GABRIEL'S ANGEL by Mark A Radcliffe

I came across this book while looking at the website of the rather wonderful bookshop Much Ado Books in Alfriston. Their recommendation of Gabriel's Angel [£7.99; Bluemoose] was good enough to give it a try and I am thrilled that I did. It is a singularly appropriate recommendation from a shop named after one of the Bards darkest and bawdiest romps, but it offers even more than that, it has a rare tenderness that sits so well alongside the humour. Finding out that that the author is a psychiatric nurse is not a surprise, that this is his first novel is a shock.

What is your idea of hell? A therapy group? In the afterlife? With the person who ran you over you? And a serial assassin and his lastest victim? Gabriel is in just this position, a jaded journalist who has just lost his, not very good, job; and who is going through IVF treatment with his girlfriend Ellie. Not only is he run over, but he awakes only to find himself in a therapy group with two angels, Christopher and Clemitius overseen by Peter. Their job is to encourage the members of the group to do well enough to pass into heaven, maybe return to earth, or hell, or worse - more therapy.

Gabriel is also joined in this group by Julie, the woman who ran him over and subsequently hit a lampost, distracted by just having left her faded-rockstar-and-waster boyfriend,  James. Also joining them are Kevin, a low rent assassin and his latest victim Yvonne, an alcoholic business woman. Kevin's fate is a wonderful fall from disgrace, sheer joy.  The problem is - are they in heaven or hell? Is everything what it seems? Is everyone playing by the rules?

The stirring of all these ingredients and their backstories is deftly done, the set piece black comedy of Kevin's death, the attempt to continue IVF with the comatose Gabriel and the final gathering of James's rock group are worthy of Tom Sharpe at his best.

The tenderness of dealing with those left behind, new loves, old friendships, grief and frustration is a revelation. The dialogue is the work of an experienced hand, not a first time writer.

One of the better known lines from Much Ado About Nothing is "..it is much better to cry at rejoicing, than to rejoice at crying.".  It would be quite possible to cry and rejoice in the sadness and comedy of this wonderful book.

It is a sheer joy. Absolutely marvellous!

P.S. - The author is appearing at a talk for Much Ado books, on 30th March. To find out more click here.

ELEGY FOR APRIL by Benjamin Black

Benjamin Black is the 'nom de plume' of Booker prize winning novelist John Banville, when in crime writing mode. This is his fourth such novel, and the third set in 1950s Dublin with its main protagonist the irrascible, hard drinking pathologist - Quirke.

Indeed early on in this story, Quirke emerges from a period drying-out at the House of St John of the Cross. On his return he is to find that his daughter is concerned that her best friend, April Latimer, has gone missing and has not told anyone in her close knit circle where she was going. April is a doctor and part of a well connected Dublin family, her uncle is Minister of Health and her father was a celebrated leader of the GPO uprising in 1916, become  a great cardiologist before his untimely death. Let the dice roll.

Although the book retains the foggy atmosphere of a depressed Dublin and the traditional hallmarks of drink, bad weather, Quirke's friend Inspector Hackett,and well connected families and above all exceptional writing - There is something lacking. The oppressive, all-enveloping power of the Catholic Church that dominates the previous Quirke novels 'Christine Falls' and 'The Silver Swan' is not as obviously present, becoming more of a matter for ridicule. The complicated relationships within Quirke's family seem to have settled down.

New factors have arrived though, Quirke's [and the Irish] relationship with alcohol are  well examined as is racism in that time. There is a new found lightness to Quirke, typified by his purchase of a car and approach to driving it which adds fun to the most dramatic of scenes.

My main complaint is the closing of the plot, this writing deserves better, it better suits a Val McDermid or similar. It  smacks of being written for TV. With Brendan Gleeson in the role of Quirke, worse has been done!

Being the least good of the Quirke series is no great failing. It is a bit like being called the 'worst' European Cup winning Liverpool team. It is still up there with the best.

SAD NEWS ABOUT LIBRA

Sadly, this will be one of the final pieces for the newsletter from Libra. We have taken the extremely tough decision that we will not be continuing to run the shop at the end of our lease in March. We have put the business on the market, and would sell either as a going concern, in the current location or elsewhere, or would consider separating off stock or fittings that might have some specialist interest to existing businesses, like local history books etc. Our intention is that in the New Year we will be having a major sale and there will be great deals, lots at half price or less, to be had on stock books and CDs. We expect to actually stop trading at the end of February. In the meantime, if we are able to sell all or part of the business, we will let you know.

Amazingly, we have been here for nearly five years and in that time we have seen great changes in both the village and the book trade. When we took over from Chris and Jan, all of the five other shops in ‘our’ little row were under different ownership or branding as were PinUps and Mirabelle, the Post Office, Burnetts, Elizabeth, Dark Horse, Peckish, Sweets and Treats, Flower House, the Vets, Osteopath, Dry Cleaners and Butchers. We have lost a Newsagent, Ironmonger, Travel Agent, two Electrical shops and a shoe shop. And I bet I have forgotten a few! When did this all change? I think the answer is – in the best way, without us noticing very much - evolution.

As for the book trade, revolution has been the message. Two of the three main book suppliers merged and got taken over by Woolworths…enough said. Supermarkets decided that books are a good thing to get into and have discounted massively. And then there is the growth of Amazon which has become dominant in so much of entertainment. Added to this, there is a digital revolution just around the corner - the Kindle has been one of this years ‘must have’ Christmas presents, and in the next year or so electronic readers will become mainstream.

Anyone who has been into Tunbridge Wells recently will be aware of the great changes affecting retail trade, out of town retail parks are thriving, whilst the town centre is struggling. Just as the housewife of the 1950s would have been appalled to have to serve herself, supermarket style - in the first great drive to cut costs and boost margins by Mr Sainsbury – the change we now encounter is also dominated by price and discount, and the ability of the internet to deliver it to our own front door. It is no coincidence that the changes I outlined in Mayfield have been away from selling things to selling services. Fortunately, we cannot get our crooked backs or ailing pets made better by a computer!

The painful reality is that the days of the truly independent bookshop have gone: with a few notable exceptions like Daunts in London, most that are still operating are doing so with some form of personal or cross-subsidy and skeleton staffing or are really coffee shops who sell books. The chains are not safe either - as I write this I see that Waterstones have announced their figures for this year – losses down to £9m from £12m, with falling sales, ie any gains being made by cutting costs, not growth.  In our case we have no space for coffee and tables with books and if we cut anything else we will not actually be open at all and have to draw a line at any more personal subsidy of the business, so the end must come.

I was told by one local businessman that running a business in Mayfield is not so much a financial decision as a form of therapy! Very true! But the value of the therapeutic side should not be underestimated, it is a pleasure to be in business in Mayfield and I will greatly miss conversations with customers on a diverse range of subjects from books, literature and local history to politics, cookery, sailing, American Football and a lot else as well. My own literary horizons have been not so much moved as torn open: thanks to customer recommendations I have discovered (amongst others) Arabic, African, Asian, American and Irish authors who I would never have considered looking at. But I still cannot be persuaded of the merits of Martin Amis and Ian McEwan!  However, I will not miss the daily requests for a book ‘at the Amazon price’, or ‘it’s half that in Sainsburys!’. Sadly, that is the direction we are going in.

Finally, we must say a big thank you to all who have supported us over the last five years, without all those who believe in keeping village facilities going by not grabbing the last penny of discount, we would never even have got this far. Thank you.