Polly Clark is a poet and this is evident in her lyrical and haunting first novel, Larchfield, a story of two lonely social outcasts who meet across time, and find both friendship and strength.
The novel alternates between Dora and Wystan’s stories. In the present day, Dora has recently moved from London to Helensburgh in Scotland with her architect husband. She is a poet, emotionally fragile but sure of her place as a new mother. In the 1930s Wystan (the poet W H Auden) is about to publish his first collection of poetry; but to escape from the humiliation of a rejected proposal of marriage, he takes a job as a teacher at Larchfield, a boys school in Helensburgh. For both characters it is a story of increasing isolation. Wystan battles his own desires and frustrations as a gay man at a time when homosexuality was illegal; Dora suffers post-natal depression, exacerbated by her upstairs neighbours from hell who see her bohemian lifestyle as a threat to their Christian ‘goodness’. Both take refuge in a world of their own creation, slipping through time by the power of imagination and acute loneliness to become friends.
In the Guardian (Saturday, 25/3/17) Polly Clark describes the shock of childbirth and its aftermath for many women, how motherhood brings a new alternative reality where a woman can become a machine for caring, with a beady focus on detail… a survival tactic employed by the kidnapped, the incarcerated. For me and I’m sure for many mothers this sadly rings true. Some will dismiss it as hype, or couch such a state as the baby blues, but after the birth of one of my own children I still vividly recall a relentless, low-level sense of depression that lasted several months, only lifting when I went away for a family weekend. It wasn’t the acute psychosis that can occur after giving birth, but a kind of greyness; I functioned perfectly well as a mother, but felt distanced from my new baby and found it difficult to enjoy anything.
In a culture where the extended family has all but disappeared, Polly Clark’s fine, thoughtful novel has implications for a more careful monitoring of new mothers to avoid isolation and depression and to work towards allaying the often unspoken and unjustified fear that, by articulating how we feel, we risk losing our baby to social services. One day people with mental health problems will receive the same care as those with physical illnesses, but there’s still a long way to go.
Polly Clark has written a gripping, beautifully observed and ultimately hopeful story:
Dora stepped further into the room. She felt Wystan there. He was present somehow in the warm, kind walls.
Larchfield is a powerful novel about love and friendship that questions the accepted rosy view of new motherhood and stresses the vital importance of art.

Put together a poetess, a suffocating small town and a great poet's struggle with his homosexuality and you can have yourself a brilliant novel. However, you could also have a complete trainwreck, as an author tries to deal with too many topics at the same time. Thankfully Polly Clark weaves some beautiful magic in Larchfield, creating a novel that is both exhilarating and painful at the same time. Thanks to Quercus Books and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

At the beginning of this novel I have to admit something shameful. For an English Literature degree holder, I know woefully little about W.H. Auden. I knew he was gay, I had cried over his poem' Funeral Blues' in Four Weddings and a Funeral and have been meaning to read The Orators for a while. But I had never truly connected to him in the way I have to other poets. So when I found Larchfield I saw it as an opportunity to find my way towards Auden in a different way. And now, thanks to Polly Clark, there is a soft spot for Wystan in my heart, a connection to the sense of isolation and otherness that he felt, that echoes in his work. It's s great feat of Clark that she can bring someone like Auden into her novel without treating him as 'larger than life'. There is clear respect for him, but she doesn't hesitate to make him real, make him personal, flawed and thereby fascinating. She also doesn't sacrifice her own characters, Dora and Kit, for him, giving them as much time and personality throughout Larchfield. I found myself walking away from this novel really wanting to read more Austen, as well as return to Scotland, breathe sea air and connect.

