If I was Esther Freud I'd be hauling Christine Dwyer Hickey's backside to court quicker than you could say 'get your own bloody ideas', for The Narrow Land shares more than a hint of resemblance to Freud's Mr. Mac and Me. Famous painter living in cute house in semi-isolation with artistic wife - check. Beguiling friendship with a lonely, damaged young boy - check. Artist struggling with his artistic mojo - check. Coastal setting - check. Wartime setting - well, half a check. Freud's book is set at the beginning of WW1, whereas Dwyer Hickey's is set a few years after WWII, but still. No wonder there was such an air of familiarisation to this book.

BUT (and Esther please forgive me - I generally love your writing dearly), I think Dwyer Hickey's novel is better by some margin. Why? Well, for starters there it felt like more of a story was developed in The Narrow Land, which is odd given that on paper Freud had a much more exciting real-life drama to play with in her book. I think Freud excels when she's all about brooding landscapes and emotional tension, and it felt like she begrudgingly squeezed an unwanted plot she didn't know what to do with into the last few pages of the book. Also, Dwyer Hickey is just plain terrific with her characterisation in The Narrow Land, particularly in the way she used different characters to bring out the best and worst sides of Hopper's wife in particular, who was drawn out especially well.

Backing up (and I'll set the knife down now Esther), The Narrow Land tells the story of the intertwining relationships between Edward Hopper and his wife Jo and a family renting a house close by on Cape Cod. Socially prickly and jealously protective of her husband, Jo Hopper's relationship with the Kaplan's gets off to to a poor (and unwanted) start, but as an unlikely friendship develops between Jo and a 10 year old German orphaned boy staying with the Kaplan's, the social net of the Kaplan's draws in the Hoppers, throwing a lens upon the Hoppers and their marriage that they eventually can't avoid looking through.

Whether this US novel by an Irish author stands up to scrutiny by American readers more directly familiar with Cape Cod I can't say, but it certainly worked well for me and my imagination.

This novel was a joy to read, and I'll be looking for more of Christine Dwyer Hickey's books in the future.

4.5 stars - Dwyer Hickey's timing is just spot on in this fine novel. ( )

Slow, interior monologues by Edward Hopper, his wife, “the very boy” (Micha/Michael, a ten year old German refugee) also holidaying on Cape Cod (the Narrow Land) and Michael’s foster mother, which build a haunting portrait exploring (amongst other things) the wait for the creative spark, the guarding of the artist, and the loneliness of being an outsider.

Set in 1950, this is a quiet but powerful novel of loneliness, relationships and the stories we tell, ourselves and others, written with beautiful flowing prose.
Highly recommended if you want a slow read. Slow, interior monologues by Edward Hopper, his wife, “the very boy” (Micha/Michael, a ten year old German refugee) also holidaying on Cape Cod (the Narrow Land) and Michael’s foster mother, which build a haunting portrait exploring (amongst other things) the wait for the creative spark, the guarding of the artist, and the loneliness of being an outsider.

Set in 1950, this is a quiet but powerful novel of loneliness, relationships and the stories we tell, ourselves and others, written with beautiful flowing prose.
Highly recommended if you want a slow read.

The novel won the Walter Scott prize for historical fiction and I thank The Guardian review which brought the book to my attention https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jun/12/fictional-portrait-of-jo-and-edwar... ( )

This is a fine novel, primarily about the older years of Edward Hopper and his wife, intertwined by the story of a young German orphan who comes into their satellite. The Hoppers are pretty destructive, gritty people to each other, with very occasional mellowings. In an era when there was not much opportunity for a woman to be an artist, Hopper’s wife is frustrated by always being in the background of his famous life and jealous of the attention he gets. That Hickey keeps you just about with them, despite them being quite inhospitable people is the skill of a fine writer, but you will wince from time to time.

The story of Michael, the orphan, we mostly see as the guest of the family next door to the Hoppers He has been offered the summer with the family of the woman who placed him with his adopted parents. Out of place in this world, without any memory of his real parents, likely lost in the Holocaust. Not quite what his adopted parents expected. Meant to be a companion to the grandson of the matriarch. He entertains himself as often as he can away from everyone I his hidey-hole, or with the Hoppers in their home when he can. Both boys soften ‘the Aitches’ as they call them.

What Hickey consistently achieves is making you feel what is going on in the minds of these characters. She is also very good on place.

