Changes

Edward Fraser, the primary narrator, is a Cambridge graduate who has chosen to continue his theological studies at Oxford, and becomes good friends with his room mate Stephen, a medical student. He is dismayed when Stephen starts working with the local fallen women, and even more so when Stephen announces he has fallen in love – as he has met Stephen’s beloved, Diana, before.

Darby really overuses the device of enclosing various stories within other narratives. The novel is presented as a bundle of papers left to be opened after Fraser’s death, then there is a letter from him to his son. After telling the story of his friendship with Stephen up to their quarrel, the story flashes back to his Cambridge days. Then there is a long letter from Stephen. There is even a letter from the mysterious Diana herself, introduced by yet another note from Edward. The effect of this structure was that I felt really distanced from the characters, and it made the whole novel feel a bit like an introduction to a main story which never happened. Also, the opening Editor’s note and the letter which forms the Prologue didn’t really add to the storytelling or give any extra insight into the main story, they just made it clear that the narrator is already dead. I like historical novels to take me back into the period when they are set, not to keep reminding me what a distant past they are set in.