Even When They Know You by Sue Hepworth


published 2019





‘What was he like, then?’ Sarah said. She was wearing jeans and a Breton striped T shirt in cream and green. Jane wondered how many identical T shirts but in different colours she’d seen Sarah in. It was as if it was a uniform.

‘He was OK,’ she said. ‘He was picking up litter.’ She held up the kettle. ‘Would you like tea or coffee?’ Part of her wished she hadn’t asked Sarah in. But Sarah was a good neighbour. She had been very solicitous after Alex left, so that Jane had felt she should explain that the separation had been Jane’s choice. She had also been kind when Loveday died. But because Jane’s job had been all consuming, and then Loveday had been ill and dying, she had never spent time getting to know Sarah properly, and consequently didn’t think of her as a friend. Socialising with her was an effort. She knew, though, that she needed to make that effort. It should be part of her new regime.

‘I’d like coffee,’ said Sarah. ‘Always.’

Jane smiled. Her view entirely.

commentary: It’s a running joke in this novel that Sarah is always wearing a Breton top - and there are an awful lot of them around, they are a uniform in a certain kind of British life. And so they do tell us something about Sarah.

This is the third of Sue Hepworth’s books to feature on the blog – see the others here – and I always enjoy them very much. I was introduced to them by my friend Chrissie Poulson.

They are difficult to describe, and don’t fit into the genres that are bestsellers and being plugged by book publicists: no serial killers, no domestic violence, no questions of whether you can trust the people in your life.

But the book is hugely entertaining, thought-provoking and ultimately uplifting. It is a real, honest-to-goodness novel. Heroine Jane is living her life in the Derbyshire Peak District. She goes out walking, meets up with friends, visits the local town, entertains friends and relations in her rural cottage, does some voluntary work. She is grieving the death of a close friend, and gets upset when others think she should move on. The book makes you realize what an unusual line that is: the death of her friend is such a big deal for Jane, a serious bereavement, and she thinks of her friend all the time. But it is hard to think of another novel where such a loss is in the forefront.
She’d known her for seven years and would never get over losing her. The gap would always be there. People devalued friendship. They thought it was a second-rate love, or a consolation prize for not having a partner. The saps.
But it is also a slowly cheerful book, following the rhythms of the year and watching Jane as she gets more friendly with a neighbour, above, and also meets a man out and about, and does some tentative dating. Her own marriage seems to be on its way out, as her husband has gone to live elsewhere.

The book is full of thoughts and perceptions that I think most people (and particularly women of the right age group) will recognize, and often think that we haven’t seen them written down, however simple they are:
Jane sighed. She made herself think of five things about Willow that she really liked and told herself not to be so critical. She needed to love people for who they were, not be angry and disappointed about who they were not. Then she wondered what she did that drove people crazy.
The book trundles on, told in a different way, with journal entries interspersed with the narration. It is like hearing the story in a relaxed way from a friend. And it is refreshing to hear about the engrossing lives of older people. I loved it, and I’m sure a lot more people would like it too if they could come across it. It is available from Amazon here.

Sue Hepworth is also the ideal Clothes in Books writer because she takes her clothes very seriously, and I always enjoy her descriptions.


        She went upstairs and slipped into her red linen dress… 


She put on her wellingtons, her posh parka with the furry lining (a January sales treat to herself), and the cashmere hat, scarf and gloves..


Both these pics are from Boden, a mail order catalogue that Jane likes.

I also have reason to believe Sue Hepworth likes the brand Toast – I gave a previous heroine a Toast outfit here – so I chose a couple of their looks for Jane, just because I like her.


Comments

  1. You know, Moira, that really is an unusual main point for a book: moving on after the loss of a friend. And it sounds like there's some optimism as well as a realistic look at the grief. That's not an easy balance to achieve. Sometimes, a book can be about a person's life and growth, and yet not be too self-important or 'dragging,' either. Glad to hear you thought this was a good 'un.

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    1. Most enjoyable, Margot, and as I say, ultimately uplifting. And a subject well-worth writing about I think.

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  2. So glad that you loved it, Moira!

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  3. I am even gladder! And yes, I do have a penchant for TOAST, though their prices become more and more ridiculous and mean I can only afford items in the sale (which has always been the case for the heroine of Plotting for Beginners and Plotting for Grownups.)

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    1. So glad to see you here Sue, and I really am recommending your book to everyone. I haunt Toast sales, as reductions just bring their prices down to 'rather expensive' instead of 'absolutely ridiculous'.

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    2. That's so good of you, Moira. Thank you.

      By the way, I have three Breton tops - one a cast off from my son in law, and two others from Racing Green from more than 20 years ago. Do you remember Racing Green?

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    3. Oh my goodness I'd forgotten about Racing Green! I LOVED their clothes, I remember paging through their catalogue choosing outfits. I was feeling rather baby-bound at the time, and their clothes were forgiving, and casual-smart, and a bit different, and I could do it by mail order in those days! They had a 'look' of a long top and narrow below-the-knee (stretchy!) skirt that I adopted for years. You have really taken me back...

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  4. I'm quite old and I wear Breton tops a lot (mostly from Seasalt). Now you've got me wondering what that says about me! I've noticed novelists using the wearing of Boden clothes as a shorthand way of describing someone and it's usually disparaging, implying 'posher than I am'. I'm also a Toast fan but their clothes are expensive.

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    1. Yes, our focus group definitely thinks their clothes are expensive. But lovely...
      And Breton tops are lovely, and the nicest people wear them!

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  5. Be reassured, Sarah in the novel - the one who wears the Breton tops - is a very sympathetic character.

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  6. I will look around for some of Hepworth's books. They are not all easy to find here. But I do have But I Told You Last Year That I Loved You on the Kindle, so that is a start.

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    1. I think you will enjoy her writing Tracy, even though there is no crime element!

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  7. Strangely tempted Moira, though it doesn't sound like my thing at all. There's a wistfulness when thinking about all those that have been in my life at some point and have passed..... family, friends, work colleagues, even people I grew up watching play football or that I listened to their music.

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    1. We've caught you with something non-noir! But I know what you mean, and this book expresses it very well. As I say above, it makes you see that this is not something often dealt with in novels, and Sue Hepworth is to be congratulated in doing it in such a sensitive and relatable way.

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