ASH BEFORE OAK
Jeremy Cooper (Fitzcarraldo)
Jeremy Cooper’s latest novel is often so realistic you could be forgiven for thinking it’s a memoir. But it’s fiction, excellent fiction, in the form of a journal following the quotidian existence of a lonely writer living in Somerset. In the opening paragraph of the first journal entry, the narrator, writing about a rose arch he built, declares: “My work is not in itself beautiful, but the act of doing it was, the replacement of a fallen frame, an old rose set to prosper.”
This sets the tone for the next 500 or so pages – the narrator’s subtle introspection, mixed with his keen awareness of the world around him. What makes this novel so effective is how convincingly Cooper constructs his re-engagement with the world, with life. He writes beautifully, in clipped, poetic prose, evoking the rural surroundings in which the narrator finds himself. It is a redemption tale, of sorts, although of the least flashy kind imaginable. There are no Rocky-style montages among the flora and fauna.
One of the biggest strengths of the book, its subtlety, is at times also one of its weaknesses. For the first 50 pages or so, it is easy to wonder why you are reading at all – there are some concise, beautifully evocate descriptions of rural life, but no clear narrative. Yet Ash Before Oak is well worth sticking with: the more you read, the more you want to read. The narrator finds a strange, steady rhythm, and the narrative gently builds to a very moving ending. JOSH REES
Price: £12.99. Info: www.fitzcarraldoeditions.com