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LIGHT READING
by Aliya Whiteley
Macmillan, February 2008
304 pages
14.99 GBP
ISBN: 0230700624


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

You come across some bizarre stuff as a reviewer, and this book is jostling for a position in that category. At times it has a feel of the writing group exercise about it (see how many wacky characters with weird histories you can shoehorn into an unlikely setting!) But boy, it's an engrossing read!

The characters aren't very likeable, the mystery's not up to much and there's a rather lame (if not unexpected) revelation at the end. So that's the downside. But bear with me, because the book's worth the effort. I kept reading for the downright off-the-wall nature of the book and to see just what Whiteley was proposing to do with these oddball characters.

Prudence Green is bored out of her skull. She's an RAF wife, stuck on an airbase in England, where the action comprises of the wives sitting around eating coffee and walnut cake and drinking gin.

There's a shocking break to their routine, though, when one of the wives commits suicide when she discovers that her husband is having an affair with a male colleague in Iraq.

This prompts Pru and her best friend Lena (who's married to the other man) to set out on a deeply surreal Thelma and Louise-type journey. They fetch up in Allcombe, a seedy seaside resort where soap opera star Crystal Tynee allegedly committed suicide. And as they start asking questions, they uncover a town with a lot of secrets – and also stir up memories from Pru's past.

Whiteley creates a sinister, gothic feel to Allcombe, peopled by some inhabitants who'd seem out of place in Cold Comfort Farm! And she's equally convincing on the stultifying routine the RAF wives have got themselves into. But the story itself is pretty flimsy, and Pru's 'finding herself', and Lena's life-changing decision aren't as convincing as they might be.

I'm not sure if or whether Whiteley could push the ambiguous ending to another book – it might work best as an off-the-wall standalone. But she's clearly a very inventive writer, with a leftfield take on the genre, and that's no bad thing, given some of the clichés that get trotted out with monotonous regularity.

In the end, though, the novelty value and creativity wins out, and sometimes you can't ask for more than that.

Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, January 2008

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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