A friend gave me this book to read recently and I brought it with me on holiday intending to read it on the plane, which didn’t happen. It is indeed an ideal holiday read, Rose Tremain being one of those reliable authors so adept at storytelling, at drawing you in to a character’s perspective, imagining their predicament.
When we first meet Marianne, it is the 1950’s, she is fifteen, the only child of regular middle class parents from a semi-rural district in southern England and in her prime for falling helplessly in love with the boy who is paying her attention, Simon Hurst. They are both coming to the end of their schooling years, he with great expectations, she with few.
When I was fifteen, I told my mother that I was in love with a boy called Simon Hurst and she said to me, ‘Nobody falls in love at your age, Marianne. What they get are “crushes” on people. You’ve just manufactured a little crush on Simon.’
When Simon fails to meet the expectations of him, his life plan changes and this will impact Marianne. Her parents dismiss her feelings and put it down to a schoolgirl crush, she describes it as being in the Love Asylum. Unable to let go of her ideas about a life with Simon, she flounders for a while, will eventually move on, but the pattern of unrequited love is never far away from her experience.
At school studying Romeo and Juliet, she relates to the Juliet character and wishes for a character like Nurse in her life, one who understands what Romeo and Juliet are doing and how they feel, one kinder than her mother who could hold her and soothe her erratic emotions.
I imagined her listening attentively while I confessed to her that my head was so burdened by my obsession with Simon that I was afraid of becoming a total imbecile. And she would stroke my hair and reassure me that this was a perfectly normal state for young people to be in, that we were all inevitably headed for a stay in the Love Asylum, but that in time the spell would be overcome and normal life would resume.
It is an absorbing story of turning points in people’s lives, the different people they meet, how that can change their trajectory, including the presence of those absent and the illusions harboured of lives not lived, not meant to be lived. It is also a thought provoking depiction of the relationships between generations and the expectations of those coming-of-age in the 1960’s England.
Absolutely and Forever was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2024.
Word by Word 
I like Rose Tremain’s novels but I did not get on well with this one…
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Seeing how light it was I went in without expectations. When I started off I was a little ambivalent, but then I became quite interested in the character and her unconventional ways, seeing the effect of the lack of affection from her family, her low expectations of herself and the aloofness resulting from having given in to convention. I really enjoyed observing all of that and how she eventually begins to find her way.
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So happy to hear from you! Bonne année. I have missed your posts. Hope all is well for you. Salut,
Brenda Prowse 06 30 89 09 01 (Paris) 509-230-6615 (Spokane, WA USA)
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Thank you Brenda, that’s so lovely to hear. Lost my reviewing mojo there for a while, so thought I’d try and write a few short ones on books I’ve been reading in the last couple of weeks.
Bonne Année to you too.
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I too have missed your posts, and for once you are reviewing something I have read, and enjoyed too. It’s a book that chimed with me for having protagonists only a little older than me, so the book took me back to the mores of that generation.
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I had to laugh reading that comment, I feel like you read ahead of me and have often read books I’m still catching up with. But I am currently reading off my shelf and things picked up in book sales, so more likely to have already been read by others for sure.
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I too have missed your posts. But I must say they were so abundant a few months ago that I did wonder how you could keep it up.Welcome back.
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Thank you, it is nice to know they were missed. Sometimes when I have a backlog, I write a few on the same day, I guess I ought to spread them out more. I have recently been putting my writing energy into editing, so reading without reviewing, but then I get withdrawal from the blog as I miss writing in this freedom space, but it is a distraction from other projects, so I was trying to be disciplined while also allowing myself that freedom to read.
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Glad to see you back and for this which sounds great, thank you!
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It’s great to see you back, Claire, as I always enjoy reading your thoughtful, insightful reviews!
I’ve been a bit hit-and-miss with Tremain’s work in the past, partly because pre-20th-century historical fiction isn’t my thing, but this novella sounds more appealing. It’s the right era for starters, and I’m glad you found it absorbing. There might be a copy lurking on my kindle, so I’ll save it for when I need something light but involving.
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Rose Tremain is quite prolific and I have really loved some of her works and then others less so, but I think she is a great holiday read and I did enjoy this one, even if the ending was a bit rushed and questionable in my opinion.
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