North Face: A Novel

Who but Mary Renault would choose to present a novel about the slow, cautious flowering of a love affair in the form of a rock-climber's notebook? From chapter 1 ("Approach from the North") to chapter 18 ("Rescue Party"), she sets the background - on the border of Devon and Cornwall - introduces a small but pungent dramatis personae, clearly shows why the two leading characters are too emotionally scarred to consider any kind of relationship, and then depicts the gradual, often frightfully painful, unfolding of the most intimate relationship in defiance of adverse circumstances. Published in 1948, this was Miss Renault's last novel until "The Charioteer" in 1955 - which was almost immediately followed by "The Last of the Wine", the first of her stream of tremendously popular books set in ancient Greece. As anyone familiar with Renault's books would expect, this is filigree work. Each character is depicted with loving care, from the priggish lecturer and the down-to-earth nurse to the self-consciously middle-class landlady and the predatory young blonde. Convincingly detailed and entirely believable as they are, the supporting characters appear almost two-dimensional, like a static backdrop against which the anguished lovers meet, are instantly attracted, and discover a myriad reasons why they can never find happiness, only to stumble across an almost miraculous redemption. There is a lot to learn in the process of following their story: the hardships of everyday life in austerity-cramped Britain, the rigid codes of behaviour and morals, the feeling that all values had been rendered meaningless by the hideous recent war... While superficially a romantic novel, this book is a whole lot more. If you are interested in what makes people tick, the intrinsic differences between man and woman, the interplay between social conventions and human needs, even what life is (or should be) about - you will find it fascinating and rewarding.

Many layers of truths unfold within this sad and tragic story of love and great, unbearable loss. Beautifully written, this novel delves deeply into the unseen depths of the human psyche as the author slowly reveals the psychological portraits of each desolate character as they struggle to make human connection. Each, caught up in their own painful emotional web, make an abysmal attempt to communicate. With an almost fatal near ending finally, the ultimate truth is revealed, after which the main characters do achieve salvation and the novel ends on a positive note. Emotionally draining, dark, brooding, depressing (but also quite humorous at times!), this novel is very well worth the read if one is willing to put in the time and effort.

This period piece is a craftsman-like story of a group of emotionally wounded strangers who happen to become acquainted by the simple reason that they find themselves on holiday at the same rural inn. The two main characters are rock-climbing Neil and the latest guest, Ellen. They are played off each other by Miss Fischer a nurse and Miss Searle. If those two Misses don't tip you off to a leitmotif in this novel, then you don't know your Mary Renault. The interplay of these characters is overshadowed by the internal turmoil and psychological stress. I won't comment about what occurs because I don't believe in spoilers and the rader were alerted to what occurs, it would destroy whatever dramatic tension which is very little in this book. You may learn more than you will ever want to know about rock climbing and country inn etiquette but at the end you may find that you really don't care too much. This novel is a typical period piece and only suggests of what Mary Renault will produce in future works.

Book arrived swiftly, very good quality. World of Books are a go-to for me.

This is a novel which could be all too easily short-changed! It is interesting, indeed gripping, but needs a little patience at times because there is so much more to it than meets the eye. Neil and Ellen have both had difficult and damaging relationships and these, hidden in their respective pasts, make for dangerous currents and reefs in the waters their present relationship has to navigate. Self-knowledge, as in Renault's other non-Greek novels is at a premium, but in Ellen's case it is too much self-knowledge, or what passes for it that cripples her attempts to respond to Neil. He is a simple, forthright character who knows himself quite well, and can't understand her difficulties... he is often impatient with them, as, at times the reader can be too. Both of them are serious rock-climbers, and their attempts to relate, are compared to the ascent of a difficult and dangerous rock-face. The novel opens with Neil saving Ellen when she has frozen during a climb which she has unwisely attempted all alone, and it ends with Neil facing possible death, as he struggles through a treacherous passage in a climb which he has undertaken in emotional turmoil, unwisely, and of course unpreparedly. As an enrichment of all this, Renault has provided a sort of 'Greek' choral background in two spinsters, one (very prissy) a lecturer at Oxford, and the other (very down to earth) a nursing sister. Both no doubt would like to get their hands on Neil, and as a result are very harsh in their assessment of Ellen, and more particularly of one another. There are delightful satirical reverberations around these two. Many themes that currently trouble our culture, are woven into the story. The most important of these is the suspicion of sexual harassment. A look, a joke, an unguarded comment, almost anything in fact can become poisonous and paralysing in the atmosphere between and around Neil and Ellen... the result is that the narrative slows down here and there. I think however, that this is necessary to the tension Renault is trying to infuse into her story, and indeed for both Neil and Ellen personally, the ascent to love certainly IS laboured and disheartening. Renault seems to be speaking from experience here. It takes time and a lot of patience and fidelity to get to the point where the protagonists can find themselves confident enough with one another to reveal, and come to terms with, the knotted parts of their past experience... doesn't it for all of us? This story is worth its weight in gold.

Not read yet. Bought as the author was recommended.