So Now Go Tell by Susan Sachon
After reaching a crisis point at 40, Jenny Watson is offered her dream job running a Shakespeare festival at a Tudor pub. She can hardly believe her luck at this brilliant new start, and chance to escape her unhappy past.
The job isn’t all it seems, however. The pub is remote and her mysterious boss is permanently absent; there’s a 400 year old skull residing in the cellar; and the local actors are less than enthusiastic over her boss’s choice of play. Then there’s the growing conviction that someone’s watching her.
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Strange messages, withheld calls and shadows on the windows spike temporary attacks of stress-related blindness as she clings to her last chance to live her dream. But as the dark play she’s directing starts to unravel the secrets she’d sworn never to tell, Jenny realises she’s not at the pub by chance . . . and soon she finds herself the leading lady in a nightmare replay of her past.
“A page-turning thriller with elements of cosy crime but with darker undertones… Highly recommended, an established debut with the feeling that the story is not yet over – more to come from this fabulous author.” Review by Debz Hobbs-Wyatt, author, editor, publisher.
Susan says “I love theatre directing as well as writing, and have found working with Shakespeare’s writing cathartic and inspiring. In my working life, especially teaching adults, I have encountered many women with similar confidence problems, and the book grew out of that experience. It also carries the message that we should never give up on our dreams, no matter what age we are, where we come from, or whoever tells us we are bound to fail.”
My Review
This started out as one thing and then became another. Poor Jenny is at a loss, divorced, and now made redundant. Then she collapses, and when she wakes up she can’t see. It used to be called ‘hysterical blindness’ I think, which sounds like the kind of nervous disorder that got women locked up in an asylum 100 years ago. It’s now referred to as a ‘conversion disorder’. Yes I googled it.
Surprisingly, she’s soon offered a job managing an old Tudor pub in the middle of nowhere, but it comes with other responsibilities. The pub used to put on plays as part of its Shakespeare Festival every summer. Now I am a massive Shakespeare fan, ever since I was taken by my primary school to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream, performed by the Oxford University Players in the grounds of Alveston Manor, Stratford-Upon-Avon, when I was about eight years old. I was mesmerised.
Anyway, moving on. Jenny moves into the pub (against the advice of her best friend Mags, who thinks it’s all a bit suspicious). The pub is dark and spooky, needs massive renovation, and then there’s Henry. But undeterred, Jenny decides to hold auditions for Hamlet and quite a few people are interested. Unfortunately, her new boss and owner of the pub insists on Titus Andronicus and interest wanes.
But I will say one thing. My son has been involved with a professional touring company for over ten years. I once asked them if they ever put on Hamlet. They said no-one would come. Their audiences only want to see the comedies like Dream, As You Like It, Twelfth Night etc. Titus is a no-goer obviously. Especially when you are eating your picnic on the grass. Ox tongue sandwich anyone?
Part way through the book, when Jenny joins a self-help group called Speak Out, we begin to learn about her past. And it’s harrowing. If I’d been writing this review on paper, the ink would be smudged with shed tears.
What a fabulous book. I adored it. Jenny is such a sympathetic character. She doesn’t believe in herself, but others do and so do we. Bravo Jenny. You have friends and I wish I knew you personally. And don’t be put off by the Shakespeare stuff. You don’t have to love that bard to appreciate the book, whatever some reviewers may say.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Susan has loved writing, books and theatre since childhood, and now loves sharing stories with her small granddaughter. Apart from enjoying time with her family, she has also worked in business, run a theatre arts school for kids and somehow found time to gain a degree in Literature/Creative Writing, and a PhD in Shakespeare! She now writes fiction full-time, runs Shakespeare workshops and directs plays locally.
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