In the summer of 1978, Richard (aged 11) and his family (brothers Nicky, 9, 13-yr-old Tim, 6-yr-old Jem and mum, dad and grandparents) were on holiday near Port Isaac in Cornwall. They decided to go to a nearby beach for a picnic. With the tide coming in, mum decided it was time to pack up and go, but Richard and Nicky wanted one last swim. They ran across rocks to an empty cove and jumped into the sea. Within minutes, with the tide rushing in, they were out of their depth. Richard saw his younger brother struggling to keep his head above the water, and with himself struggling he managed to swim to the beach to get help. That was the last time Richard saw his brother alive. Getting help meant running up the coastal path (about a 15 minute run) to the local farmhouse, where a call was made to the RNLI. Rescuers arrived about 40 mins after Richard left the water. Too late to help Nicky. Within the week, they'd had the funeral (which the boys didn't attend), and were back down to Cornwall finishing their paid-for holiday in the same holiday cottage, and at the same beach. Nicky wasn't spoken of again amongst the family.
This book is Richard's way, now in his early 50s, of coming to terms with the death of his brother, and trying to finally grieve for him. He interviews his family members, trying to find out why they never spoke of Nicky's death, or even of Nicky himself, and he returns to Cornwall to the place where they holidayed, and to the beach itself.
Living in Cornwall myself, I am all too aware of the dangers of the sea and the quick-turning tides, and during the tourist season there are many stories in our local papers of accidents involving holiday-makers getting stranded, or worse, during high tides. What happened to Nicky was indeed tragic, but how the family dealt with the aftermath of his death was just as upsetting. Why are there no photos of Nicky around the house? Why does Richard not know the date Nicky died? Why was he not allowed at the funeral? Why did the father drive them back to Cornwall after the funeral to finish the holiday? Because Richard has never been able to openly grieve for his brother, some of the terms he uses and the way he speaks of his brother come across as very cold. He asks blunts questions of his mother, whether it's because he is unfeeling himself, or whether he is punishing her for how she handled the situation, it's not really clear.
This is an emotional read, and I hope Richard is now finally able to grieve for the brother he wasn't able to save.
Well, in comparison to the last book I read which I struggled through in over a week, this wonder of a novel took me just under a couple of days, and I missed it when I wasn't reading it. If you liked We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, or Solitaire by Alice Oseman, then I think you'll love this.
Jam (short for Jamaica) is a teenager with troubles. Her boyfriend of 41 days, English exchange student Reeve, has died. He was the love of her life, he filled her days and nights. Now he's gone and she's reached the depths of despair. She cannot get over her loss. So much so that her parents feel the only way they, and she, can cope is to send her to The Wooden Barn, a special boarding school for fragile teenagers. She is chosen as one of 5 students to take part in Special Topics in English, where their wonderful teacher, the kind and elderly Mrs Quenell, hopes they can work through their troubles through studying texts. Their text is Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar. Mrs Quenell also gives each of them a journal which they must fill in as often as they can, and then hand it in at the end of term. It turns out that writing in the journal gives the students solace and comfort in more ways than they can imagine, and Belzhar (with the 'zh' pronounced as in Dr Zhivago) is born.
I just loved everything about this book - the characters, the plot, the storytelling. Meg Wolitzer has written a wonderful story about grief, acceptance, life and love.
