Courting Shadows

By the final chapters of this stunning novel, Poster draws a stark contrast between reality and the fiction one man retains to navigate the pitfalls of his environment. London-based architect John Stannard resides for a time in a remote English village in 1881 while executing the necessary repairs on a crumbling church built centuries earlier. A reflection of the architecture of its century, the church is repellent to the young man, who values reason over emotion. To be sure, the architect's arrogance is a defining feature of his personality, an intense awareness of class distinctions and his own superiority to the local villagers. In an early contretemps, when Stannard asserts his will over his helper's concerns, a coffin is dislodged, revealing a woman's body, nearly intact. One of his local helpers, Will Jefford, is badly shaken by a near-escape when the earth collapses around the coffin. Impatiently responding to Jefford's plight, John's lack of tolerance and compassion is striking. Clearly, John is at odds with his environment, unsympathetic towards superstitious villagers and unappreciative of the church's history, rationalizing his judgments with impeccable logic. It is surprising, then, when this haughty man is seduced by the charms of a local beauty, Ann Rosewell, an anomaly in his rigorously controlled life. As Stannard steadfastly debates the merits of his arguments with the pastor and a local gentleman, it is increasingly evident that this opinionated man tolerates only reason and clarity. How then to account for a troubling disturbance of his soul, his fractious relationship with the villagers and tentative romance with Ann? Caught in a world outside the boundaries of his experience, John clings to propriety and outrage, desperate to escape the taint of poverty and pain into which he has plunged. This scathing indictment of class and pride is beautifully rendered, but I almost missed it, mired in the early arguments of the first chapters. Lucky for me, I persevered, enjoying the fruits of a brilliant character study. Luan Gaines/2009.

This novel about an early Victorian architect remodeling an ancient village church was hard to get away from, taking just three sittings to finish. But that anticipated finish felt more like a drifting off point than a finale. I'm still puzzling over the author's choice of ending it how and where he did. Sequel teasing? The major characters were strongly and individually drawn; the protagonist John Stannard was nearly unbearably obnoxious with a stiff, self-obsessed and class-bound personality, yet was tolerable by a small core of genuine vulnerability - he yearned, dreamed, was capable of change. Well, a little change. The most interesting character, and a perfect counterpoint to the cold Stannard, was Mr. Banks, the parish curate who was so richly thoughtful and god-like in his understanding of human nature that I had to re-read several passages of his mental meanderings to appreciate them fully. Ann, the beautiful country girl Stannard encounters was opaque and strange though, and while the reasons for this unfold with the story, she was unable to open any emotional doors for this reader and actually seemed to grow more distorted by the end. And what really happened during their last encounter? Sadly, it's not unusual to meet these unformed, or badly formed women in fiction written by men. What someone like Jem Poster needs is a female colloborator in the creation of his female characters. Just hoping. And that ending. Not to spoil anything, but it was abrupt, weird and unsatisfying, like a song that forgot why it was singing. Perhaps there's a message in there somewhere but was lost on this no doubt obtuse reader. Sequel? Good first job though and I will definitely pick up Mr. Poster's next work. He's a class A+ thinker and writer, and "Courting Shadows" was worth the read just for the pleasure of meeting Mr. Banks and frowning over Stannard.

This novel has to have the most compelling opening sequence ever. I read it with the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. I meant to put it down after ten minutes; two hours later I was still reading. Apparently Courting Shadows is Jem Poster's first novel, but it's hard to believe - it's so assured and dextrous. Characterisation, sense of place, atmosphere, pace, are all handled brilliantly. That the story is so engrossing is remarkable considering its narrator is creepy, unlikeable, and distinctly unreliable. Stannard, an architect, is restoring an old church in a remote location. Digging under an old wall, the workmen he employs hit a coffin - lead-lined. What follows in not a murder mystery, nor love story, nor historical novel, nor even exactly a gothic novel, though it has elements of all of them. It's an intelligent but thrilling literary novel. Read it, and enjoy reading between Stannard's self-absorbed and delusional lines. John Fowles crossed with Ford Madox Ford.