A review by sarahmatthews
The Ballad of Peckham Rye by Muriel Spark

dark funny tense medium-paced

The Ballad of Peckham Rye by Muriel Spark

Read on audio

Narrator: Elizabeth Proud

Published 1960, 143pp

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This is a story which really starts at the end; a young woman, Dixie, is jilted at the altar and the narrative then rewinds several months to explore the run up to that day, in Spark’s quirky and unique style. We find out that many locals blame a newcomer, Dougal Douglas, for stirring up trouble and a few believe him to be the Devil himself!

Dougal’s a Scottish arts graduate who’s moved to London to be near his girl, Ginny, taking a room in lodgings (with Humphrey, the groom from the wedding) in Peckham. He’s got a ghost-writing commission for a retired actress, but also takes a job (in fact he sneakily takes two!) at the local textiles factories who’re following the current trend to employ an “arts man” to modernise the business and increase productivity. 

Dougal is a brilliant creation, someone who knows how to influence and charm others. His interviews are very entertaining as his youthful confidence and self assurance allow him to take charge:

“Dougal put Mr Druce through the process of his smile which was wide and full of white young teeth…Mr Druce couldn’t take his eyes off Dougal, as Dougal perceived. ‘I feel I’m your man” dougal said ‘something told me so when I woke first thing this morning’ …Mr Douglas leaned forward and became a television interviewer. Mr Druce stopped walking and looked at him in wonder.”

He’s told to make the job his own and proceeds to charm the factory workers into sharing personal experiences in the name of ‘human research’. he takes notes for his reports and to embellish his book for Mrs Cheeseman which is meant to be largely autobiographical, resulting in some funny conversations when she tells him off for making too much up!

Everyone around him is caught up in this chaos as he advises people to take Mondays off, allows the local gang to believe he’s working for the police and shows people the scars where he’s had his ‘Devil’s horns’ removed.

I loved the depiction of South East London, including pubs and dance halls, the old English garden and bowling green at Peckham Rye, and One Tree Hill. At one point Dougal and Merle Coverdale, the head of the typing pool, walk through Camberwell Old Cemetery and pass through the ornate tombs:

“He posed as an angel Devil, with his humped shoulder and gleaming smile and his fingers of each hand wide spread against the sky”

There are references to the Devil throughout but it’s never clear if he’s meant to be the literal Devil or not and I liked this ambiguity.

There were also some great scenes of scuffles on the Rye, indicating the simmering violence that continually threatens to erupt in this darkly funny novella. I recommend going back and reading the first chapter again when you finish, so clever!