The Long Shadow by Celia Fremlin

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Faber & Faber; Main edition (1 Nov. 2018)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571348106
• ISBN-13: 978-0571348107

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis

Jolted from sleep by the ringing of the telephone, Imogen stumbles through the dark, empty house to answer it. At first, she can’t quite understand the man on the other end of the line. Surely he can’t honestly be accusing her of killing her husband, Ivor, who died in a car crash barely two months ago.

 

As the nights draw in, Imogen finds her home filling up with unexpected Christmas guests, who may be looking for more than simple festive cheer. Has someone been rifling through Ivor’s papers? Who left the half-drunk whiskey bottle beside his favourite chair? And why won’t that man stop phoning, insisting he can prove Imogen’s guilt?

 

Review

I have to admit that I had never heard of Celia Fremlin until I was kindly given this book to review by Faber Faber.  Celia Fremlin published eigheen  books before her death in 2009, and won an award for her first novel The Hours Before Dawn in 1960.  The Long Shadow is an antidote to the more bright, fun and romantic Christmas reads.  I am guessing the setting is in the 1960’s, no date is given but 1958 is mentioned at one point and is referred to as a few years ago, and the plot centres around Imogen, newly widowed, who late one night answers the phone and finds herself accused of killing her husband by a man she recently met at a party.  Whilst dealing with the effects of this accusation, Imogen has further troubles when her husbands family turn up for Christmas and strange occurrences keep happening.

What jumped out to me about The Long Shadow first was the traditional writing style, it is a book very much of its time, the 1960’s.  This is in no way a bad thing, I love a traditional book and it’s more formal use of the English language. This book is a classic thriller, with a touch of Domestic Noir to it.  Most of the action takes place in Imogen’s house, where we feel a bit like a voyeur to the family dynamics and relationships. This gives Celia Fremlin a great opportunity to include some shrewd observations and inject some dark humour.

If we are honest, we all like to see how others live and what goes on behind closed doors, especially when there is friction.  Imogen finds herself, and her house, taken over by her late husbands family; her step children Robin and Dot, Dot’s husband Herbert and their two sons, Robin’s friend Piggy and her husband’s, Ivor, second ex wife Cynthia. It is almost a psychological experiment having all these people in one place and all with different agendas and very different personalities. What comes through is how people’s memories can change after someone dies, they only remember the good and even create false memories.  Grief, greed and revenge can make people do the strangest things, and as the characters clash and the tension increases strange events start to happen; Ivor’s manuscripts mysteriously move rooms, books appear on his old desk next to a glass of his favourite Whisky, could there be a ghost, or is someone playing tricks on them.

The Long Shadow is classic thriller that looks at the human condition and how grief effects people and makes them question the reaction of those around them.  It is a slow burner where the suspense builds, and tension causes family arguments, until all the clues of what happened to Ivor finally come together and are solved.  A darkly different read for Christmas for those who like more thrills than tinsel this Christmas.