What Lies Beneath: A Memoir

by Elspeth Sandys

Elspeth Sandys was born in New Zealand but moved to the UK in 1969. She has published nine novels (River Lines was longlisted for the Orange Prize in 1996), two collections of short stories (Standing in Line won the Elena Garro Pen International Prize in 2003) and has written extensively for the BBC and RNZ. She has also worked in film and TV. Her stage plays have been performed in the UK, the US and NZ. Elspeth's memoir What Lies Beneath was published in 2014. A sequel, Casting Off, followed in 2017. Her most recent novel, Obsession, was published in the same year. In 2019 A Communist in the Family: Searching for Rewi Alley was published to widespread acclaim. Part biography, part family memoir, part travelogue, the book follows the life and times of Rewi Alley of China, the author’s cousin. Elspeth has held a number of literary fellowships and residencies, and in 2006 was awarded the ONZM for services to literature. She now lives in New Zealand.

Genres: Book Club

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 11, 2014

Reviews

[Angelique Simonsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

got bored.

[Elspeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because the author has the same name as I do - and interestingly enough, before she was adopted she had my sister's name! Very odd.

This is a sad memoir of a woman who was born of an affair in 1940s New Zealand. The book is about her life including her birth parents and adoptive family. The sadness is of her birth mother, having to fight with the birth father for any support, and having her baby be essentially taken from her. Her adoptive mother is bipolar, and so Elspeth has a troubled relationship with her.

I enjoyed the story, much of which is essentially made up since she only has so much information about her parents in that time period and their lives. I would have preferred to have less "writerly" aspects and more true memoir, but overall Elspeth has had a very interesting life and it would make an interesting read if written in a less fictional way.

[Rachel Horwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable listen as an audiobook.
Interesting story of it's time. Interesting to learn about her feelings as an adopted person, finding out her story, her parents story both biological and adoptive. Sad to think of what her biological mother lost because of societal expectations/secrets hidden.
The story did chop and change throughout different aspects of her history as well as her various relatives. Chronological order might have made it easier to follow. Enjoyable and reflective.

[Sally Hinkley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sad but interesting. I think it would have flowed better if she told her story in the order it happened to her and as she found out. It felt a bit disjointed at times as she would refer to things that happened ahead of the time she was talking about and vice versa.

[Dalice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light and easy read. Nothing spectacular but interesting story. Love supporting a local author.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gut-wrenchingly authentic.

[Kitsa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly a sad story, but I found it hard to follow as the timeline jumped around. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it just followed the arc of her life.

[Caroline Barron · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I didn't need to tell Kierkegaard to tell me that we live life forwards, but understand it backwards" (p111).

This is the concept at the heart of Elspeth Sandy's moving and often searing story of her hunt for her birth identity after she was adopted in 1940. I was drawn to this book for two reasons: the first is that my father was adopted in Auckland in 1946; the second is that I write about a World War II adoption in my current novel. Sandy's story is somewhat different to my father's (a story he didn't live to uncover), but what they have in common is the desire to unravel, the desire to know of what, or who, their bones and blood are made. The weaving of her birth and adopted parents' stories was done eloquently, filling in the gaps in her knowledge with well-informed dialogue and story. She has a wonderful imagination.

The most heart-breaking part of the book was the Appendices, particularly Sandys' letter to the Dunedin District Court pleading for the release of information. Having been through this process the trail of documents was familiar.

A well-written, interesting book that cast a spell and took me back in time.

[Josie Murrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent - sad and well written!