Categories: uncategorized
Date: 17 April 2008 23:26:36
Time for one of the 50p books I purchased at the hospital last week.
Iris & Ruby by Rosie Thomas was an unexpected gem of a book.
This book is a beautiful story, with three heroines, 82-year-old Dr Iris Black, her distant daughter Lesley and her stroppy 18-year-old granddaughter Ruby.
At 82-years-old Iris is living in a big old dusty house with two Egyptian servants who are almost as old as she is. Her quiet world is interrupted when her difficult granddaughter with piercings and major attitude lands on her doorstep from England. They have barely spoken for years as Iris does not get on with her daughter, but somehow Ruby persuades Iris to let her stay. During the course of the book Ruby encourages Iris to talk about her early years, living in Cairo in the 1940's when she was working as a civilian for the military. The story unfolds of Iris' great love for a soldier called Xan who died during the conflict and the impact this had on all her subsequent relationships. The book beautifully captures the bustling streets, the horror of war and the loss of every person involved in the conflict. It also shows modern day Cairo, the tourism and the historical parts of the city and the descriptions of the place are vibrant and rich and made me want to visit to see whether it really is like that.
The relationship between Iris and Ruby is initially tenuous and yet it develops into a deep and respectful love, and as Ruby's confidence in her own person develops her softer, kinder and more gentle nature appears. In so many ways this relationship reminded me of the the relationship I had with my Gran Nora. Gran would talk a lot about her experiences of living in Guernsey during the Occupation. At times she would repeat herself and yet I would find a deep need in myself to ask her questions and try and share with her some of those memories. I miss Gran a lot, and yet I know I shared some really special times with her. In particular just before I came home after Christmas I went to visit her in hospital after her fall. As my flight was leaving in the afternoon the nursing staff allowed me to visit in the morning, outside of visiting hours and we shared a whole uninterrupted hour and we talked and talked and then Gran prayed with me. What a precious memory as she died 8 weeks later. I miss her very much.
Anyway, it is a long time since a novel affected me so deeply. I couldn't put it down, and every time I picked it up I felt I was transported to a different world. It is a beautiful story of fragmented families, strong, rich and painful histories and the reconciliation that can happen when people make the decision to talk, and to talk honestly.