The Betrayals by Bridget Collins

Synopsis
At Montverre, an exclusive academy tucked away in the mountains, the best and brightest are trained for excellence in the grand jeu: an arcane and mysterious contest. Léo Martin was once a student there, but lost his passion for the grand jeu following a violent tragedy. Now he returns in disgrace, exiled to his old place of learning with his political career in tatters.

Montverre has changed since he studied there, even allowing a woman, Claire Dryden, to serve in the grand jeu’s highest office of Magister Ludi. When Léo first sees Claire he senses an odd connection with her, though he’s sure they have never met before.

Both Léo and Claire have built their lives on lies. And as the legendary Midsummer Game, the climax of the year, draws closer, secrets are whispering in the walls…

Review
Earlier in the year I read Bridget Collin’s first book The Binding which is one of my favourite books of the year, so I was really excited to be given a copy of The Betrayals to read. Montverre is an exclusive school set in the mountains, where the education is set around the contest the grand jeu. A male only school, surprisingly the new Magister Ludi, head of the school is Claire Dryden. As well as the new students, ex minister of culture returns to the school to study the grand jeu, setting off a chain of events that reveal old secerts that could be the ruin of the school and those within it.

The Betrayals has to be one of the most fascinating, origional and intriguing books that I have read. Having read up about the wrtiting of this book I have learned that it is set in an alternative 1930’s and is inspired by the book The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse, which I have now bought as it really piqued my interest. The chapters are from the point of view of Léo, Magister Ludi Claire and an unmaned and mysterious character simply referred to as the rat. As well as the events of in the present, the upcoming pressure of the grand jeu, there are enteries from Léo’s diary from his time at the school twenty years earlier, and his rivalry with fellow pupil Aimé Carfax de Courtney.

For me it was the characters and their relationships that made this book such a fascinating read. Léo has been banished from his job as Minister for Culture and exiled to Montverre under the guise of studying the grand jeu. Being back at the school brings back memories, good and bad of second year there when he was the first second year student to win the grand jeu. He is surprised that the Magister Ludi is now held by a woman, especially as it has always been a male only school. Fom the first moment they meet Claire and Léo are combative in their realtionship, neither paticulary liking the other even though there is chemistry between them. Claire sees Léo as a threat, she thinks he is spying for the ministry and party and wanting to undermine her. She also balmes Léo for the death of her brother Carfax. Through Léo’s diary we see how his relationship with Carfax develops, both wanting to win the grand jeu, both undermining each other at every point. There is also the difference in class, Carfax from a rich and privilaged family, and Léo who has come from a working class family, but riches doesn’t automatically mean happiness. I was gripped by the these two characters and their developing relationship, their interplay and arguments.

I will be honest that at the start I nearly gave up on this book, but I’m so glad I didn’t give up as I really lost my self in the brilliance of the story. My advice with this book is not to get bogged down in the detail of the grand jeu, it is complex, intellectual and it is hard to define; almost like a religion, with the game likened to connecting the divine and the teachers having to be celibate. You can’t get away from the similarity of The Party being like the Nazi Party of the 1930’s. At Montverre most of the students only worship the ideal of the grand jeu, they have admitted students with a religious background, marking their uniform with a cross so everyone knows who they are, and making them standout as something inferior. This is very much like the Jews having to wear stars on their clothes, and The Party go as far as ruling that Chrisitians have to be removed from the school. As well as religion, the themes of class and sexuality are discussed during the book.

I am so glad that I stuck with The Betrayals, as it was such an origional and intriguing read. Bridget Collins’s prose is beautiful, descriptive and lyrical making this such a joy to read. The characters are beguiling and it was their stories that I found the most compelling, their complicated realtionships and the secrets they held. This maybe complex and erudite in parts but it really is worth sticking with, as in full it is an captivating read.