I have just recently read Dame Fiona's latest novel 'All Day at the Movies'. Loved it, loved it, loved it. It would seem that it had its roots in this novel, published 15 years earlier. Jessie Sandler is a major character in the earlier novel, not so much in the latter, although her presence is there, lingering in the background. An integral part without integral action.
In this novel, Jessie is in her teens, running away from home - her mother, stepfather and three step/half siblings. The family structure is slightly different in the later novel, but it has no bearing on Jessie's life or how either novel pans out. How clever is that - I wonder if 15 years ago the author knew this character would be resurrected into a slightly different form.
Digressing..... The Violet Cafe is run by Violet Trench, a middle aged woman with a hidden shadowy past. It is the early 1960s, the cafe helmed with steely hands by Violet, is on the shores of Lake Rotorua, or an anonymous town remarkably similar. It would seem her cafe is very popular, a 'pot of tea' being a most popular drink of choice in these hard to come by liquor serving establishments! Violet's employees are young people she has taken under her wing, not necessarily damaged young people, but we do know that attractive young employees attract the most desirable customer base. On running away from her home in Wellington, Jessie turns up at the cafe, promptly taken in by Violet, and so drawn into the lives of those who work there. Violet certainly has her work cut out for her, managing the young women and men who are in her employ. And then there are her patrons, also a diverse and interesting bunch, the small town nature of the community making many of these connections very fraught and ticking time bombs.
Violet is the pivotal character in this novel, right from the very start when some 20 years earlier, in 1943, she rows across the lake said town is sited on, a small Chinese child with her, that she leaves with Hugo, an old family friend and his Chinese wife. Is the child Violet's? Or is it Hugo's? There is something unsettling about this arrival, this transfer of the child, and sudden departure of Violet into the mists of the lake. And ultimately it is this one event that down the years, brings us to the slow rumbling volcano about to blow one night in the cafe.
In a story within the main story, Jessie's story continues with her now a journalist working in Communist controlled Phnom Penh, living in a tiny room at the Foreign Correspondents' Club, seeking out stories, helping refugees, risking her life every day. What happened in 1964 continues to haunt her, and unexpected meetings with some of those from that time, plus her decision to adopt an orphaned girl, force her to make some very tough decisions, and revisit that time in her life.
This is a great read, evenly paced, never slackens. All the characters are interesting, well drawn and multi dimensional, and believable. All of the characters are introduced very early in the story, and all at once, all with a bit of back story, which does mean there is a lot to take in over the first 70 pages. Small town New Zealand of the 1960s is captured beautifully, although I think this story, with these characters and events could actually be set anywhere, with a few tweaks for advancements in communication and possibly medical technology. Which means that it is a novel primarily about people and their relationships with each other, rather than its historical or physical location.
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