Away From You

St Just Thursday Evening Reading Group 7th November 2024.

Away from you. Kay Langdale.

Everyone agreed that this was a very readable book by a good author. It was also a book which raised a lot of issues.

We talked about Monica’s action in furthering her career by leaving her family and spending three months in California: was this a selfish thing to do or was it justifiable? How are women to balance their careers with motherhood, and why do fathers rarely have to make the choice? Is it all right to leave your children with a childminder, and if so, should they be paid more than the minimum wage? How do these views differ between generations? The majority who commented thought that Monica was right to go to California for a short time, but it was noted that she was extremely lucky to find a childminder within four days…

Several people noted that during Monica and Daniel’s temporary separation, they appeared unable to properly understand each other’s worlds. They did not always communicate very successfully; the time difference made it harder; Daniel didn’t tell Monica about his work dilemma; and generally they didn’t seem on the same wavelength. We were not sure what the implications of this might have been.

Ursula was thought to be an interesting character, and in effect the main character of the book. Her interest in and sympathy with children becomes apparent to the reader from the start, even though she had said she didn’t want to work with them. When we find out her reasons for this, we suppose that she took the job anyway because she needed the money, and because twenty years or so had elapsed since her own tragic losses. Even so, we thought, it was a big decision for her to take on Ruby and Liam.

The children were endearing, though several readers commented that Ruby’s observations were hardly those of an eight-year-old child. Some found the descriptions of family life boring, and Daniel an overly perfect husband; others thought he earnestly did his best on his own and was lucky to have Ursula, whose presence in the house he handled well.

The latter portion of the book was extremely harrowing and very hard to read; we did not in fact discuss this to any great extent. We had all been expecting something like it, but this was almost too difficult to contemplate at all. In connection with this, Gideon, we thought, identified as too controlling from the outset (though we had not predicted what he would do).

One reader commented that the cover blurb was misleading, as in saying that Ursula had a ‘dark secret’ it suggests that she is some kind of villain.

This was obviously a very effective book in making its points. Not a light read, but a good one.