At the centre of Larchfield sits Dora, a young woman, a poet, and new mother, who follows her husband to Helensburgh in the hope to start a new life that has everything. But Helensburgh is a small town, with means there are eyes everywhere, loyalties run deep and Christianity and motherhood are sticks to beat newcomers with. Clark paints the stifling closeness, the burden of expectations and the pressure of having to be, beautifully. The growing weight on Dora's shoulders, as she finds her world shrink to her house, then only to the safe spots where no one can hear her, and finally only to Wystan H. Auden. The pressures on Dora, her desperation to remain creative and productive, her fear of not being a good mother, her anger at her husband and her neighbours, and finally her helplessness at being confronted with the seemingly rigid world around her. All of it comes across very well and it all feels credible.They are recognisable burdens for many women and Clark manages to avoid the pitfalls that unfortunately comes from writing about women, avoiding many of the cliches and making Dora feel like a real woman.

Clark lets the reader enter her characters' minds without forcing the characters to lay themselves bare. Dora's slow descent into utter unhappiness is so gradual and delicate that, although it doesn't come as a surprise, it still hits hard just how harsh it is. Larchfield is filled with characters that are troubled, that have burdens weighing on them, secrets to keep and fears to hide. Clark, by combining modern day Dora and past Auden, shows the continuing struggle of humans to feel included, to belong. Through Auden Clark is able to address the stigma that haunts homosexuals, both then and now, the crippling feeling of otherness and wrongness that pervades much of their lives. Through Dora Clark shows the pressures of modern day motherhood and womanhood, how nothing is every good enough and how the facade of happiness and perfection only deepens the cracks inside.

I was completely taken in by Larchfield. Dora and Auden are wonderful characters that allow readers to join them on their journeys, even if only for a short while. There is both sadness and beauty to be found in Larchfield, and I think that's exactly how it's supposed to be. I'd recommend this to fans of Literary Fiction and Women's Fiction.

A real page turner, love this type of cliff hanger novel. Will definitely look out for this author in nm future.

One of the most memorable books I've ever read. I loved it! Couldn't put it down. Ambitious, captivating, characters who will live on in my memory.
As a result of reading Larchfield I invited Polly to appear at Felixstowe Book Festival 2017 Sadly it didn't work out for this year but I will certainly be interested in inviting her at a future date.

A charismatic book.
A time shift genre with a difference.
This charming book revolves around Dora a young newly married young mother who is both a poet and an academic and W H Auden the renowned poet.
The story fluctuates between the 1930,s and present day and is set in and around Larchfield the boys school were in his early years Auden was a school master.
It very cleverly deals with several issues, attitudes in the1930, to homosexuality which at that time was illegal,postnatal depression and neighbours from shell.
A masterpiece in its own right.

Polly Clark's research brings life to Auden but her gift of characterisation brings Dora, a fledgling poet, equally to life as we examine their parallel lives and their vulnerability in their isolation. A riveting read that I found hard to put down. The very clever bringing together of these two poets does not feel contrived as Auden shares his own experience of confusion and isolation with Dora who is being pushed to the edge by the hatred of her neighbours. It is hard to believe that this is a debut novel. Thank you to NetGalley for giving me this opportunity to read a book I would probably not have picked off the shelves. This is the second NetGalley book I am recommending it to our local Book Group.

I've just finished Larchfield. It was a good story of hope, loss, finding oneself and redemption. I believe this is a standalone also.

I got Larchfield through NetGalley so thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read it! It releases on March 23rd 2017!

NOTE: there are adult situations in Larchfield!

3 Stars!

Larchfield tells the story of two characters. One, Wystan is a relative of WH Auden. He's also a writer. He's going to Scotland to work at Larchfield, a boys school. We see him struggle with who he's meant to be throughout the novel. The other character is called Dora, also a writer. She's a married, pregnant woman at the beginning of Larchfield. Her and her husband have just moved house, to a place on the sea. However, not all is right with Dora who experiences set backs throughout Larchfield.

Spoilers below...
Wystan is gay. We see this quite early on in the novel. Working at a boys school puts temptation in his way, quite often. However, he never acts on it with any of the students. He does have a few affairs. A couple in Germany, when he visits with friends, as well as Gregory in Scotland, with whom he thinks is his true love. The parents of Gregory, don't agree, however. It was good to see diversity in Larchfield.

Dora has a hard time getting on with people. Mainly because of her neighbours, who don't like her. I felt sorry for Dora, because she was just a mother, trying to do the best thing for her daughter. I didn't like the bullying neighbours. They went so far as to try and poison Dora's dog, to prove her unstable and just, no. I don't like reading about animal cruelty. It's really not a big part of the story, just a few pages really but still I didn't like reading it. Towards the end of Larchfield, we see Dora's mental health brought into question. I'm not going to say why but I thought the author did well covering the topic of mental health in a non condescending way.

Larchfield is told from 3rd person narrative. However, the chapters are titled either Wystan, Dora or Wystan and Dora. This made it easy to follow. Wystan's chapters are present tense and Dora's chapters are past tense. The characters sometimes overlapped, so Dora would be in Wystan's chapters and vice versa but only in thoughts. They only appear together in the chapters with both of their names, and there aren't many of those. I certainly enjoyed Dora's chapters more than Wystan's. I think this is because I'm female so I can see Dora's struggles more clearly than Wystan's.

What I liked about Larchfield...having two characters primarily focused on. I think anyone could find something to relate to in this story. I thought that mental health was dealt with well in the last part of the book. Dora didn't appear to have to do anything she didn't really want to. There was only the incidence of leaving her daughter with her husband that could be classed as this. Nothing more.

What I didn't like about Larchfield...how the two main characters don't end up together. As Wystan is gay, he obviously doesn't end up with Dora. I went into Larchfield thinking that this would probably happen so I'm a little annoyed that it didn't. Although, I did still like the story.
I was also unsure of the time that Larchfield was supposed to be set. At the beginning, the book mentions 1930's. But then later it mentions both Barack Obama as well as Scooby Doo. My rating went down one star just for this. As it's necessary to know the time a story is set in.

I'm giving Larchfield 3 stars because while it was a good book, I won't ever want to reread it. I knew the story wouldn't grab me the same way a fantasy, for example would but I wanted a little more from the plot because while the characters weren't boring, the plot was a little repetitive. While I really would have liked to have seen Wystan and Dora get together, it was nice to just see friends in a book, too. While I preferred Dora's story over Wystan's, I still see that Wystan was just as necessary to the story as Dora, maybe more so. I could just see myself in Dora more so.

Helensburgh in Scotland in 1930 and the poet Wystan (WH) Auden has arrived to take up the post of teacher at Larchfield School. In the present day Dora Fielding has arrived in Helensburgh as her husband's job takes him to Scotland. Wystan struggles at the school, his effete nature horrified by the treatment of the boys and the hostility of many townsfolk and colleagues. Dora finds herself alienated by her neighbours and after the birth of her child sinks into a troubling mental state. Wystan escapes by visiting Berlin but an inappropriate relationship with a local youth means that he is forced to leave the school. Dora is accused of harming her baby and she escapes into a delusion involving Auden.

This is a beautifully written book and it grips from the start. Wystan is a homosexual who is trapped by convention, even escaping to louche Berlin is spoiled by the Nazis, yet he finds beauty in the mundane and is protective of a group of sensitive allies. Dora is obviously suffering from post-natal depression and therefore the truth in her narrative is vague. The town of Helensburgh is imagined well, the constraints of small town society an its impacts on outsiders handled well and without over dramatisation. This is a wonderful book to savour.

