A VILLAGE DRAMA
Fans of author Miriam Wakerly will already be familiar with the fictitious village of Appley Green, which straddles the Surrey/Hampshire border and lies within easy reach of London. While the dual location occasionally causes an “unclear identity of mixed post codes”, the neighbourliness and unspoilt countryside more than compensate for the confusion.
The village made its literary debut in Gypsies Stop tHere and No Gypsies Served and in Shades of Appley Green, A Modern Village Novel, Wakerly serves up a third helping of rustic observations with her trademark sharp edged plot twists and a solidly structured narrative that deftly explores the themes of love, bereavement, and community.
Steph Perriman, the story’s heroine, is a thirty something single parent juggling motherhood with a full-time job as an outreach worker for a senior citizens charity. Her dedication earns her both the adoration of her clients and the respect of her boss, yet Steph’s life is far from perfect. Being a singleton is tough as the one thing Steph doesn’t have in her life is a decent man. She has suffered enough disappointments to no longer trust them, although Jackson Jeffries, the elderly, retired architect with Parkinson’s disease, is one of the few exceptions. Although Steph’s professional instinct tells her to keep a reasonable distance, Jackson’s kindness and vulnerability makes that difficult. Yet underscoring the client/worker relationship is the unavoidable suspicion that Steph sees Jackson as a father figure, a replacement for the much-adored Dad she has already lost.
Wakerly teases the reader with the possibility, while forcing a light on some very real human dramas. We sympathise when Jackson is threatened with the prospect of going into residential care because he is too frail to look after himself: we understand Steph’s revulsion when she stumbles on an adulterous love triangle that will have awful consequences for the loser: likewise, we empathise with her helplessness when she discovers that an assistant on one of her projects is battling with severe depression. All of which go to prove that Appley Green’s picture postcard image is no protection against the realities of 21st century living. Wakerly’s skill is that she doesn’t rely on polemics to drive home the point. She is observational, quietly humorous and occasionally but deliciously cutting, although she is not averse to shattering the reader’s emotional comfort zone by springing the mother of all shocking surprises. Without giving too much away, it revolves around a confession whose contents are so incendiary they linger on the brain long after the final page has been turned.
Shades of Appley Green is one of Miriam Wakerly’s best novels to date. I’m the first to admit there is something strangely addictive about the village, its residents and the dramas that follow them like shadows. As readers we want to know everything about them – right down to the passions that make them tick! Wakerley never fails to deliver, and it will be interesting to see what other events are being incubated in this little corner of middle England.
Reviewed by Juliette Foster
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