A Perfect Explanation in Reading Through the Ages

Feb 17, 2019 Victoria (Eve's Alexandria) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history, debut, review-copy

Eleanor Anstruther’s debut novel is a beautifully assured portrait of a family riven by jealousy, tradition and grief. It’s based on the life of Anstruther’s grandmother, Enid Campbell, who infamously sold her youngest son, Ian, to her sister for £500. Ian is Anstruther’s father and, before he died, he gave her his blessing to write the novel, along with his papers and diaries.

Told from three perspectives - Enid, Joan and Enid’s neglected daughter Finetta - the story alternates between two time Eleanor Anstruther’s debut novel is a beautifully assured portrait of a family riven by jealousy, tradition and grief. It’s based on the life of Anstruther’s grandmother, Enid Campbell, who infamously sold her youngest son, Ian, to her sister for £500. Ian is Anstruther’s father and, before he died, he gave her his blessing to write the novel, along with his papers and diaries.

Told from three perspectives - Enid, Joan and Enid’s neglected daughter Finetta - the story alternates between two timelines, 1921-1931 and 1964. In the latter we meet Enid, now in her old age and living a paltry existence in a Christian Science nursing home; while in the former we are called to witness the events that led her there. In the aftermath of the First World War Enid’s family is in tatters; her brother, the heir to the Campbell estates, has died and her father too, not long after. Her mother Sybil is desperate to secure the succession of the title, and the responsibility falls on Enid. Her sister Joan is unmarried and uninterested. Five years later she finds herself the mother of three children, stuck in a villa in the south of England, unable to fathom her circumstances. Post-natal depression and a devastating accident that leaves her eldest son blind and ill shatter her sense of self. As everything begins to unravel she descends into despair, taking everyone down with her.

A Perfect Explanation tries to imagine how and why Enid makes the choices that ultimately lead to the breakdown of her family, at the same time as following the trail of destruction through the generations. Anstruther is unflinching in the autopsy of the family dynamics: the rivalry between Joan and Enid; the grief of multiple losses; the cowardice of Enid’s husband, Douglas; and the emotional and physical abuse of their children. Particularly poignant is the fate of Finetta, the unwanted and unloved girl child who is apparently of no value or interest to anyone. It’s both a brilliant evocation of a lost culture - of primogeniture, privilege and pride - and an astute compassionate exploration of human failings. And there are lots of failings in this novel, so much so that it’s a wonder anyone gets out of it alive.

I would hotly tip this for a spot on the Women’s Prize longlist and another on the Walter Scott Prize longlist. It’s one to watch. ...more

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