This review is written with thanks to riverrun, an imprint of Quercus Books, for my copy of Larchfield.
In 1930, Wystan Auden is offered a teaching position at Larchfield School in Helensburgh. Larchfield does not feel like home for him and he struggles to hide his homosexuality in a society where it is illegal and not accepted. In 2008, Dora is an aspiring poet who moves to Helensburgh with her husband. She gives birth to Beatrice shortly after moving into her new home, and struggles with the realities of motherhood in a tight knit community where she feels everyone is against her. In order to find inspiration for her poetry, she begins to research Auden's life and work, and their two very different worlds collide as they search for meaning in their lives.
The first thing that I noticed about Larchfield was the lyrical style of Clark's writing, perhaps used to reflect the breadth of language that the poets themselves would use. This gave the novel its atmospheric feel, and allowed me to immerse myself in the surroundings that she described. However, this only worked for me in the chapters focusing on Wystan. As the chapters focusing on Dora were written in the same style, I found it difficult to differentiate between the characters, and felt that Dora did not have a unique voice. This made Dora less relatable for me.
I must admit that prior to reading Larchfield, I had limited knowledge of Auden's life and work. Although Clark has fictionalised him, it is clear that she has researched the subject thoroughly and used her knowledge well to inform the novel. Larchfield has encouraged me to read more of Auden's poetry.
When I started reading Larchfield, I was intrigued to see how Clark would bring the stories of Wystan and Dora together. Ultimately, I felt that the way this was done made the plot seem slightly implausible. This aspect of the novel is made clearer towards the end; however, I felt that the subtlety with which Dora's plight is addressed meant that Clark missed an opportunity to explore the themes in the novel in more detail. I was also disappointed by the reaction of Dora's husband, as his attitude towards mental health appeared to be old fashioned. This heightened my belief that the differences between the two time periods across which the novel was set could have been more distinctive.
Overall, I enjoyed the opportunity that Larchfield presented to learn more about a well known literary figure. However, I was disappointed that I felt more ambivalent towards Dora, and I felt that this prevented the novel from living up to my expectations as the two strands of the plot came together.

"He can write about a hero, but he cannot be one."

Larchfield is one of those books that is well written, has fleshed-out characters and covers interesting themes, but it's also one I just could not get into. I should like it, I know, it ticks all the boxes but I really struggled to finish it. Maybe I'm just not intellectual enough. I only know a couple of W. H. Auden's poems and not much else about him. Whatever it was I just didn't connect with this book.

Even though I didn't particularly enjoy Larchfield, it's really difficult to pick out anything that's wrong with it. There were elements that in theory should all work, but put them all together and it just didn't do anything for me.

The characters are interesting and thoroughly explored. Both Dora and Auden felt real, even if Auden's portrayal if fictionalised. You can feel the isolation and desperation that they both suffer.

Polly Clark is good at pinning down characters on the page, both psychologically and physically. I like her descriptions of characters which allowed you to see them fully.

"Mrs Perkins sees a most intriguing young man, odd to look at, certainly, with a long, ungainly face, fragile skin and large ears. He's very tall and unaccustomed to managing height, so seems to lop and flail. His eyes are pale blue and penetrating, however, and he has a manner about him that is unreadable. She cannot tell what he is thinking at all, unlike all the boys who parade in and out of this room."

Yet for some reason I just didn't feel that invested in either of them. I liked Auden a bit more but really couldn't connect with Dora. Which is odd as I felt she is a good representation of someone suffering from isolation and stress, topics I can empathise with. But, sometimes she irritated me with the way she handled the neighbours. The whole 'neighbours from hell' story-line didn't do anything for me really, instead of making me want to read on and hope they got their comeuppance they just irritated me and I wasn't interested enough to really care. I also felt like the story-line just tailed off and didn't have a satisfying conclusion.

I was interested in the themes that this book covers, such as depression, motherhood, class, and homosexuality. I was interested in the way that Auden dealt with his homosexuality in a time when it was illegal to be gay. His own shame at himself is heartbreaking and I thought the way Clark handled this, and his love story, was both sad and beautiful.

"Why does God despise him so? Of course, he knows why. He was the brilliant, delightful son of a good mother, who got stuck somehow and became an abomination.
Christopher manages not to feel this cancerous shame. Christopher coexists with his nature - embraces it, even. But then, he does live in Berlin."

