Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr.

  

       

          Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anthony Doerr has long been a master of the literary magic that engages us, thrills us, and compels us to keep reading until the story is finished.  Now he has excelled himself:  after the wonder of ‘All the Light We Cannot See’, he has again proven his  mastery with a tribute in praise of The Story, the tales that keep us reading,  and searching for more when the tale is finished.

            It’s not immediately clear where we are being directed by Doerr in this sometimes confusing travel through time, starting two hundred years in the future on a spaceship voyaging to a new unpolluted planet after Earth becomes uninhabitable – not every traveller expects to arrive in their lifetime, but Konstance, barely a teenager, has high hopes that she and her beloved father will arrive safely.  She hopes.

            Back to 2020:  Octagenerian Zino Ninis is rehearsing five children in a local Idaho library to perform a play he has written based on an ancient Greek legend by Antonius Diogenes about Aethon, a simple shepherd who longs to fly, to be an owl, to live in Cloud Cuckoo Land, where rivers flow with wine (Aethon likes his wine!), and turtles plod by with honey cakes on their backs – in short, Paradise.  Zino and his five ‘actors’ are presenting their play For One Night Only, and tonight is the dress Rehearsal. Sadly, they haven’t anticipated the arrival of Seymour, a severely disturbed and angry young teenager with a pistol and a home-made bomb.

            Then there is a dizzying shift in time to the Siege of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453:  Anna, a young Greek orphan who needs money for her sick sister, chances across (steals) an ancient text from an abandoned monastery;  she sells as many of these precious papyri as she can before her Italian customers flee the besieged city, but keeps one codex – the story of Aethon, and his efforts to reach Cloud Cuckoo Land.

            We learn more about Zino Ninis, too – a solitary man who was unable to acknowledge his true self, even to the man whom he most loved when it most counted, but who redeemed himself with a great act of heroism, an act which saves his child actors – and his translation of Aethon’s adventures in his efforts to get to Cloud Cuckoo Land.

            Until just before the end of this wonderful story, it wasn’t clear to me how all the different times would join up;  each section and its engaging characters seemed to be separate stories within The Story, but the link is Diogenes’s simple shepherd who, after various disguises and frightening adventures decides that he’d like to go home now, thanks.  Fair enough!

            Konstance from the future has the last chapter in this wonderful tribute to the written word:  she uncovers shocking truths, helped by clues furnished by a man whom society has justly rejected and, thanks to him, she manages to escape, to live a productive life.  Anthony Doerr asks all the big questions of us here – and provides many of the answers.  What a journey!  SIX STARS.

             

               

 

Silverview, by John Le Carré.

 

 

                

             Former high-flying City man Julian Lawndsley has recently renounced his ‘heavy metal’ job (moving other people’s money around) and, in a concerted attempt to lead a completely different life, has started a boutique bookshop in an East Anglian tourist town.  It doesn’t take him long to realise that there is much more involved in running such a shop than he first envisaged, and practical advice – any advice is welcome, even from an elderly, charming Polish gentleman who mysteriously appears at closing time on several different occasions ‘just for a chat’ about books in general, but with some surprisingly sound suggestions about opening up his basement as a ‘Republic of Literature’, complete with wi-fi access to the world’s great publications – along with hard copies, of course.  Yes, Edward Avon is fast becoming his first friend in his new environment, and when Julian receives an unexpected dinner invitation from Edward’s terminally ill wife to join the family at Silverview, the nearest thing the town has to a mansion, he feels that socially at least, he has arrived!

            But the opposite is true:  the dinner is inexpertly served by Lily, the couple’s daughter, herself more a force of nature than an observer of social etiquette, and the conversation between husband and wife is fraught with barely-concealed animosity, causing Julian to make his excuses at the first decent opportunity – only to be joined on the way home by Lily, who needs a friend.  And only a friend, for now.  Whilst not wanting to be involved in anyone’s family dramas it doesn’t take long to discover that Edward is many things to many people, that his dying wife belonged to MI5, and that she suspects Edward of passing along British Intelligence to Britain’s enemies.

            Indeed, Julian was asked by Edward to be the conveyor of a letter to a ‘dear friend’ when he travelled to London on business for the day – no problem, Edward.  Happy to help.  Until he receives a visit from MI5’s Mr Proctor, detailing the treasonous nature of his assistance, and the various ways in which he could redeem himself in the eyes of his country.

            In his last posthumously published novel, John Le Carré demonstrates yet again why he has always been the peerless master of Spy fiction, not least for his matchless characterisations, wonderful dialogue – and dialects, but the cleverness and intricacy of his plotting.  He knows definitely whereof he speaks, but sadly will speak to us no more.  I am sad.  FIVE STARS.     

 

 

The Man Who Died Twice, by Richard Osman.

   

         ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ was TV presenter Richard Osman’s first and (he said) ‘finest novel’.  Fair enough.  The story of various elderly residents of a Retirement Village solving not only a cold case murder, but two very recent ones was a smash hit, and endeared its characters to millions.

            Could he do it again?  And with the same flair and riotous humour that left readers sorry they had reached the last page?

            Of course he could, and it’s the perfect antidote for doom and gloom in these Covid times.

  The Thursday Murder Club is still meeting, having become very fond of each other whilst solving crime.  Elizabeth, Ron, Ibrahim and Joyce are now firm friends and it isn’t long before the next mystery  demands to be solved:  Elizabeth has been sent a letter from a man thought to be long and most definitely dead, and when she makes reluctant contact, discovers to her horror that the ‘deceased’ is her ex-husband Douglas,  a marriage she ended for all the right reasons – his infidelity; utter unreliability;  irresponsibility – and fatal charm.  He was also, like Elizabeth, an excellent MI5 Operative.  Now, he wants to stay for a short time (unspecified) at the retirement village:  it's the perfect safe house.  Who would think of looking for him in an Old Folk’s Home?

Meantime, retired Psychiatrist Ibrahim has been attacked by street toughs in front of – of all places – the police station, and has to spend several days in hospital.  When he returns home he is a frightened old man and decides never to leave his apartment again, which incenses his best friend Ron, ex union-organiser (among other things until old age caught up) who always has his ear to the ground:  it doesn’t take him long to find out who the attacker was and plan a fitting revenge.

Once again, Richard Osman delivers a complex plot with well-drawn lesser characters, several different corpses, and everyone getting their just desserts at the story’s conclusion.  All I’s and T’s are dotted and crossed.  And again, he explores the vulnerability and loss of confidence that old age brings, and the fear that should never be felt when walking past teenage boys.

And the fear that the three friends feel when they hear that ex-nurse Joyce is contemplating getting a rescue dog!  There’s one at the local shelter called Alan, and his online credentials look sound. We’ll find out if that’s true in Book # three.  Scary stuff!  FIVE STARS.