Sweet tooth (by Ian McEwan)

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I had never read anything by Ian McEwan. I don’t think I’d even have picked one of his books up at a second-hand or charity shop, as the covers don’t suggest the kind of book that appeals to me. But his novel ‘Sweet tooth’ was chosen for this month’s local book club read, so I bought it used, last year, and have just finished reading it.

What a fascinating book it is, too. It’s narrated by a young woman called Serena, and begins in a style almost like that of Susan Howatch, as she glosses mostly over her early years. Brought up in a cathedral close, by a benign but distant father (the Bishop) and a mother who did everything for her husband, Serena acknowledges a pleasant, if cloistered and protected childhood. 

She is an avid reader who also has a talent for maths, and is persuaded to study for a maths degree at Cambridge, even though she would prefer to read English at a less prestigious university. I could relate to her in several ways as I read this overview, but her lifestyle then diverged sharply from mine as she embarks on typecast student life to the full: drinking, smoking and sleeping with several men.

The first person she really falls for, however, is a rather older man: a university tutor. Their affair has to be kept secret, conducted only at weekends, and all seems to go well for a while. He encourages her to widen her reading to include newspapers, and to discuss politics and philosophy intelligently. It turns out that he’s grooming her for an appointment at MI5. And then things go wrong with the relationship…

The opening sentence of the novel tells us that she was sent on a secret mission at which she failed, forty years earlier, and was sacked within 18 months. So we know, from the start, that things aren’t going to turn out too well. The novel was published in 2012, so this - among with many real-life references - sets the main action in the early 1970s. There’s also mention made of a lover, who was also ruined. It’s an intriguing sentence, and one that stayed at the back of my mind all the time. 

At first Serena is with other new recruits, doing lowly clerical work, and told that, as a woman, she’s never going to rise to top positions. She tells her family that she’s working for the department of social security, as she’s not supposed to mention what she’s really doing. But there doesn’t seem to be anything too secret, although there’s a lot of political discussion. I do recall some of the situations and stresses (and people) that are mentioned, although I was a teenager in the 1970s.

Serena is recruited to a secret mission with code name ‘Sweet tooth’ which gives funding to writers. The idea is to encourage people who are against communism, infiltrating the public mind with suitable fiction. Grants are offered, enabling writers to write full-time rather than having to earn their livings elsewhere. And Serena is allocated a young man called Tom who has written some very unusual fiction, as well as some articles considered suitable.

I found some of the middle of the book a bit over-detailed politically; I skimmed somewhat and don’t think I missed out on anything much. I never really understood why MI5 had to be involved, nor how they hoped to achieve their ends when it was made clear that the writers must be free to write whatever they wanted, without censorship or direction.

However, it’s quickly clear that Serena and Tom are going to become lovers, and that she will not tell him what her job was. She has to pose as a representative of a literary funding agency, and the more time they spend together, the more difficult it becomes to admit who she is really working for.

As the book progressed, I became more and more caught up in the people. I was fascinated by some of Tom’s short stories, as summarised by Serena, and also by their growing closeness. There is a little tension towards the end, when things start to unravel… and then a final chapter, written as a letter, which left me in awe at the cleverness of the plot and writing.

So all in all, I found it quite a satisfying read, exactly the kind of thing I hoped to discover by joining the book group. The story is thought-provoking, and gives a lot of insight into events in the UK in the 1970s.  Then the ending ties everything up beautifully.

I don’t know if this would appeal to readers of thrillers in general, but for someone like me, interested in expanding their repertoire, this is well-written and, in my view, well worth reading. I doubt if I’ll read it again, and am not planning to look for anything else by Ian McEwan, but I’m glad I read this.

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