by H E Bates
This was a book group choice. It’s the kind of book I am always pleased to see on the book group’s list, as it is a novel and an author I probably wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. I always feel it’s a bit lazy if the choice of book is one on a current or recent bestseller list, much hyped, because then I think to myself “well, I could have read this anyway if I wanted to”.
Bates – who is probably best known for The Darling Buds of May and its sequels, with the character of Pop Larkin memorably portrayed by David Jason in the BBC TV series of the 1980s – ventures here into more exotic territory. His characters are (well, most of them) still middle-class British people, but the setting is Burma at the time of the Japanese invasion of 1942. This is a road-trip story and doesn’t fail to grip the reader. Most of the characters die on the arduous journey across country into India, but not before we have got to know their individual characters, motivations and foibles very well.
Mr Paterson (we never learn his first name – indeed the only character with more than one name is Connie McNairn, a young woman travelling with her mother, Mrs McNairn) has gathered together the remaining expatriates in the Burmese town where he is the mill governor, and encourages them to leave with him in a convoy of two cars, later the same day. We learn a little about each of the members of the party when they first meet at Paterson’s bungalow: Mr and Mrs Betteson do not have a friendly relationship, and she is seen – not just by her husband – as simple-minded or indeed “mad”. Mr and Mrs Portman are a youngish couple with no children; he is dissatisfied with his lowly job and she is a flirt. The widowed Mrs McNairn has had high hopes for her daughter Connie with Paterson, but Paterson prefers native women and has a resident mistress, the young Nadia who is the sister of his houseboy Tuesday. Major Baird also loves Burma, and insists on bringing his bicycle with him on the back of one of the cars. We later find out that the bike is his insurance against changing his mind, allowing him a getaway option. Miss Alison joins the party later, undecided as to whether to stay on at the hospital (where she is a nurse) or to flee with the others. She is a half-caste and as such, does not belong either to Burma or with the other ex-pats.
All aspects of the colonials’ relationship with their subjects are explored through these various characters. Their progress is hampered by car breakdown, a parting of ways, people turning back, other refugees on the route, a car accident and – eventually – sickness and death.
I found this book entertaining, highly readable and also illuminating, dealing as it does with a time now past, but characters and behaviours that are instantly recognisable.
My score: 8/10
A rug and a book 