Apparently this is the longest Winter for 31 years, or so a colleague has told me. I am not sure how Winter can be longer when it is a set amount of months but I know one thing. It’s cold and grey. London feels like it is brooding and sulking because it wasn’t asked out on Valentines Day.
I thought that once I survived January everything would be ok, but alas no. My house has a leak, my internet is more temperamental than a menopausal woman, my heating seems to only play ball between 9pm and midnight [either that or the house is haunted], I’m skint, work is piling up on my desk and there are bills…ugh.
I tried to phone EDF’s phone payment system where you speak over the phone to a computerized ‘irritatingly chirpy’ woman (clearly she isn’t paying the bill methinks). You give her number by number all of your details and it turns out – to my surprise – that my Essex English is not recognised by EDF energy at all, ‘1654’ I shout for the billionth time at her ‘thank you, that was 1785’ Noooooo I scream!!! Finally for the fast speaking inarticulate oaths who shout at her like myself there is a little helpdesk person who you get referred to who does it all again at lightning speed because they are human and understand you. Pointless. Yes.
This week you may have therefore realised I needed some serious cheering up and a seriously large glass of vino collapso. Therefore how could I resist the subtitle of this week’s book ‘Three strong women. Two feuding families. A singular story of enchantment.’ ENCHANT AWAY I cry!
Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan is a stunning debut novel, a richly woven adult fairytale which was highly praised from Glamour magazine to the Washington Post. John Connolly author of The Book of Lost Things [if you haven’t read you need to nip down to Waterstone’s now please] gushes on the back cover ‘A beautifully crafted adult fairytale of love, loss and loyalty that is at once witty, magical, and moving, A stunningly accomplished first novel’. I couldn’t have put it better myself Mr Connolly.
I could not believe this was Setiawan’s first novel whilst reading; it was just polished to perfection. Born in 1975 in Jakarta Indonesia to Chinese parents, Setiawan moved to the USA at sixteen to study English and is now a graduate of Stanford University. His writing style engulfs you in the story with the passages and chapters wonderfully flowing into each other.
The story centres on Meridia who lives in a cold, haunted house with her eccentric parents. A magical mist has encircled the house since the day something dreadful happened, which is now locked away in Meridia’s memory. Ravenna her mother has almost forgotten she has a child as she chants her strange language whilst cooking all day and her father Gabriel chastises her whenever he pokes his head out of his study stacked with books and maps. Finally Meridia flees from her isolated home into the arms of Daniel, she hopes a ‘Happy Ever After’ awaits her after a childhood of but one imaginary friend and loveless parents.
However her new husband’s home is not the haven she expects it to be, her mother-in-law Eva is a wolf in sheep’s clothing and the house is bewitched by an entirely different type of magic. Imaginary swarms of bees attack the inhabitants, marigolds grow quicker than they can be dug up and choke the garden roses and something nasty lingers in the past and the air.
Forced into a great feuding between the two families the lovers are push and pulled to breaking point time and time again. Will they ever be left in peace? Only time and the strength of their love will tell. As for the others in the story what will be their fate – will Daniel’s sister Permony with her soft and loving ways ever escape the grips of her evil mother? Will Daniel’s elder sister Malin warm to Meridia and find love herself? Why does Patina the housemaid worship her mistress but is neglected with hardly any food or clothing?
The characters are realistically brought to life through their sorrows and happiness. Each different in their own way the story will grip you as it pushes you to mourning and celebration. I love the descriptions of each person, for example how Malin’s favourite colour was orange and whenever Ravenna is present the smell of lemon verbena floats through the air. It is those touches that make the story truly magical.
This read is great for clearing those blues away as we all need a little bit of a Happy Ending!
The Prince of Mist
Weekly Roundup
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
