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A review by wendoxford
The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski
3.0
PD James wrote the introduction to the edition I read and, on reading it, at the end of the novel, I found myself in alignment with her thoughts. The small assembly of characters could easily be dismissed as wooden or one dimensional but this is not a parody of a stereotypical sickly, consumptive woman.
It defies pigeon holing as Melly lies on her chaise-longue and is "transported" in her febrile state to 1864 as Millie - same malady, same couch, different house in the midst of her own different story and family.
It seemed to me that Laski is merely scattering possibilities and leaving the reader to draw from their own reserves to join the dots. It drills down into that familiar disorientation experienced as you drift off to sleep, that moment of transient truths. Such a clever way to kick linear narrative into the long grass.
It defies pigeon holing as Melly lies on her chaise-longue and is "transported" in her febrile state to 1864 as Millie - same malady, same couch, different house in the midst of her own different story and family.
It seemed to me that Laski is merely scattering possibilities and leaving the reader to draw from their own reserves to join the dots. It drills down into that familiar disorientation experienced as you drift off to sleep, that moment of transient truths. Such a clever way to kick linear narrative into the long grass.