SALTASH BOOKSHELF REVIEW

CROME YELLOW by Aldous Huxley 1921
The book is set in the relatively genteel world of a post first-world war country house party. And the passing of ninety-odd years has added a certain nostalgic piquancy to this.
In some ways the opening chapter is the best and it almost comprises a short story in it’s own right. It could almost be viewed as a precursor of the magnificent first chapter of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited written over a quarter of a century later. And you’ll love it if you’re a railway buff.
The tone & the pace of the novel is very much like the country house weekend that is described. It is not hectic, but rambling, comfortable, and diverse. It is not heavyweight literature, and borders on the Saki-esque with throwaway lines like one character’s comment: “Yes, the war was something of a holiday. It was a step beyond Southend, it was Weston super Mare; it was almost Ilfracombe”.
The protagonist Denis is young, poetic, and insecure. He feels misunderstood in the way only a very young poet can be. He is hopelessly and romantically in love with his married and hostess and her diffident daughter. He finds the other house guests - a very diverse mix of real characters – and their conversations on art, history, morals, & philosophy a rather rich and heady brew. The guests include the annoyingly rational but amoral Scogan. the brutalist painter Gombaud, and some beautiful young girls including the blonde Mary who very badly wants to learn about free love.
Crome Yellow is a tactile novel. Scenes and emotions are described in spare but clear detail. Denis’s insecurities are achingly and vividly portrayed. Host Henry Wimbush’s boringly obsessive tales of dwarfish predecessors and Ivor and Mary’s youthful night-time conversations under the stars, way up on the roof: these remain in one’s mind.
And in the background, pervading everything, is the old house of Crome and it’s curious history.
©Tony Swain May 2010

A Newer Testament by Jean and Stanley Lewis.
Gerald Ferguson from Basingstoke – late of the Inland Revenue; husband to Janice, father to John, granddad to little Rose; habitué of the garden, the greenhouse, the loft and the Virgin and Screwdriver; and armchair devotee of Reading Football Club – gets selected to write the third great testament of the age.
It's an appalling decision but the lady in the visions seemed very sure of herself. On the Pope’s advice, and watched over by his Vatican-appointed minder, he sets off to circumambulate the coast of Britain in search of inspiration. He encounters a series of inappropriate characters only too keen to pass on their unique views on the world. A voyage of discovery in 13 instalments.
More Details & How to purchase

Discovering the River Tamar – John Neale.
This is the story of the 50-mile stretch of the River Tamar, which forms a unique county boundary between Devon and Cornwall. The Tamar's source is East Youlstone near Bude less than 4 miles from the north Cornish coast. But instead of flowing northward into the Atlantic Ocean it flows slowly south. When it reaches Plymouth Sound the river merges with the rivers Tavy, Plym and Lynher to form the Tamar Valley, an area of outstanding natural beauty. The river has some 20 road crossings, including some medieval stone bridges, and the famous Tamar Bridge, opened in 1961 which carries the A38 and the Royal Albert Bridge built in 1859 by Brunel ,to carry the railway from Devon into Cornwall. Amberley Publishing £12.99.