives it power. This is a novel to savour and one that will leave you thinking long after the last page. Highly recommended.
