Accomplice of love (by Titia Sutherland)

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It’s a long time since I read the novels by Titia Sutherland, which I acquired close to twenty-five years ago. It’s a pity her books were out of print even then, as her writing was excellent. She wrote just six books in all, with interesting, believable characters and a style of expression that reminds me, on occasion, of Susan Howatch. 

It’s over twenty years since I read ‘Accomplice of love’. So, inevitably, I had forgotten everything about it. And it has a slightly unusual format. It begins with the announcement that Claudia died six months earlier. The narrator, an art gallery owner called Leo, says this while driving to stay for the weekend with Claudia’s husband Josh.  

Leo’s daughter Sophie is in the car; she’s 18, and a talented ballet dancer. Leo mentions that she is the most important person in his life, and he sometimes feels over-protective as he lost both Jane, his wife, and Claudia, his lover. He’s dreading this weekend, because he thinks Josh may have guessed that they were having an affair, and Josh is quite a temperamental person. But Josh is also his client; Josh’s artwork has hung and sold in Leo’s gallery, and Leo really doesn’t want to lose their relationship.

I mentioned that the format is unusual, because after a couple of chapters it begins on a flashback, describing Leo’s first visit to Josh’s studio in London. Leo’s wife is alive and well at the time, and when he meets Claudia, he doesn’t find her at particularly attractive; she seems pushy and changeable. He doesn’t want anything other than a professional relationship with Josh, but against his better judgement he and Jane become quite close. 

Claudia and Josh have an eleven-year-old son called Sam, whom I found delightful. His passion is animals, particularly those that need some healing or protection for a while, and he has quite a menagerie. Claudia also has an older teenage son called Marcus who loves to act, and wants to study drama professionally. Josh doesn’t much like Marcus, but then Josh is quite a jealous person, and wants Claudia all to himself.

The story then moves forward in the two time-frames, a couple of years apart. As Leo recalls the past, and the tragedy of losing his wife, he’s brought back to the present with the offer of a drink, or the insistence that he takes a walk. It could have been confusing, but it works very well. I’m not sure why the author let us know right at the beginning that both Jane and Claudia had died, as it means there’s no shock when these events happen in the flashback sections. But I assume it was deliberate.

It’s a character-based novel, so I was pleased that the characters are so three-dimensional. Leo is a quiet, likeable man despite his betrayal of his friend and client. Sophie is a strong person who reminds him very much of her mother. Josh is perhaps a stereotype of a passionate, changeable man who lives in the moment, but he’s also very insecure about his art. I didn’t much like Claudia, but did feel somewhat sorry for her.  

As the flashback sections reach the present, Leo braces himself for a difficult conversation with Josh. He is increasingly convinced that Josh must have found some letters he wrote to Claudia; as the weekend progresses he becomes more and more stressed until the eventual blowup which nearly ends in tragedy. 

There are a lot of side stories going on, which flesh out the characters and add to the flow of the story and make it even more interesting. I wasn’t all that keen on the way Sophie poses for Josh, or the question Leo asks which isn’t really answered until a few months later. But in context, it works. 

All in all, I enjoyed rereading this book very much; once I had started, I could hardly put it down. Definitely recommended if you like this kind of woman’s fiction. 

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