I discovered Rosamunde Pilcher in my twenties, and gradually acquired all her books, which I have re-read several times over the decades. Sadly she died in 2019, but she was 94 and had not published a new book since ‘Winter Solstice’ in 2000.
So I was startled to see ‘A place like home’, a new collection of her short stories, available on Amazon towards the end of last year. I put it on my wishlist, having established that this was not simply a re-naming of one of her previously published collections, and was delighted to receive it for my birthday a couple of months ago.
I’ve just finished reading it - and appreciated the introduction explaining that these short stories were discovered in the British library, and have not previously been published in any kind of collection, though one or two were printed in magazines. There are fifteen short stories in this book, all of them typical Pilcher stories with three-dimensional characters, mostly positive family relationships, and satisfying conclusions - even if there are one or two somewhat unlikely coincidences here and there.
I have to admit that when I had read the first three or four, I began to see why these stories were not selected for the other collections. ‘The Blue Bedroom’ and ‘Flowers in the Rain’ are wonderful books, with short stories that are emotive, moving, beautifully written and full of the most delightful people. Not that these are disappointing; the characters are nicely drawn and likeable, and the stories pleasant to read. But they’re not as stunning or heart-wrenching as the ones in the earlier collections.
However, I still enjoyed these stories very much. The author had the most incredible gift of characterisation, which came to the fore in her novels, but which comes out too in short stories, even those of just a few pages. I felt empathy for all the viewpoint women in these stories, even though they’re quite different in their attitudes and lifestyles.
The first story, for instance, ‘Someone to Trust’, is about a young woman called Rachael. She has just broken up with a young man whom she’s been close to for a while, and needs the comfort and companionship of her cousin in the countryside. Rachael is able to give notice on her job and find someone to live in her flat without any difficulty and travels to stay with Sally. She meets a young man, and it’s fairly obvious that they’re going to become an item, but it’s not at all clear how it’s going to happen. It takes a huge coincidence - perhaps the most unlikely one in the book - before she is able to move on from her previous relationship.
But it’s so nicely done, with such likeable people, such ordinary - and yet beautifully written - descriptions that I just accepted the coincidence and enjoyed the story. The second story is less typical; there’s an anniversary dinner, a man who isn’t sure that he wants any commitment, an unexpected reunion… and then a slightly odd ending culminating in a lie; I wasn’t quite sure where it was leading, although I think the future was hopeful for all concerned.
Other stories are similar, with slightly different plots. Some were set in the United States with American vocabulary here and there, presumably written for - and perhaps published by - American magazines. The ones I liked best were towards the end; the final story is one of the shortest, but nicely rounded and entirely satisfactory. This is possibly because a small child is involved, and Rosamunde Pilcher was excellent at relationships with children; they don’t usually have huge parts to play, but they are warm, and some of the situations are extremely moving.
I only read one or two of the stories at a time, as it became hard to keep track of who was whom. I don’t often read short story collections for this reason; I prefer the depth and perspective of novels, on the whole. But I did enjoy these stories, and am very pleased to have this new collection. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves Pilcher’s writing, or fans of magazine-style short stories in general.
No comments:
Post a Comment