The Inn at the Edge of the World by Alice Thomas Ellis

 

The Inn at the Edge of the World Book Cover

The Inn at the Edge of the World by Alice Thomas Ellis was first published in 1990. The setting is a Hebridean island, more precisely an inn which is owned by Eric and Mabel, incomers, an English couple who have moved there to get a complete change in their lives. It’s really Eric’s dream,  Mabel hates the place and the inn is obviously failing. When Mabel can’t stand it any longer she leaves the island, Eric has no idea if she’ll ever come back or if she has just gone to find a more exciting venue, and man for her Christmas.

Eric decides to advertise the inn in some London weeklies in the hope of enticing some guests to stay at the Inn at the Edge of the World and amazingly he gets several people more than interested, five of them book up the inn for the duration of Christmas. They’re a mixed bunch, but all wanting to dodge the Christmas season.

Jessica is a fairly well known actress who is now known mainly for doing adverts and voice overs.

Jon is a struggling actor, much younger than Jessica but he has followed her to the island and as he’s a narcissist he can’t imagine that Jessica won’t be interested in him.

Harry is a retired army officer who is spending his time writing a book about General Gordon. He had actually grown up on the island.

Anita works in a large store, but she’s very disgruntled.

Ronald is a psychoanalyst and his wife has just left him. He’s a man-baby and expects women to do everything for him, just like his mummy did. But even his cleaner has abandoned him as she knows his sort.

I expected a bit more from this book, it’s difficult for me to enjoy a book when there are very few likeable characters, but more than that there wasn’t really a sense of the atmosphere of being on a Hebridean island, and I found the whole thing a bit predictable. There’s even a touch of Robert Burns’s Tam O’Shanter in the story, and selkie allusions that came as no surprise, maybe they weren’t meant to be though.