Wish Her Safe at Home

Rachel Waring lives in London, works at a boring job and has a roommate she doesn't like very much. When her great-aunt leaves Rachel a Georgian mansion in Bristol, Rachel decides to move there and start a new life. But she invents stories and creates a history for herself that isn't true and imagines relationships that aren't there. Her increased mania leads to complete madness. my review: I put Wish Her Safe at Home on my tbr list after seeing a plea from Aarti at Booklust for people to read this amazing book. Then I decided it would be perfect to review for Spotlight Series on NYBR Classics. This book was an excellent choice, I knew I could trust Aarti! I loved Rachel almost from the beginning. She is 47 years old but you would never know it from her behavior. I enjoyed her manic and crazy conversations probably more than I was supposed to. When Rachel moves to Bristol, she becomes infatuated with Horatio Gavin, a man that once lived in her house in the late 18th century. She buys a painting of him, decides to write a fictional account of his life and generally acts as if he is her secret lover. Until she tries to make it real. Her conversations with the townspeople were fascinating as she lies to them and imagines unreal rebuffs. Here she is at the chemist buying soap, very early in the novel: ...That, to, seemed an unnecessary scrap of information. I definitely wouldn't be returning here. "Then maybe we'll be seeing something of you. Nice" It was almost what he'd said before. This time I wasn't fooled. They could make a dupe out of you once... But in their arrogance they supposed they could go on doing it, time after time after time. She also assumes that a friendly conversation with a vicar has turned and that he is addressing his entire sermon to her. She becomes more manic as the book goes on and becomes friendly with a local gardener and his wife. I loved that you could not always tell what was real and what was Rachel's imagination and I felt pulled into her world. And it really is her own world, she has no idea of what is happening around her. Rachel seemed ageless and though the book takes place in 1981, the time period seemed irrelevant. This book is brilliant and British and Rachel is a fantastic protagonist. She will stay in your mind long after you finish. I also thought this cover was perfect for this book. Highly recommended! my rating 5/5

London spinster Rachel Waring unexpectedly inherits a rundown 18th century mansion in Bristol. She's never owned a home of her own, and after falling in love with the house, she quits her job, dumps her bossy roommate and moves to Bristol. Once installed in the house, she begins pouring her nestegg into renovations. But not content with renovating the house, she begins re-inventing herself too. The house and her new-found leisure give 47-year-old Rachel the illusion that all of life's lost opportunities can be corrected. But left to her own devices and disconnected from the real world, Rachel becomes increasingly strange.... Wish Her Safe At Home is a marvellous read--odd, funny, touching and strangely brave. Rachel is an incredible creation--surely destined to be one of the literary greats. Her heroine is Blanche Debois from a Streetcar Named Desire, and rather like Blanche, Rachel has romantic notions that clash with reality. The novel goes back and forth through Rachel's memories: childhood, the teenage years and a lonely disappoiting youth. Rachel comes into her 'own' in Bristol, but just what that means is the gist of this five star novel.

When Rachel Waring inherits a house in Bristol from her great-aunt. Suddenly she has the opportunity to transform her life from quitting her dull job to freedom from the roommate she dislikes. Now she can turn her attention to the those things in her heart --- beauty and luxury and even writing. As she encounters others, her reactions appear increasingly odd. At times humorous, she says things almost any person could fantasize doing. At times humorous and others sad, Rachel draws the reader into her world. The further one enters her mind's perspective, the more troubling seem her reactions. One wants to keep her safe from all those outside forces that might unmask the word she has created and thus reveal the increasing madness in her perspective. In WISH HER SAFE AT HOME, Stephen Benatar creates a disturbing portrait of a woman's descent into madness as seen from within her mind. As an unreliable narrator, the reader never knows exactly what is real or what is imagined. Although unreliable, Rachel Waring enlists the reader on her side at the same time as her stories increasingly trouble and disturb. Although the author clearly situates the novel in place, Rachel Waring is a character one might find any place. Although set in the early 1980s, Rachel could exist in any time. One could easily imagine tales of one's older Southern relatives as similar --- at least in the beginning. At first glance, Rachel Waring could be anyone, but as the author develops Rachel's portrait, the differences disturb, all the more so as one finds oneself rooting for her over those who might disrupt her world. As her obsessions grow, as her perceptions combine with misunderstandings, Benatar creates both humor and emotional pathos. WISH HER SAFE AT HOME is a brilliant fusing of form and content. One cannot easily fit this novel into a pre-defined genre and therein lies its magnificence, particularly now when often publishers often go for the easy sell rather than literary brilliance. Despite its short page count, WISH HER SAFE AT HOME is a novel that demands reading attention to see the brilliant use of the author's use of narrative voice. WISH HER SAFE AT HOME is a novel with fine, subtle well-orchestrated changes as the novel progresses while immersing the reader in Rachel Waring' voice. WISH HER SAFE AT HOME continues to give more and more upon re-reading(s), making it a keeper for the library bookshelves and a good choice for discussion either in the classroom or in book clubs. An 11 page introduction by British literary critic John Carey accompanies this first paperback publication of WISH HER SAFE AT HOME. Carey defends his choice of this novel for the 1982 Booker Prize against the dissent of other judges. More importantly, his comments provide a key to the brilliance of Stephen Benatar's novel without giving away too much of the novel. Whether one reads the introduction before reading the novel or afterwards, or even both, Carey's analys

Rachel Waring is a middle-aged, plain and common English woman stuck in a dead-end job she hates in 1980. Her best friend is her bitter, chain-smoking roommate. She has never been in love, never been married, both her parents are dead and she has very few friends. Thus, when she receives notice that she inherited her great-aunt's beautiful old mansion in Bristol, Rachel is shocked and thrilled. She visits the house, falls in love with it, notes that it has one of those famous blue plaques on it signifying it was lived in by a (minor and no longer remembered) member of the anti-slavery movement. Confronted with the decision to either continue her real, drudging existence in London, or to create a new, exciting one in Bristol, Rachel chooses completely to go with the exciting one. Even though that way lies madness. And one can't help but admire her for doing so. Her early allusions to her life thus far- painfully awkward and very lonely- make the reader cry out for her. The story is told entirely from Rachel's perspective. You are in her head the way that you are in your own, listening to the internal dialogue. Rachel is a masterfully written unreliable narrator. There are times when, like Rachel, you are not sure what she says aloud and what she says in her head. Stephen Benatar's ability to write this novel points to what a fantastic writer he is. As readers, you have complete, unadulterated access to Rachel's thoughts. When she is uncomfortable, you are uncomfortable. When she is sad, you are sad. When she is rebuffed by someone to whom she tries to make an advance, you feel the sting, too. And that's what is so heartbreaking. Rachel tries so very hard to be happy and warm and friendly, but people avoid her. She has no close friends and those that are kind to her, the reader does not fully trust. Can anyone blame her for turning inwards to a fantasy world of her own making, where everything is perfect? Rachel Waring is a woman who, after an awkward and lonely existence, decides to do something about her life and for a brief, perfect moment, succeeds completely. It's impossible not to cheer her on. I highly, highly recommend this book. It takes place in the 1980s but to me, seemed to take place decades prior to then- I can't quite pinpoint why. The writing is wonderful and the characters are skillfully drawn. And I love, love, love an unreliable narrator!