The Golden Cup (by Marcia Willett)

(Amazon UK link)

I do like re-reading my Marcia Willett novels. They are character-based, warm and moving, yet, at times, with such interesting storylines that they’re difficult to put down. I hadn’t read ‘The Golden Cup’ for fourteen years, which turns out to be a good thing as I had forgotten not just the people and the story, but even the huge surprise that is revealed about half-way through the book, in a series of letters.

The novel features a multi-generational extended family, living at or near a large house known as ‘Paradise’ near the coast in Devon. Mutt is the matriarch, and she’s evidently been quite a strong person but she’s had a fall and developed complications; she’s around eighty, and is quite frail. It’s clear from the start that she doesn’t have long to live.

Mutt’s granddaughter Joss is living with her as a companion, and also helping with massages and osteopathy. Joss works part-time locally, so an older relative called Mousie, who is a nurse, comes in during the daytime. Mousie’s brother Rafe lives next-door to her with his wife, who is blind, and in another location is Bruno, a writer and yet another relative.

But the story starts with an unknown young American man arriving at the house and asking for Mutt. He has written in advance, enclosing an old photograph, and wants to know if Mutt might know anything about what happened to his great-aunt, more than fifty years earlier. But when Mousie broaches the topic with Mutt, she becomes very disturbed, and insists that she won’t see him. Clearly there is some deep secret in her past, and she doesn’t want anyone to find out…

However, she also tells Joss that there are some old letters hidden in her desk. She wants Joss to find them; and, inevitably, Joss starts reading. The story told in these letters - one I had entirely forgotten - reveals a poignant story from Mutt’s youth, changing many perceptions and throwing the family - who learn about this, in various ways, over the next week or so - into confusion and (initially, at least) anger.

I did remember what happened immediately after Joss finished reading, but not the concluding chapters, where there’s a sense of healing, and a growing maturity.

While I liked all the people in the book (other than Joss’s rather caricatured materialistic father) I found that I related best to Mousie, an intuitive, gentle person who cares deeply for everyone around her. I liked Joss too but found her quite determined and outgoing; realistic, and believable, but not someone I could fully relate to.

The writing is excellent, as I’ve come to expect with this author, and the story is cleverly told. I found the cast of characters a bit overwhelming at first; there are quite a few people to keep in mind, and I had to turn back, a few times, to remind myself who was whom. But it wasn’t a problem, and once I’d reached the letters I could barely put the book down.

Marcia Willett often refers to characters in her novels in later books, but as far as I recall there’s no further mention of any of the people in ‘The Golden Cup’. Possibly that’s because most of the ends are quite nicely tied up at the end (though we never learn how Joss’s father reacts to the letters).

Definitely recommended, though it takes a few chapters to get going.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's Book Reviews