I do
not think Sebastian Faulks could write a bad book if he tried, and I would put “Farewell
to Eden” right at the top of his list (Review by Margaret von Klemperer,
courtesy of the Witness)
This is a novel of immense power – so much
so that when I put it down having finished the last page, I was almost
frightened. I do not think Sebastian Faulks could write a bad book if he tried,
and I would put Farewell to Eden
right at the top of his list. He is dealing here in big subjects. Central is
faith, whether it is faith in a god, in oneself, in love or in a future for the
world. But it is dealt with in a way that is immediately accessible and
gripping.
The novel opens in 1951, in post-war Britain. It was a time of rationing, shortages and poverty and a place in which many who had served in the war found themselves at a loose end, unable to find the kind of work they wanted.
The central character, Philip Deval, has returned from the war and later service as a peacekeeper in Palestine. He has a degree in Philosophy – not the best training for the world he finds himself in. A lonely, self-contained man, he eventually ends up teaching French in a girls’ school, where he strikes up a tentative friendship with Frances Darwood, the music teacher, but for a long time it is a superficial relationship.
Slowly, as the two meet to listen to music together, they open up enough to tell each other something of their pasts which they normally keep hidden – those events in the past that can make people lose trust in the future.
And so we begin to discover what it is that has scarred Frances and Philip. For Frances, the child of a Polish mother and an American Jehovah’s Witness father, it was the horrors of war in Europe in the hands of the Nazis – Jehovah’s Witnesses were among those who ended up in labour camps.
For Philip, it was also his wartime experiences, both at home in England and later fighting, and then life in Palestine in the late 1940s. Jews and Palestinians were at each other’s throats in an impossible situation that resonates to this day.
Faulks is not judging, but he is clear-eyed on the horrors that were brewing. As one of the characters says, when he and Philip are discussing the idea of a promised land – “I just wish it hadn’t been promised to quite so many people”.
While in Palestine, Philip makes friends with Matthew Kilvert, an Anglican padre with the British peacekeeping force. Matthew is articulate and often light-hearted, and his discussions with Philip on the subject of faith are central to what Faulks is exploring. Matthew is an integral part of the story, but this is not some weighty philosophical tome. Another strand is a murder mystery, and while I certainly do not wish to give spoilers, it leads to a major twist in the last third of the book. The plot moves forward to 1961 and the reader suddenly finds themselves in the midst of a changed world and a change of pace. You almost feel it shouldn’t work after what has gone before, but it does.
Farewell to Eden is a profound novel, one that will stay in the mind for a long time after it reaches its conclusion. It gives a picture of a society at a certain time in its history which creates the perfect backdrop for a deeply human story. – Margaret von Klemperer
Sebastian Faulks’ Farewell to Eden is published by Hutchinson Heinemann; ISBN 978-1-52-915323-1
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