I will certainly be reading more of her books. ( )

Not for me

I was instantly drawn to the cover of this book, which is very eye catching and clearly a good painting. It made me hopeful of what this book might have to offer, tbough, the book itself on the other hand did not stand out, and sadly ‘The narrow land’ failed to grip me and the story failed to gather pace, I really wanted to like this book yet, I just couldnt enjoy it, maybe other readers will, for me, not enough happened and I couldn’t relate to the characters, I did not feel particularly compelled or excited about what was going to happen next or the direction the plot would go, it was a story that I felt perhaps could have been shorter. All in all I did not enjoy this book and probably won’t recommend it.

Publisher’s synopsis:
“1950: late summer season on Cape Cod. Michael, a ten-year-old boy, is spending the summer with Richie and his glamorous but troubled mother. Left to their own devices, the boys meet a couple living nearby - the artists Jo and Edward Hopper - and an unlikely friendship is forged. She, volatile, passionate and often irrational, suffers bouts of obsessive sexual jealousy. He, withdrawn and unwell, depressed by his inability to work, becomes besotted by Richie's frail and beautiful Aunt Katherine who has not long to live - an infatuation he shares with young Michael.
A novel of loneliness and regret, the legacy of World War II and the ever-changing concept of the American Dream.”
Central to this compelling and thought-provoking story are the real-life characters of artists Edward Hopper and his wife Josephine Nivison (although in the story they are referred to by Michael as Mr & Mrs Aitch) and their fictional interactions with a group of neighbours on Cape Cod in 1950. Michael was born in Germany but, orphaned by the end of the War, was brought to America under a President Truman initiative to rescue German orphans and place them with adoptive parents in America. Michael has few memories of his early years, just a very hazy recollection of when he was three and of being hungry, alone and hiding in-between sandbags. Although his adoptive parents, Harry and “Frau Aunt”, are kind to him he has struggled with having to adapt to his new life, to learn English and to “forget” all his German words. In fact, because he worked so hard to do so, he is now able to recall only a couple, but he slightly resents this and is still finding it difficult to feel secure. His anxiety about acceptance and belonging is exacerbated when his adoptive parents, who are now expecting a child and are in the process of moving to a new home, send him to stay with Mrs Kaplan, Richie’s grandmother, and her family for an extended summer holiday. He can’t help but wonder whether they will want him back.
Richie is struggling with his own emotional problems; he is still mourning the loss of his father, who was killed in the war, and is resentful not only of Michael’s presence, but of the fact that his mother has now started a new relationship. The two boys find it difficult to form any sort of bond with each other, but each finds their own comfort in the friendships which develop between them and the Hoppers.
Essentially the story is told through the eyes of ten-year-old Michael and the Hoppers, although the lesser input from Michael’s adoptive mother adds an important dimension. Although it took me a little time to adjust to the very leisurely writing style (in some ways the action seemed to be taking place in “real time”) I soon found myself immersed in both the internal and the external worlds of each of the characters and their interactions. The selfish, self-centred and often extreme behaviour of the adults made it difficult for me to warm to any of them; there were times when it felt difficult to believe that any of them had any awareness of, or empathy with, the complex range of emotions these two young boys were struggling with. However, as their backstories came to light, it did become slightly easier to feel some compassion for them, a reflection of the skill with which the author gradually revealed what was driving their frequently dysfunctional behaviour.
Her psychological insights into the emotional impact of loss and regret, as well as into the effects on people adjusting to a post-Second World War America, a country which, with its involvement in the Korean War, was still in a state of conflict and unrest, were what made this story so compelling for me. It was never a comfortable read because the rawness of the pain of loss, of the insidious damage inflicted by dysfunctional relationships, of unfulfilled dreams, of despair, permeated so many aspects of each of the characters’ lives. However, my despair never became total because there were enough examples of kindness and unselfish acts to enable me to feel that there was some hope for the future. However, I frequently took comfort and pleasure from the author’s wonderfully evocative descriptions of Cape Cod – they brought back lots of happy memories of holidaying there in the 1980s!
As I have known, and enjoyed, Edward Hopper’s paintings for many years, an initial attraction to the book for me was the reproduction on the dust-cover of his 1952 painting, “Sea Watchers”. However, little did I know that he and his wife, would play a central part in this fictional story! Since finishing the novel, I have enjoyed doing some research into their lives and have found that this has added a fascinating dimension to my experience of reading this thought-provoking story.
With thanks to Atlantic Books and Readers First for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )