Book Review: The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst

Reviewed by Nicole Mansour, Berkelouw Newtown

English writer Alan Hollinghurst is often classified as two things: the Henry James of his time, and an acute chronicler of gay experience in London.

His latest work, “The Stranger’s Child”, is his first since winning the Booker prize for “The Line of Beauty”.

Beginning in the summer of 1913, the opening chapter is told through the eyes of sixteen year old Daphne Sawle, whose brother George invites  his Cambridge friend Cecil Valance to their property, “Two Acres”, for a weekend. Unexpectedly, Cecil writes Daphne a poem, making her the lucky recipient, as he could not so easily give it to her brother George, with whom he is having a passionate affair.

There is something reminiscent of McEwan’s “Atonement” in the opening scenes; the young girl with her nose in a book, a stately but not extravagant house and the remains of a sexual secret which continues to have repercussions for decades to come.

And so, the lives of the Sawles and Valances become irrevocably linked from that weekend, remaining so for the remainder of the century. Each new chapter is told through the eyes of some new character – someone irrevocably linked to Daphne in some distant way or other, or someone writing about the ill-fated poet, Cecil Valance. Many of these characters seem to disappear and reappear throughout the novel.

Hollinghurst’s words seem especially to evoke a strong sense of place - the buildings and architecture he describes throughout, regarding both “Two Acres” (Daphne and George’s childhood country home) and Corley Court (Cecil’s family estate, full of nooks and crannies, and the thin shadows of the woods beyond the homestead) almost appear to be characters themselves.

For those who have a need to know what comes next, this book may become frustrating, with its continual disjointedness; still, it is an intriguing look at seeing how we, as humans interpret and re-interpret events that happened in the past.

“The Stranger’s Child” adds to Hollinghurst’s distinguished body of work, if not for its plot, then certainly for its wonderful use of the English language.

Please continue the discussion below

See all Berkelouw book reviews   |  See all Newtown book reviews   |  Go back