I recently took a break from genre reviewing (science fiction, fantasy, horror, etc.) with a period historical novel by an author I've never read, Annabelle Marx, but from a publisher that I've enjoyed books from, Storm Publishing. The description sounded interesting: Someone translates mysteries because a loved one is obsessed with them. The main action happens in 1930s Europe, but after a brief memorial service scene, the book starts with the meeting and burgeoning friendship of two English Wren nurses in Malta in 1918. In 1936, Vee is missing, presumed drowned, but Edie doesn't believe it.
I'm not much of a drinker, so I didn't love how Vee initiated Edie into the dubious joys of heavy drinking, but Edie did enjoy seeing how boundaries could be crossed and sometimes even flouted. The Malta chapters were warm and wonderful, and both women looked back on that time as the best of their lives. Eventually, however, Vee accepted social pressure and married the man whom her parents approved; conversely, Edie took a job in a London hospital to escape her father's control. Vee had a glamorous life with hidden sorrows and suffering, while Edie took quiet pride in her skills as a social worker and administrator.
They kept up an erratic correspondence, sharing secrets, occasionally criticizing each other's choices but also supporting each other. I enjoy a good epistolary novel, and this book is at least half composed of these letters. The other parts are third person past tense.
I enjoyed the period details of fashion and lifestyle. I've read a fair amount of interwar-period fiction (mysteries, Wodehouse, some serious authors like Remarque), and I never saw anything that struck me as anachronous. I quite enjoyed Edie telling Vee about the new writers she was enjoying, such as Christie and Sayers, and Vee's occasional response about more literarily respected authors like du Maurier.
There are a few other characters of interest, including a much-tried male friend, an unexpectedly sympathetic relative, the husband and his associates, and a bookseller. I would have liked to see some more explanation/motivation for some discreetly heroic servants, who really go above and beyond what any reasonable employer could expect, but there was genuine affection there, too, so it didn't bother me too much. I'm also slightly skeptical of the lenience of Edie's employers in letting her take long vacations every year, but it's Europe, not America, and she's depicted as extremely competent, so they put up with it.
I'll admit that the title of this book was an attraction for me, because I'm interested in linguistics and the struggles of translating concepts and idioms that aren't quite the same in different languages. However, translation is not really central to the plot, although it does play a part. The title does have the advantage of not giving much away, so there's that.
I do wonder what would be going to happen next in the lives I've read about here, as part of the plot concerns the looming World War II. I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel, but this book feels very complete in itself, and so I don't expect one.
