Guest Review from Merith Jones.
The Possessions was a real surprise. I was
expecting a competent psychological thriller but Sara Flannery Murphy has
delivered so much more.
The first sentence plunges us into mystery
and rapid character building; Patrick and Sylvia Braddock are to become central
figures but whose voice are we listening to? The description is sensuous and
poetic and we are quite unprepared for the introduction of a world with the
assured normalisation we associate with Margaret Attwood’s prose. Nothing here
is ‘our’ normal. The Elysian Society offers a service whereby the living may be
reunited with lost loved ones by means of a ‘host’, a medium through which they
might speak, a body which is literally possessed by the dead for the benefit of
others.
We are told that the society is strictly
regulated, unlike the back street services which alerts us early on to the
potential abuses and dangers of the system. Whilst this world builds we come to
know the protagonist and appreciate that there is much hidden in her
background. Why would she take up this profession? What needs does she fulfil
by negating her very existence ?
The relationship with Patrick, her client,
begins to demonstrate the frailty of her sense of self until at one point it is
difficult for either she or the reader to be sure who she really is? The power
of the novel’s title becomes ever clearer. Even more alarming is a growing
sense of how the margins between past and present become obscured. Danger looms
as the tension builds relentlessly. Self is dissolving into Time, driven by her
overwhelming passion and her desire to be engulfed in Patrick’s world. But
perhaps he has secrets too ? And is the Society itself all it claims to be?
This is a totally absorbing experience
exploring self, womanhood, loneliness and the nature of obsession. The expertly
crafted movement between first and third person offers some respite from the
intimate intensity of escalating events and the use of classical names adds a
layer of further depth, as does the key location, Lake Madeleine, with its
allusion to time past associated with Proust’s famous madeleine – the catalyst
which was the trigger to memories of the past.
This is a layered novel of absolutely page
turning readability. It does lose a little pace at one point when there is a great
deal to be revealed at one go but it soon re-establishes the mood and tone to power
towards its conclusion. This is a remarkable achievement in a debut novelist and
there is still so much more I could say !
Sara Flannery Murphy is certainly a name to watch out for. Do read it and find out for yourself.
(Also, this edition has sprayed page edges which makes it a
physical pleasure to pick up!)
The Possessions is published by Scribe Publishing and is available in HB and ebook format. Available in all good bookshops and via amazon link below:
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