An Imaginative Experience: A Novel

The book is what I wanted and it arrived on time, was in good shape.

Mary Wesley's charming, witty and poignant novel of grief and love opens with a young woman's impulsive act of mercy, as seen by two men whose imaginations are instantly engaged.Julia Piper pulls the emergency cord to stop a London InterCity train in order to up-end a sheep near the tracks, thereby saving its life. Maurice Benson, a self-described bird-watcher or "twitcher," redolent of alcohol and tobacco, wonders if "there might be a story there."Sylvester Wykes, a newly divorced publisher, recoils at the suggestion. He had received an impression of vulnerability, even despair, from his brief glimpse of Julia and when the train pulls into the station, contrives to prevent Maurice from pursuing her.For Sylvester it seems the incident will end there, but for his occasional musings. But Maurice is determined, partly to revenge himself on "toffee-nosed" Sylvester, to follow it up. "He had what he liked to think of as a flair," developed during brief stints with the police and a private detective. "Neither career had remotely satisfied those who employed him and in consequence had given him small job satisfaction."Wesley's dry and occasionally biting humor serves to underscore Julia's terrible loneliness and isolation. She has, we learn, just lost her child and her ex-husband in a car crash. "Julia's mother raised her voice to a shout. 'It was all her fault, that accident; everyone knows Giles was a terrible driver.' "The story meanders leisurely among the characters as Julia picks up the pieces of her life and Sylvester forcefully puts his own house in order, hiring a cleaner through the notice board in Patel's grocery. They communicate, sight unseen, through notes, until the reader begins to wonder if they will ever meet. The cleaner, naturally, is Julia, finding solace in the resurrection of Sylvester's garden.Meanwhile, the twitcher, growing more odious and bloated with every appearance, stalks her, his petty curiosity turning mean and sinister.Wesley populates Julia's neighborhood with a human comedy of venal sorts, none of them as horrible as Julia's monster of a mother, but all thick skinned to a fault.Discussing a party in Julia's apartment building one neighbor asks another if Julia is invited. "Angie said, 'No one with any nous invites a woman whose partner's a drunk.'" 'But he's dead,' said Janet."Angie said, 'They came once in the early days. He was belligerent, bopped someone on the nose, nobody we cared about luckily, but Peter said we mustn't ask them again. They were contrary to the Christmas spirit.' "But in the way of a tightly contructed novel, which this is, the raucous party brings Sylvester and Julia (and Maurice) together, showing that even awful people have their uses.

Sentimental yet not sappy, this beautiful book is a joy to read. Each word counts, each detail adds meaning to the novel, nothing is wasted. The result is a slim book packed with deeply felt emotion, memorable characters, lively scenes, honest human interaction, not to mention a wonderful dog and an upended sheep. Long live Mary Wesley.

Wesley has done it again! I have read a number of her works, and this is the best yet. Her writing style is very fluent, yet thoughtful as well. Sometimes her books are so steamy that it is impossible to put them down (and this is no exception). I strongly feel everyone should give any of Wesley's novels a try-- YOU WILL NOT BE DISSAPOINTED. Other works of note from Mary Wesley are "The Camomile Lawn" and "A Sensible Life" to name a couple (there are several others, all superb)