#17. Nominated For The Booker Prize – Possession by A S Byatt (Audible)

I purchased this Audible book in February 2021. I found it tedious to listen to, despite the wonderful narration of actor Samuel West, and I stopped listening after the first few chapters thinking I’d try again “when I was in the mood.” At nearly 22 hours long, I couldn’t find the enthusiasm to listen to it.  I noticed that this title crept slowly to the bottom of my list as I continued to buy and listen to other titles which I found infinitely more engaging within the first few minutes of listening to them. 

When I read the blurb, I thought I had been buying an edgy detective novel, but this is a detective work more akin to family history research than a “who dunnit” murder mystery!  As I was looking for titles that had been nominated for the Booker Prize, I remembered that I still had this book to listen to and not only had it been nominated, but it had also won the prize, so it must have something going for it. 

Indeed, the book is cleverly constructed, and I found Sam West read it beautifully, however, it is a book full of beautiful prose and poetry and it is challenging to listen to and remember what’s going on.  If I need to sit and concentrate on a book, then my first choice is a paperback and this is a book you need to concentrate on, and perhaps flick the pages back and forth to remind you of events or look at things again in detail. You can't do this with an audio book and so my experience of the book fell a little short, but I still enjoyed it! 

“Winner of England's Booker Prize 1990.

 Possession is an exhilarating novel of wit and romance, at once a literary detective novel and a triumphant love story. It is the tale of a pair of young scholars researching the lives of two Victorian poets.

 Following a trail of  letters, journals and poems, they uncover a web of passion, deceit and tragedy, and their quest becomes a battle against time.”

Roland Michell is a literary researcher who has recently completed his PhD studying the eminent (fictitious) Victorian poet Randolph Henry Ash. He is frustrated that he cannot find himself a permanent job, however, whilst in a London library, he discovers, hidden in the back of a book that once belonged to Ash, two draft handwritten letters to an unknown woman. Excited by this discovery, he secretes these letters with his personal belongings before returning the book to the librarian. Michell suspects that Ash must have been having an affair and begins to delve deeper to unearth who the letters were meant for. His knowledge of Ash leads him to theorise that the letters were intended for a contemporary of Ash, a minor poet named Christabel LaMotte.

Dr Maud Bailey is both a distant relative and scholar of Christabel LaMotte and Michell arranges to meet her in Lincoln to discuss his hypothesis.  Maud shows him some additional documents which show a likely correspondence took place between the two poets around 1858/59. It would be a significant find for the academics if Ash and LaMotte had been having an affair, as it had been widely understood that Ash was happily married, and LaMotte was probably a lesbian. Michell admits to Maud about the letters he has stolen, whilst she confirms she is intrigued and wants to find out more about the affair. Any academic who managed to discover the truth about the relationship would bolster their career, so Maud and Roland try to keep their research secret; but hot on their heels are another group of scholars including James Blackadder, and American scholars Mortimer Cropper and Leonora Stern, thus much excitement and underhand activities follow in the pursuit of the truth.

Roland and Maud discover further letters which indicate that that Ash and LaMotte gradually start to fall in love with one another through their letters. As Maud and Roland start tracing their footsteps, they too start developing feelings for each other, mirroring the situation they are studying.

Possession cleverly tells the story of both couples in tandem, and it is a witty tale, gently poking fun at detective novels, academics and English eccentricities. If it were seen on stage, it would be described as a "comedy of manners" as it highlights how the English are incapable at talking about their feelings, yet the American characters don't seem able to keep quiet about such things. Nothing is safe under A S Byatt's gaze, academics are ridiculed for being over-ambitious, greedy, obsessed with sex or indeed celibate. 

But it isn't just the characters who are made fun of, the whole detective genre is being mocked. We don't have a male and female police officer or private detective trying to solve a riddle, we have literary academics following a literal paper trail of clues which are unearthed in the various letters, documents and poetry that fill this novel. And that is the great shame of listening to the novel. I have read various reviews about this book where people have been dismissive of the poetry in "Possession." After I had listened to the book, I read some preview pages online, and I thought the poetry was exquisite. What I also realised, was that the poems contained clues to the mystery and were integral to the story; details which pass you by when listening.

What I enjoyed about the book, and again it would work better if you could flip the pages back and forth, is the parallel lives of the two couples. Things that happened in Victorian days were being mirrored in the modern day “couple.” The academics fall for each other in a similar manner that the poets fell for each other. Their attitudes to living alone or sharing a bed were reflected in the lovers’ letters or in conversations between Maud and Roland. All notions about love and loss and ownership were always in their own words.

Byatt not only wrote a story, but numerous love letters, journals and poetry in the classic Victorian style of Ash and LaMotte. As I've already said, it is a book that is cleverly crafted, as the Victorian undertone is also used in the modern encounters between Maud and Roland. Their studying of the wordy Victorians (many authors were paid by the word) leads to Byant doing long, detailed descriptions of simple modern-day tasks such as photocopying. In a J K Rowling novel, I find the unnecessary detailed descriptions annoying, here, they are not out of place on the page and are a joy to savour.

Byatt has lavished on the reader a beautiful poetic tale with characters you genuinely care for, both those in the present, and those in the past. It is a novel filled with genuine warmth and love and I am so disappointed with myself for not being able to take on all the themes that I'm sure I missed on this Audible version.

For me, the most poignant part of the book is the epilogue. In their research, Bailey and Michelle understand that Ash's wife buried documents with Ash's body that may solve the great mystery, and they intend to exhume the buried documents. Upon doing so, they unearth a lock of hair and presume it belongs to Christabel LaMotte. Unlike the scholars, the reader is furnished with the knowledge that Ash briefly meets Maia whilst walking in the countryside and he asks for a lock of her hair. The contents of the box show how truth can be hidden or obscured, both during and after life, and that the great scholars who think they know all the answers can still misinterpret the facts right in front of them!

 

Genre: Fiction, Detective, Historical Fiction, Romance, Mystery

Release Date: 20^th February 2019

Publisher: Audible Studios

Listening Time: 21h 52m

 

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