Persistent Rumours

Haunted all his life by an ominous childhood mystery, James Oakley returns to his birthplace on an island off the coast of India to find the truth he fears but longs to know--about the death of his young mother. IP.

Set in the Andaman Islands, 700 miles off the coast of India, this is the tale of a man coming to terms with his mother's death. Haunted by nightmares of his mother, "a woman with pale hair, who wore a dress like butterfly wings, smelled like violets and floated out of reach over the treetops," James grew up fearful of abandonment and distrustful of love. Despite his wife's devotion, he remains emotionally remote. Even at the ripe old age of 76, James is driven to learn the details about his mother's death. He returns to his childhood home to seek the truth from an ailing old man. Upon hearing the whole story, James realizes his "mourning, endlessly prolonged, has been less, perhaps for her than for himself." With that recognition, he is finally able to let her go. Langley writes beautifully of a foreign geography and an obsessive son, creating a tale of mystery and intrigue. Recommended for general collections.
Kimberly G. Allen, MCI Corporate Information Resources Ctr., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Multilayered and ambitious, Langley's latest work (winner of England's Writers' Guild/Macallan Award for Best Novel) is at once a heartbreakingly immediate portrait of a nearly moribund marriage and an atmospheric meditation upon colonialism's aftermath and the elusive nature of memory. Throughout, the insistently gripping narrative raises many more questions than it answers; even when the central mystery is "solved," readers are left with much to ponder. Returning in the 1980s, after many years in England, to his birthplace-India's Andaman Islands-arrogant septuagenarianJames hopes to discover the truth about his mother Elizabeth's disappearance when he was eight. Accompanying James is his devoted wife, Daisy, whom he has browbeaten over the years into stunned submission. (That readers are allowed to glimpse the anguish that lies beneath this unlikable man's carapace is one of the many small miracles performed here.) Scenes from James and Daisy's visit are intercut with flashbacks from the past, including excerpts of Elizabeth's diaries, memories of James's school days and snippets of the untarnished beginnings of his and Daisy's relationship. With each meticulously crafted sentence and in nearly palpable detail, Langley (Changes of Address) evokes a shimmering vision of the past and its relation to the present.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This latest offering from British author Langley (From the Broken Tree, 1978, etc.) again straddles the boundaries of pulp and serious fiction. An exotic landscape helps keep the book interesting on both counts. The main characters, however, have stifled their emotions to such a point that the scenery offers them only a choice between hardship and boredom. In 1899, Elizabeth, age 17, newly married and full of a dangerous enthusiasm, journeys with her husband to his military post in the Andaman Islands, a British penal colony off the coast of India. Eight decades later James, the son who was born on these islands, travels back with his wife, Daisy, in a last-ditch effort to learn the truth about his mother's mysterious death. While we hear much talk of the excitement and adoration James and Daisy shared in the early days of their marriage, little of that is in evidence upon meeting them. In fact, both marriages--Elizabeth and her martial husband; James and Daisy--are formal, laced with a British sort of iciness and alienation. Tedious at times, the book's first sections handle such issues as overt prejudice and perfunctory marriage with lyrical skill. Not until the middle of the book do we begin to see matters clearly. The birth of their second child nearly killed Daisy and made James realize that ``he had broken his own rule: never trust people who say they love you. People you depend on. They let you down. They go off, die, disappear. Abandon you.'' If the narrative lags at the book's start, the pace picks up quickly, along with the drama, once readers have a better sense of the events behind James's actions. In fact the story snaps to life. Readers who have guessed the end have probably guessed wrong, while those who resisted guesswork won't be able to put the book down. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.