Bitter Orange

I don't love the format of “old person reflects back on the past, which is where the story actually takes place”. It feels tired and doesn't add anything to the story. However, I can see that the author wanted to tease out the secret of Frances being in jail, slowly revealing it and then having it hanging over our heads during the final chapters of her time with Peter and Clara, rather than it being a big reveal in the ending chapters. I don't love that structure, but I understand why the choice was made and it didn't ruin the flow (as I had feared at first).

The story itself was good, although it got off to a pretty slow start. Once Peter and Clara have some weirdness on them things finally get interesting. The best part of the book by far was the ending, where we learn that Frances murdered her mother. I was not at all expecting it, and it one-upped my little fantasy revenges on Frances's behalf; I was left thinking “Oh ok, you've got this one handled, holy shit.” The ending definitely left a good final impression.

Our narrator is near death and recalling the events of the summer of 1969 when she found herself at an abandoned country house. Despite her boozy sounding name, Fran Jellico is a 39 year old, thick around the middle, awkward, greying virgin barely held together with her mother's (who she's just lost) foundation garments. Suddenly she's thrown in with Peter and his mercurial wife Cara and despite not knowing how to meet people, make friends, and hold a conversation she manages to strike a summer friendship with the couple.

When it's done well, I'm happy to read a sun dappled and bittersweet recollection of a summer past, but there's something more going on here. From the very onset Fran remembers looking down from the upstairs peephole to a body, lying in the pinking water of a bathtub, eyes open and staring for too long.

Gothic elements from shadowy figures hovering in windows, mysterious noises and secret rooms are introduced. Cara seems deeply troubled and her and Peter's relationship is not what it seems on the surface. The two stories seem at odds but are pulled together beautifully keeping you off-balance and questioning like some high-literary thriller. Kazuo Ishiguro, meets Charlotte Bronte channelling Gillian Flynn. An unexpected surprise.

'Do our actions betray our nature?''‘

The setting: a dilapidated mansion in the idyllic English countryside. The era: 1969, the most exciting time to be alive in recent History. The time when conventions and traditions are shuttered to make room for freedom and equality. Frances arrives in Hampshire to write a report on garden architecture on behalf of the new owner of the mansion. Her mental state is quite unstable since the death of her mother. Soon, she discovers that she's not alone in Lyntons. A young couple, Cara and Peter, has arrived with a similar purpose of research. The three of them become friends and start what is seen by Frances as a riotous living. Reports are far from ready but the wine, the cigarettes and all delicacies are in abundance. As are secrets, lies and weird noises in the night. Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller is simply one of the best novels of the year.

‘'I discovered that in the early part of the morning a mist hovered in the hollows of the estate and the grass was wet with dew. There was a smell in the air of bonfires, the land already preparing for autumn.''

Where to start without resorting to spoilers? There are so many beautiful sentences, paragraphs. The extract above is only a minuscule portion of the poetic, haunting writing, reflecting Frances' s thoughts. She is our sole narrator, everything we see is what she sees. As a result, our perception is limited and the story unfolds like a China box whose contents are visible through mist. The writing is atmospheric right from the start. The setting of the mansion brings the work of Agatha Christie and Daphne Du Maurier to mind. The old church, the graveyard, the mausoleum, the enigmatic village. And then, the eerie feeling becomes more and more tense and sinister. Birds lying dead, footsteps, reflections on windows, rage that is about to burst through. The sultry summer days and nights are full of whispers and unuttered feelings.

Apart from the setting, the story benefits from the characters. Frances will give you so much trouble. She is the definition of the doormat personality. Or is she? Her relationship with her mother has affected her to such an extent that she has no knowledge of the world, she is devoid of any substance. Her sentimental aspirations sound like those of an immature teenager, down to the hearty eyes and the flying unicorns. Strict family rules, religious upbringing and a distorted notion of duty have done their work well. And yet, Fuller succeeds in making her interesting and us invested in her story. Cara, on the other hand? I loved her so much! She is a whirlwind, a force of nature. Poor Frances cannot hold a candle to her. Cara's belief in the traditions of her native Ireland gives her an even more mysterious aura as opposed to Frances's old-school romantic phantasies. Both women are the epitome of the unreliable narrator in all its glory. Having said that, I must admit that I couldn't stomach Frances and her melodramatic thoughts along with her self-pity. However, I understand that this attitude of hers was essential to the story. Between the two women, poor Peter is us trying to make some sense of the unexplainable world around him.

I can't say more. There are so many twists and revelations. Grief, loss, love, obsession, madness. The characters, the house, the village. Everything is part of a complex, dark mystery and when a book has this effect on you, you know that it has succeeded. This is a perfect novel for discussion, a quality mystery. ‘'Quality'... a rare word these days...Just be cautious and do not expect to have all the answers laid out in front of you.

‘'Victor thinks that digging graves might be a good job: fresh air, physical exercise, not many people you have to talk to.''

Many thanks to Penguin Random UK and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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