Tag Archives: Penelope Fitzgerald

Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald

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Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald was first published in 1979 and this book won the Booker prize that year. I’m often puzzled by the books that win prizes and that’s the way I feel about this book, but I must say that I haven’t read any of the books which were short-listed for the prize that year. Suffice to say that I wasn’t too impressed by this one, it isn’t terrible but it’s just nothing earth-shattering, or even that entertaining. I’m left wondering if it was the slimness of the volume at just 140 pages which endeared it to the judges!

Offshore is set in the 1960s in a community of houseboat dwellers, berthed on the tidal  River Thames at Battersea Reach. They’re an eclectic bunch of people who all share a love for the boats they are in, despite most of them being in a poor state of repair. The boats are all close together, some linked by gangplanks to the one next to them. The boat owners go by the name of their boats.

Nenna is a young mother of two daughters, the father has left them, but Nenna expects him to come back – sometime. Nenna is lax about her daughters, she’s often in trouble because she’s happy for the girls not to attend school, but the nuns and priest definitely aren’t. Nenna had bought their boat Grace with all the money that they had while her husband was working abroad, and she had given him the impression that she had bought a substantial house at a good London address.

Maurice is always up for a party, but he has a sinister ‘friend’ who uses his boat to hide stolen goods in it. Harry is obviously a ‘baddie’ but he has a hold over Maurice, because Maurice is a male prostitute, and Harry could get him imprisoned at any time just by calling the police.

Dreadnought is up for sale, but is about to sink at any moment. There are a few others, all with their own problems. The most engaging characters are Nenna’s young daughters Martha and Tilda who have more maturity and sense than both their parents, and have a lucrative if dangerous hobby of recovering goodies from ancient boats which had sunk years before with cargoes such as de Morgan tiles in their holds.

The ending is not conclusive, it depends on how optimistic the reader is I suppose. I found it dissatisfying.

The Beginning of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald

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The Beginning of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald was first published in 1988. The setting is Moscow in 1913. I’ve read quite a lot of Russian literature in the past and I must say that this one seems very authentic, it would be easy to believe that it was written by an actual Russian.

Frank Reid is a printer in Moscow, he was born in the city but is still seen as a foreigner as far as the Russians are concerned. Lots of British businesses had opened up in Russia in the 19th century. But times are changing, there’s a hint of revolution in the air. Really Frank would be better leaving Russia, but he isn’t the type of person to make a decision, until he’s pushed.

However when Frank comes home from work one night, his servants tell him that his English wife Nellie has left him, and taken their three children with her. This comes as a huge surprise to Frank who had no notion that Nellie had been unhappy. But Nellie apparently had second thoughts and leaves the children in the care of the railway stationmaster while she gets on a train. When the children get back home it’s evident that the eldest two have more sense about them than their father has, but of course they will have witnessed things that their father hasn’t.

I enjoyed this one with its atmosphere of Russia and its petty restrictions, however the ending is so abrupt that it came as a bit of a shock. At page 187 it just stopped!

I think this is the first book that I’ve read by Penelope Fitgerald alhough I thought I had read some before, but I must admit that I get mixed up with the three Penelopes – Fitzgerald, Lively and Mortimer. I’ve definitely read books by Lively and Mortimer.

The Guardian Review 02.11.13

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For those who don’t read the Guardian Review I’m just going to link to a few articles which appeared in last Saturday’s Review which I think some people might find interesting.

It’s fifty years since JFKs asssassination, here is a list of the ten best books inspired by it.

Albert Camus seems to be flavour of the moment in the paper and on radio. I haven’t read anything by him yet but I think I’ll remedy that soon. Geoff Dyer writes about him here.

Are you a Penelope Fitzgerald fan? I haven’t read anything by her for some time but there’s a new biography of her out now – Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life by Hermione Lee, have a look at Philip Hensher’s review here.

Today in the car I was listening to Margaret Drabble being interviewed on the radio, speaking about her new book The Pure Gold Baby amongst other things. I’m putting it on my ‘must read’ list. Have a look at Alex Clark’s review here.

Last but certainly not least if you’re keen on Doctor Who you might want to read this article by Simon Winder.

Sometimes there are only a couple of articles in the review which really interest me, this was a particularly good one.