I am loving my re-read of Marcia Willett’s novels. They are warm, character-based stories featuring family life, mostly relaxed and gentle. Yet there are stresses and crises, and sometimes puzzles to be solved. I’ve just finished re-reading ‘The Sea Garden’ which I read in 2014. I didn’t recall it being one of my favourites, but I liked it very much this time.
Jess is the main person in this novel; or, at least, the catalyst for the story. We meet her en route to stay with Kate, whom I recalled from earlier books. Jess has just won a prestigious art award which is named for Kate’s late husband David Porteous. The award includes significant funding which means that Jess has a breathing space before deciding on a job, or whether to pursue a career in art with all its risks.
Jess is pretty much alone in the world. Her father has died some years earlier; her mother remarried and lives abroad. So she loves the warm welcome given by Kate, and quickly feels herself drawn into the lives of some of Kate’s friends. There’s an unusual coincidence in that Kate knew Jess’s grandmother Juliet some decades earlier, and the novel includes some flashbacks when Kate and her close friend Cass went to parties and met the groups of friends.
There are a lot of people in this book and I had a bit of a hard time recalling who was whom in some cases. Next time I read through Marcia Willett’s books, I think I will keep a list of people and their connections. I did remember the tragedy that befell Cass and her husband Tom many years earlier, which is referred to several times.
I also remembered their daughter Gemma, who is married to Kate’s son Guy, and that there were some tensions due in part to Guy’s rather unemotional nature, and also to some of Gemma’s actions. They have been abroad but Gemma and her sons move back, and that’s another important storyline that runs alongside Jess learning more about her grandparents and uncovering a surprising secret.
The author has an excellent way with words, painting descriptions of places that, on the whole, are not too long. Her conversations feel believable, and her characters distinct and well-rounded. It’s all set in the upper middle classes, with many naval connections, and boarding school seen as normal; sometimes I find this a bit jarring but mostly I accept it as part of the world of these novels. I love the connections with previous books, the sense of seeing another snapshot in the lives of people I had become fond of. And it was good to have Kate playing such an important part in the book; I always rather liked her.
While ‘The Sea Garden’ could stand alone, there are so many characters and references to the past that I think it’s much better to be read after some of the author’s other books; particularly ‘Those who Serve’, which is primarily about Cass and Kate as young married women.
Recommended if you like gentle, character-based women's fiction.
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