Should You Ask Me
- Marianne Kavanagh
- Jun 14, 2017
- 1 min read
This is an unusual and quirky story set in wartime 1944 with two past timelines giving the personal lives of Mary and William.
William was injured earlier in the war and now has a desk job as a police officer in a sleepy town in Dorset. His back story is just a couple of years earlier but he has a lot of hang-ups and carries a lot of guilt about his survival over others during his time serving in the Army.
Eighty-six year old Mary's back story is the book's main storyline and when two bodies are unearthed during the war, she feels compelled by past knowledge and guilt to hand herself in as being responsible for the bodies.
The way Mary tells her story to William, the police officer taking her statement, is a work of art. She goes off at tangents (all relevant to the plot) and rambles her way through what happened all those sixty-two years ago, irritating William by her long-winded way of telling who the bodies are and how they died. There is not a moment of boredom for the reader, it is a cleverly crafted book full of nostalgia and pathos, but annoys the life out of William with her taking a whole week in giving her statement.
This is a beautifully written book, quite unusual in its style of telling, and certainly one I would recommend to my friends.
http://www.mariannekavanagh.com/