I bought this book
almost two three years ago, when Maggie Gee was keynote speaker at the Society
of Authors North event at the Imperial War Museum North, Salford. Yes that’s how far behind I am
with my reading.
This is an
incredibly well written book and it is extremely engaging. The point of view
switches constantly between the three main characters – Virginia Woolf, who has
come back to life and materialized among the manuscripts of her work that are
kept in a private collection in New York, Angela Lamb, a novelist and expert on
Woolf and Angela’s daughter, Gerda, who runs away from school to join her mother
first in New York and then in Istanbul.
All three
characters are rounded and believable. Gee admits that Woolf is fictionalized,
though to some extent based on her diaries. Nevertheless, the Virginia Woolf
presented here seems very much to me as she would be if she was suddenly whisked
into the 21st century. Both Angela and her daughter have to face some
demanding logistical problems and these are to some extent what keep us
reading.
That and the voice
which is delightful, with some difference for each character.
What will happen
after Istanbul where the three of them attend a conference about Woolf’s work? A
final chapter offers a suggestion and indeed hints at an explanation about how it
all came about. In the end, though, it is
left for the reader to decide.
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