A Year of Marvellous Ways: The Richard and Judy Bestseller

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Probably that everybody has a story, you know, and people who are invisible in the world have an equal story to us, maybe a little bit more extraordinary at times. But everybody deserves to be listened to, and deserves to be seen. I suppose we’re entering a phase in society where a lot of people are invisible today, and I hope it’s a story that makes one section of society a little bit more visible. And just to finish: who was your favourite author as a child, and who is your favourite author today? Yeah, totally. She has come to that space, and you do see it with some older people that they are very comfortable with who they are. They’re comfortable with their past and with where they are in their present, and they’re not holding onto a future because they know that every day might be their last one, really. So, yeah I like the way she came out. A breathtaking reading experience... a beautiful book that is unafraid to reveal the ugliness of the world * Toronto Star *

Waiting is what 89-year old Marvellous spends the year 1947 doing, in an isolated Cornish hamlet, although she isn’t sure what she is waiting for. This might seem like a less-than-engaging narrative device, but Sarah Winman creates gripping suspense while unfolding Marvellous’s memories, from lonely nights spent “willing her life to change” to the time “Whatshisname” was lured in her direction by a Louis Armstrong song playing on the wireless. Paths cross in unexpected ways in this pacey plot. An unlikely friendship develops at the core of the compelling tale when Marvellous meets a troubled young soldier, Drake. Storytelling rejuvenates Drake: as Marvellous shares stories of her life resonating with the transcendent power of love, Drake learns how to marvel at life again, seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. “Everyone had a limit,” writes Winman, engrossingly showing characters pushed past their breaking point. The novel’s surprising denouement is also well worth the wait. . A book to savour, to read in wonderful, rich little bits like dark chocolate. Winman's prose is poetry, with a rhythm, a heartbeat, that carries you through like music -- Emma Hooper, author of ETTA AND OTTO AND RUSSELL AND JAMESThere are a host of other characters who come in and out of the lives of these three main characters, all of whom are wounded or lost in some way. Well, interesting – as a child, I hated reading! Well, ‘hated’, that’s a very strong word. No, it wasn’t really a part of my life, I am not a natural reader, that’s what I tell myself. It wasn’t really something that bedded down very early. Now I always have to add this as a caveat, because it drives my mum bananas: she did read to me as a child, and my father did. They bought me books, they took me to libraries, I couldn’t sit still! My imagination wasn’t one that was ignited by words, it was very much ignited by images, and me being out and about. So I don’t have one, but I do remember three books: Flat Stanley, Stig of the Dump, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, they were the three books that I do remember. And then I went out duly and imitated those lives out in the recreation ground. It’s Good Friday and the start of a four day weekend so there’s no excuse not to snuggle up with a cup of tea and a good book. The latest Book Club review comes once again from Emma Kingston from Year of the Yes.

And that marvellously doesn’t sound pretentious or overly-pronounced but authentic and real with a dash of the sort of otherworldiness and magic that many of us wish routinely came with everyday life. The stories are touching and the twist of magical realism lends them a joyful, fairytale element * Daily Record * Certainly Marvellous, a spry woman who swims naked in the creek near her caravan, who lies a candle in the half-sunken church that sits in an island between the waters and who lives and eat off the land that is her home and a character in itself, has had reason enough to give up on life on many occasions.

Summary

If you have been reading along with me – I would love to hear what you thought in the comments below. As is standard, in all my book club geekery, I have fished out some questions for you to muse on: