A review by sarahmatthews
The Feast by Margaret Kennedy

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

The Feast by Margaret Kennedy

Read on audio 

Narrator: Colin Mace

Faber & Faber

Pub. 1950, 354pp

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This was my second go at reading this book, I got it on Audible last year but when I started it I must’ve tried to read it while doing too many other things as I was soon confused by all the characters and changes of perspective. This time I took it a little slower and made notes as new characters were introduced, soon got into the story and was gripped.

This is a morality tale, set just after the end of the Second World War, taking place in a seaside guest house called The Pendizack Manor Hotel which is run by the Siddal family. The story revolves around the various guests that come to stay and is told over a period of seven days. The reason for this is revealed in the prologue in which we find out that the cliff is unstable and that the hotel will be destroyed by a dramatic landslide in which some of the characters will be buried.

I enjoyed getting to know the families as we go along with the children being just as integral to the story as the adults. Class is explored through the contrast between the poor Cove children and the well off Giffords who spent the war in the US. I thought the scene on the train where the two families meet and argue over the ownership of the seats was very entertaining.

I also liked the storyline of Nancibel, Bruce and Anna who are all brilliantly drawn characters. As a reader you’re constantly assessing who you’d like to be spared from the disaster and I enjoyed this tension.

There are some great pieces of dialogue in this book, including this marvellous surprising outburst from previously timid Mrs Paley:

“You are not a whole person, nobody is. We are members, one of another.an arm has no integrity if it has been amputated. It is nothing unless it is part of a body with a heart to pump the blood through it, and a brain to guide it. You have no more integrity than a severed arm might have.’

And this stood out from a heated discussion:

“It’s not the government” said Anna, a little uncertainly “any other government would be just the same. It’s the class war, this whole country’s being bitched by anger and spite and intolerance and aggressiveness”

I’m glad I didn’t know the concept behind this novel before I read it as it was so rewarding to piece it together and start to suspect what was coming as the narrative evolved.

This edition is a recent reissue and on Audible Cathy Rentzenbrink is listed as an author so I was expecting to hear her introduction, however, when I pressed play it wasn’t there. Maybe I’m doing something wrong but I couldn’t find anywhere in the app to access it which is disappointing as I like to read the intro once I’ve finished the book.

Overall a great read full of wonderfully observed details and one I’m so pleased I went back to.