Bliss and blunder by Victoria Gosling

 Bliss & blunder by Victoria Gosling

published 2023

 

Bliss and Blunder is funny, and sad, and delightful, and thought-provoking.

I’m surprised I’ve seen so little about it online – I thought it was wonderful, a really clever engrossing book, a very literary murder mystery, a wonderful picture of the world today, with a straight line referring back to the Arthurian legends, and a compelling picture of an area of England, and a modern rural way of life, that doesn’t feature in books much. The picture of the two available covers of the book show the contrast:

- - which I've tried to reflect in my two top pictures. 

The author has taken the myths of Arthur and his Knights and placed them in modern life. Arthur is a tech bro: a billionaire whose computer company is based in Wiltshire, where he grew up: he employs all his old friends from the village, and he and the beautiful Gwen married young, and are living a life of uneasy luxury. Everyone knows each other, or is related, there are three generations of the families.

The book starts with a lavish 40^th birthday party for Gwen: people have gathered and there is a very difficult atmosphere, because there have been threats and leaks concerning Gwen. She is the subject of online trolling, and now maybe something worse. What is her relationship with Arthur’s friend Lance?

Twenty years before, the kids from the school bus were starting to head off into life. A young girl, Carly, was murdered in a barn. Several of the lads went in to the army, and to Afghanistan. Gwen fell out dramatically and disastrously with her great friend Morgan – who left the area completely, and has just come back to (kind of) gatecrash the party. Arthur started his company, and he and his mates still play football, eat pizza, have barbecues.

There were so many things to love in this book: fabulous writing, and wonderfully real scenes despite the touch of magic and the unknown. It was a brilliant picture of life then and now – the school, the bullying, the awful maleness, the mentions of ‘the carpark behind the co-op’, the bus into the nearby big town. And strangely convincing that the huge computer corporation can exist there, and yes the scenes of the tech boys were spot on too. And bad news intrudes too - drugs, cannabis-growing and people-trafficking, and a feeling that violence may be lurking ready to intrude at any point.

There’s a lot to be said for Jilly Cooper (and I said it here), and her Rivals on the TV last year was a great source of ridiculous joy, but this is a much better and more balanced picture of life in the West of England for both rich and poor.

And convincing, despite the underlying atmosphere of myth and legend. You can keep matching up people and events with the stories of King Arthur. You don’t have to know much about Arthur to enjoy the book, but it does add something. Shakespeare’s Falstaff is also a village character, and there are scenes and quotes from Henry IV, and other echoes of the plot.

The title comes from the Middle English poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, in a description of the kingdom of Britain –

wherein have been war and waste and wonder

And bliss and baneful blunder

By turns make man their toy.

(a rough translation)

I loved the very varied women, and their relationships – not all sweetness and light, but really well done. Morgan’s self-image problems are dealt with in a matter-of-fact way, and there is the comradeship amongst the women, with visits to the beauty shop. No sentimentality, but these women have known each other, and each other’s families, for a long time.

One of my favourite aspects was the wonderful portrayal of Gwen and Morgan and their brief firework-like friendship, doomed to crash and burn. Aspects of it will be familiar to many women – but I think there aren’t many really convincing portrayals of this exact kind of friendship in literature. Nancy Mitford’s Pursuit of Love shows it, and it was done particularly well in the recent TV adaptation.  There is Animals by Emma Jane Unsworth, which took its title from Frank O’Hara - a great poem about the friends you have when you are young.

‘O you
were the best of all my days’

And maybe surprisingly – the musical Wicked is a show about teenage girls’ friendships, and has sublime moments: ‘because I knew you I have been changed for good.’

I LOVED this book, and will now read Victoria Gosling's previous novel, Before the Ruins, and look out for anything coming in future.

Ralph Lauren, obviously, for some of the pictures. The tweed jacket, for Gwen going out on her much-loved horse, is the one that I bought with my first paycheck after returning to work (the photo is not me) as explained here. Surprisingly little clothes description, so I felt free to impose my own views of what characters might have worn…

The top b/w photo is by photography pioneer Julia Margaret Cameron, illustrating the story of the Arthurian Guinevere (ie Gwen). It’s from the Preus Museum of Norway, which has a stunning collection of photographs – I have only just discovered it, but shall be visiting again…