The Madonna of the Pool

I’ve never heard of Helen Stancey before but as this was a short story collection by her and I was kindly provided with a review copy I had nothing to lose.  To be honest I was not expecting anything great, but I was captivated and bowled over by these tales, which in some places reminded me of Eva Hannagan.

I like the way that each tale naturally seems to flow into the other, and these haven’t just been randomly put together unlike some such books as this.  These all are very British and so I don’t know how something like this would do over on the Continent, or indeed in the US, but for us these bring to life little dilemmas and occurrences that we can run up against.  Plus the author hasn’t just gone for a female lead character in these, with men at the front in some of the tales.

With issues raised here such as problems with children, and wanting a break from others, this also tackles dementia, death and marriage problems.  In all this is something that although does have some hefty themes doesn’t feel like it, as the writing style is actually quite self-assured and at times shows the benefits of using a simplicity of language, although there are some pieces here that are more descriptive.

What helps here is that there is a certain British style of humour, where things may be bad but people just chuckle, rolls their eyes and carry on – something that alas nowadays seems to be lost as so many complain about things that nothing can be done about anyway.  I was very amused by the man who dies, and on the day of his funeral a cake arrives that he won in a raffle.  The type of cake isn’t really suitable for the occasion, but it is still served nonetheless, and is the kind of thing that would happen in my family (yes, we even had the end of the coffin drop off when burying my grandad)

Although the short stories here are very good indeed, where I felt the author excelled was with those pieces here that are really monologues, and Alan Bennett could find some competition coming his way.  Easy to read, and full of wry observations this is something that should appeal to many and is ideal for either sex.

I was kindly provided with a review copy of this by the publishers via NetGalley for reviewing purposes.