The Speech
The speech at the focal point of this novel is Enoch Powell’s infamous ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech – ‘I am filled with foreboding; like the Roman, I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood’ – that ignited attitudes to race and immigration in 1968 Britain.
Smith’s narrative is set over a ten-day period and interweaves three narratives. The first follows Enoch Powell’s viewpoint, attempting to depict his political and personal attitudes. The second follows Nelson, a Jamaican, who is accused of a violent crime that he did not commit. The third shows us Frank, a student photographer, who unwittingly frames Nelson for the crime. Nelson is by far the most attractive character, and we quickly warm to his Jamaican English, wince at his treatment, and hope that things will work out well for him.
The Speech is never a comfortable read. Any sense of nostalgia for the way things were—the music, the student life, old fashioned pubs—is always undercut by the casual racism that accompanies it and reminds us of what used to be normal. On another level I was also sometimes uncomfortable about the depiction of Enoch Powell. It is undoubtedly well-researched and plausible. However, he is very much a real and public figure, while the other protagonists are (I think) entirely fictional. Speculating about Powell’s sexual inclinations, for example, might be permissible in a biography, but felt wrong to me in this fiction.
That said, it is an intriguing novel. The politics of immigration is always topical, and British attitudes to immigrants and emigrants are still by no means attitudes universally agreed upon.
