Every now and then a book comes along about which it’s hard not to gush. Victoria’s Redel’s lovely Before Everything fits that bill for me. I was very much attracted by its premise – five women, friends since school, come together when one of them is dying – but I hadn’t expected the bonus of such graceful, elegant writing.
Anna’s cancer has recurred. She’s been in remission several times but is done with invasive surgery, debilitating chemotherapy and the emotional rollercoaster her illness has taken her on. She’s the lodestar of the Old Friends, the name the five adopted when they were eleven. Beautiful, clever and vivid, Anna can also be selfish, manipulative and bossy. They all know that but they love her, regardless, as do the many others that Anna has drawn into her orbit over the two decades she’s lived in her neighbourhood. The women gather themselves around Anna for what may be their last day of the never-ending conversation the five of them share, taking her out on an ill-advised outing, stepping a little carelessly on the toes of the women they think of as her new friends and struggling with the imminent loss of the woman they love dearly. Each of them has their own lives, troubled and otherwise, but Anna has always been at the centre. Meanwhile, Anna’s husband continues with the hard graft of caring for his dying wife despite their estrangement.
Redel uses a fragmentary structure for her novel – full of flashbacks, vignettes and anecdote – smoothly switching perspective between Anna, her friends and her husband. These are women who have seen each other through joy and misery, difficulty and triumphs, for decades. None of them can envisage a world in which they won’t rush to tell Anna of their news, fashioning the latest mishap into a story, confiding a fear or a hope. Redel neatly avoids the saccharine, portraying the women with all their flaws and capturing the intimacy of death when the world falls away, all attention focused on the dying. It’s a beautifully crafted novel. There are a multitude of quotes I could pull out but here’s a smattering to give you a flavour: ‘They have done so much laughing, these five, they’d managed to laugh their way through even the unlaughable’; ‘Fear was always there, a gauze between her and the vivid rest of her life’; ’She imagined her dresses flouncing through town, a flutter of hems waiting at a crosswalk, an A-line flare pressing a code at an ATM’ and perhaps my favourite ‘We are here. And then we’re not. For a little while, we are a story’. A gorgeous empathetic and tender portrait of friendship, shot through with a dry humour which steers it well clear of the maudlin, Before Everything is the first of Redel’s books to be published in the UK. I hope that Sceptre have plans for her other four.
It came as no surprise to find that Redel is a poet which often turns out to be the case when I’ve particularly enjoyed a novelist’s writing, the most obvious example being Helen Dunmore. It may be a little presumptuous but I like to think that she would have loved this novel as much as I do.
Wonderful review, sounds like a stunning book.
Thanks, Cathy. It’s a superb book. Redel’s writing is glorious – I hope that Sceptre will publish her backlist.
Yes, it’s great to see Redel celebrated. I came across her when living in the USA, at a reading. Excellent writer.
She’s new to me, Christine, but I’ll be on the lookout for more of her writing. A beautifully executed, wholly involving novel.
God, this sounds heart-breaking (but good).
I’m pretty sure this one’s up your street, Kate. Lovely writing.
Did you include it in one of your new release round-ups? I feel like it has been on my radar (it’s the ‘group of old friends’ thing that gets me every time).
Yes, it was in the July preview I posted last month.
I think this might be the kind of book that would have me reaching for the handkerchief rather often
I think you may be right, Karen.
This is a beautiful premise for a novel. I am very intrigued. Previously the fragemented narrative has not worked for me (have worked in very very few books); so I doubt if I would enjoy it if I pick it up
She does handle that very deftly, Resh, but I know that structure doesn’t work for everybody.
Sounds like a beautiful read, avoiding the clichés and sentimentality that could so easily come with that kind of a theme.
She handles that so well. I’d simply been hoping for an absorbing story when I picked up this novel but it turned out to be a thing of beauty. Can’t recommend it enough.
Brilliant review Susan. I agree that there is something very poetic about the writing, how the chapters are broken down into little sections with their own headings, some merely vignettes.
Thanks so much Janet. I think it’s quite a dicey structure to adopt but Redel carries it off beautifully, doesn’t she.
I agree with what other people are saying: Heart-breaking! I don’t know how people can read such difficult stories and still manage to keep on living their everyday lives in the following days. You’re brave!!!
Well, it keeps me away from the news!
Oh, this sounds like a real tear-jerker. I’ll have to add it to the list for sure!
It has an instant appeal, Naomi, and so beautifully written, too. One of the best books I’ve read this year.
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