And yet...I think maybe the subjects were just a bit too depressing and I didn't really want to keep reading. Also the writing, which is undoubtedly brilliant, was almost too good, in that the book is infused with a desperation mixed with lethargy, especially in Dora's case, and I think the lethargy spread to me and I just could not be bothered with it.

I think lots of people will like Larchfield, and for good reason, and I can't fault Polly Clark's skill with words. This book just wasn't for me.

My Rating: 3 Stars

I received a digital copy of Larchfield via NetGalley in return for an honest review. My thanks to the author and publisher.

I loved Polly Clark's debut 'Larchfield' partly because I enjoy reading imaginative fictionabout real people but this novel goes much further and is all the better for it.

The poet W H Auden spent a short period of his life as a teacher at a Scottish school in Helensburgh when he became infatuated with one of his young students. It is this period that Polly Clark focuses upon while the other main character is Dora, a poet and young married woman, who moves to the same town forty years later.

Each day Dora's older husband leaves her alone with just her young daughter for company and she feels friendless and isolated, especially when she begins to have problems with her neighbours. Unable to fit in with the community Dora discovers Larchfield school and her life becomes entangled with Auden's, who also found himself an unwanted outsider during his time there.

The only point of concern I had was the ending, (or endings) which some readers may find difficult, otherwise it is a truly wonderful book. Polly Clark has woven a beautifully intricate story of love, obsession, motherhood and mental health and I highly recommend it. An accomplished debut and I thank NetGalley and Quercus for the opportunity to read and review Larchfield.

This book pulled me in to the story straight away and kept my attention all the way through. It cleverly weaved together the story of Dora, a poet, wife and mother living in the present, and WHAuden poet and schoolteacher from 100 years previous. Dora and her husband move to Helensburgh where she finds it very difficult to adapt to life in the town and finds herself alienated. Shortly after arrival she gives birth to a daughter and slides into depression. She discovered that WH Auden had been a schoolmaster at the local school Larchfield and too had an uncomfortable time there. Dora seeks solace in her imaginary 'friendship' with Auden. The novel addresses many topics including friendship, exclusion, homosexuality, mental health, post natal depression, and alienation. These are dealt with sensitively and this is a well written novel. This is one that I will take to my book group.

Thanks Quercus Books and netgalley for this ARC.

Starts out slow but will be worth it in the end. Rewarding to though who are patient with the past and present.

Beautiful book with a dream-like quality that sucks you right in.
I am a big poetry & W.H Auden lover, so this struck with me immensely, but I like to think that even if this was an introduction to some of the poetic background of Auden it is still a very enjoyable read.
Brings up common existential themes of the time and I found myself relating to the main character quite a lot.
Would definitely recommend.

Dora, an academic and poet, moves to Helensburgh on the coast of Scotland with her new architect husband. They buy an apartment, the downstairs part of a grand old house, and she starts to organise her new life as she awaits the birth of her baby.
Her plan falters when the baby arrives early, and she finds herself lonely and fearful, with her husband at work, no family or friends, and upstairs neighbours from hell.
While out walking one day, Dora happens upon the site of Larchfield, the boarding school where Wystan H Auden taught for two years in 1930. She comes up with a plan for a project to research and write about Auden that might help to clear her baby brain.

This novel starts with chapters alternating between Dora and Wystan . While Dora’s situation is an understandably unhappy one, she is a difficult character to sympathise with. We start to wonder if the antipathy of the neighbours and their friends is partly justified, and question why Kit, her husband is not being overly supportive.
On the other hand, the portrayal of Auden is as an attractive creative, who stands out in crowd. Just down from Oxford, with no teaching experience, agreeing to take the job to help an acquaintance who has just left the post, he is also lonely like Dora. Painfully aware of his loneliness, and society’s embargo upon him ever establishing a loving relationship and finding happiness in life, he still manages to bond with his pupils, displaying interest in, and compassion towards them. He finds an unexpected soul mate in the person of the eccentric headmaster’s wife Daphne. They quickly establish a mutually instinctive trust which allows a freer discussion of their disappointments and obstacles to happiness than would otherwise be advisable.
As pressure increases on Dora and Wystan, their lives merge and they discover solace and calm in each other’s company. Is this only a temporary reprieve or can there be any sort of resolution for either?

This is a quiet, calm and confident debut novel. Auden’s story, interspersed as it is with his visits to his friend Christopher Isherwood in Berlin, provides the more interesting sections of the book. This sympathetic and respectful telling of an extract (fictional) in Auden’s life, fires up an enthusiasm to find out more about him.
Thank you to Netgalley and Quercus Books for the opportunity to read this copy

This is the best contemporary literary read that I have read in years. I have no doubt that this book will become a cult classic. I will be buying myself a print edition having seen pictures of the absolutely stunning cover on twitter! An achingly beautiful novel.

I confess, I knew nothing of W.H. Auden before downloading Larchfield, but he seems like an incredibly fascinating individual. Clark introduces us to Auden as a recently published poet, heading north to join the teaching staff at a school in Helensburgh, Scotland. A homosexual in a time where being gay was illegal, Auden is careful and secretive, but he cannot help how deeply he falls in love - or with whom.

Dora, too, is a great character. Newly married, mother to a premature baby, Dora loses herself in the daily grind, the humdrum of life. A poet, with artistic friends stuck in their youth, Dora feels her own youth, her artistic reputation, slipping away - along with her senses. The neighbours upstairs are making her life hell; the small town is tightening around its own, forcing her out. After a particularly nasty encounter, Dora takes Bea, her daughter, down to the sea. There, she finds a bottle, and inside is a note from W.H. Auden. Already on the brink, Dora takes a step, and finds herself in a world that isn't her own.
Larchfield is easy to fall into. Clark is an incredibly talented writer, who evokes 1930's and draws the reader in from the present day. Her characters are well-crafted, and the story flows beautifully.

I'm not entirely certain what happened at the end. Was it real, or was it all inside Dora's head? Perhaps Clark meant for it to be ambiguous. I think I'll choose to believe it was real - whether it happened inside Dora's head or not is an entirely different matter.

An interesting take on the theme of feeling an outsider, and an unwelcome outsider at that. Two stories are intertwined very effectively and with great originality. The 21st century narrator is Dora, an aspiring poet. A natural city-dweller and from England, at several months pregnant she relocates with her architect husband to Helensburgh on the west coast of Scotland. A difficult premature birth and probable post-natal depression, nasty, resentful neighbours and a largely oblivious husband conspire to undermine her confidence and mental health. She takes refuge in an unlikely friendship across almost a century with Wystan (Auden) who taught at a local prep school in the early 1930s, also from south of the border and further alienated by being homosexual with no legal way to live as one in the Britain of his day. Both struggle in hostile environments with little or no support and have more in common that it would seem at first glance.

One of the author’s greatest achievements for me was the atmosphere she created of hostility and foreboding. Social interactions are fraught with tension - Dora’s dealings with social services over her baby’s well-being, her relationship with the neighbours, Wystan’s need to keep his homosexuality secret, his distress at the culture of abuse in the school - a misjudged word or gesture could spark an explosion. I was riveted, scared for them both. The other strength of the novel is the quality of the writing - not a word out of place, you could guess the author is a poet too - and there are lines of poetry quoted, some of it the author’s own, always a delight.

A terrific book and I’ll be recommending it as widely as I can. With thanks to Quercus for the opportunity to read it.

I adored this book.

The two dimensions were effortlessly interlinked and both flowed. I often find myself racing through one-half of a dual narrative, preferring one over the other, but I enjoyed both sections and found both Auden and Dora intriguing and wholly different characters.

The use of poetry was interspersed well and not shoved in the reader's face as I have found other books to do. Dora's mental illness was portrayed with empathy and skill. I will be recommending Larchfield and look forward to Polly Clark's next book.