Cologne

by Sarah Pleydell

London, l960: Renate von Hasselmann, a nineteen-year-old German au pair, arrives at Victoria Station prepared to meet her new charges, Caroline and Maggie Whitaker. Yet she is ill-prepared for their parents: the mother, Helen, knows more about Nazi Germany than Renate does, and the father, Jack, disarms Renate with his quicksilver charm. In Sarah Pleydell's debut novel Cologne (FUZE Publishing; October, 2012), childhood and history collide, blurring the distinctions between victim and victor, ruin and redemption. With delicate humor, Pleydell presents a portrait of a family on the cusp of great social change, while reminding us that the traumas of war revisit the children of the peace.

252 pages, Paperback

First published September 18, 2012

About the author

A graduate of Oxford and London Universities, Sarah Pleydell is an award-winning writer, performer and playwright who teaches English and writing at the University of Maryland. For the past twenty years, she has been a master teaching artist and arts integration specialist, working with institutions that include The Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Luce Institute. In 2000, she won the American Association for Theatre Educators’ award for best book of the year with co-author Victoria Brown. Most recently she wrote the script and played the role of Isadora in Revolutionary: The Life and Times of Isadora Duncan with Word Dance Theater.

Based on her childhood in London, "Cologne" (Fuze Publishing) has been twenty years in the making. It has benefited from fellowships at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and input many generous and gifted writers.

Reviews

[J. Farrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly assured, brilliantly compelling work by first-time novelist Sarah Pleydell. Set in 1960 England, within the background of a nation still recovering from the scarring effects of WWII, it's a searing chronicle of a family and their German au pair, coping with a series of emotional fissures, existing just below and, over time, increasingly rising above the surface. Subtle yet powerful and full of rich, multi-layered characterizations, Pleydell has created a masterpiece and has achieved the remarkable feat of already established herself as a uniquely gifted literary voice worth following.

[Marcus Zottola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cologne takes place during the early 1960s, and it follows the adventures of the Whitaker family after they invite a German "au pair" to live with them in England. (NOTE: An "au pair" is a foreigner who does housework and child-rearing in exchange for a place to live.) The Whitakers are headed by a larger-than-life father and husband, Jack, whose enthusiasm is overbearing and leaps off the page. His wife, Helen, is much more down-to-earth. Their two children, Caroline and Maggie, are in the throes of childhood, the former on the verge of fiery adolescence and the latter just getting out of diapers. Then there is the au pair, Renate (pronounced "re-na-ta"), a nineteen-year-old described in a manner that makes her seem unattractive. Finally there is Mario, the Whitakers' chauffeur, whose behavior sometimes hints at lechery.

So what precisely are the adventures of these six main characters? Why...ordinary living circumstances of course. At least, what would pass for ordinary in a family living an upper-middle class life. They enjoy holidays, take trips to the city, go on vacation to the beach...basically they just do what they can to keep themselves sane. The true meat of the story is in the character interactions and introspections, which are loaded with subtle hints of underlying problems and implications of things happening outside the scope of the narrative. This is where the novel shines brightest...and also where it runs into some trouble.

If you were to examine quotes from reviews for Cologne--at least, those provided on the cover and on the first few pages of the book--you might find it difficult to figure out what exactly the story is about. Some seem to believe it's a story about childhood innocence. Some think it's a story about a family's self-destruction. Some think it's a historical study in life after WWII. One of the quotes even says the story is about sexual abuse. Depending on these different interpretations, you could identify any of the major characters--except for Mario--as the lead, and the meaning of the story changes. Personally, I'm inclined to say it touches on all of these themes, but the point is that two people can read the book and come out of it with a different synopsis of the story's meaning and events. To craft something of this caliber is an impressive juggling act on Pleydell's part. As I read, I constantly had to ask myself what was really going on behind the superficial exterior. Is Jack's enthusiasm hiding an inability to handle setbacks, or does he just believe this is the proper way to live one's life to the fullest? Is Helen a smart woman with legitimate concerns or just a worrywart? Is there something going on between Renate and Jack? What about Mario? Are the two children well kept or neglected? These and dozens of other questions kept popping up, and only a few of them were resolved with any unquestionable detail. And though it can be a little rough on my brain, I'd say I liked the story more for it.

But there is a danger when you write a story in this fashion: you run the risk of losing your reader when you don't lay out the breadcrumbs and hints well enough. That's why this strength also becomes the novel's weakness. There are times where I'm not sure Pleydell has done as well at this juggling act as she should have, and I've gotten lost with what's going on. For the most part the major plot points come across well enough, but every once in a while it feels like I've actually missed something in the language, forcing me to either re-read sections of the story looking for context or just stampede on and hope the puzzle pieces fit together at some point. In fact, when I read the aforementioned praise for the book and came to the comment about sexual abuse, I honestly had no idea what the reviewer was talking about. I had to check a few sections of the story again before I hit on the reason for this conclusion. It doesn't help matters that these implications of plot are hidden behind language that--as I stated earlier--is geared towards a literary audience.

But the questions that ultimately must be answered are whether I enjoyed my time with Cologne and whether I'd recommend it to other readers. My answer to both of those questions is yes...with a couple qualifiers. Due to the language barrier and the overall vague design of the story, I have to give this book a B grade. I would like to give it a B+, but as good as I think the style makes the story, it also holds it back. Still, it's a fun little read locked behind a couple of figurative doors for the average commercial audience.

GRADE: B

[Elizabeth Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeously written, Cologne immerses the reader into the intimate, ever narrowing circles of family disrupted from within and without. Lyric and bold, Cologne unfolds through Pleydell’s preternatural understanding of the unspoken. An extraordinary book.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sarah Pleydell perfectly captures family conflict and cultural malaise through the eyes of two young girls in 1950's Britain. Filtered through the magical thinking of children, dangerous secrets are gradually brought to light-- humor and lyricism guiding the narrator through a painful coming of age.