'A Long Way From Verona' by Jane Gardam
The name Jane Gardam came up in conversation about two weeks ago and I soon realised that it is one of many names that my eyes have skipped over in the bookshop but that I have failed to explore much further. So, with that very name ringing freshly in my ears, I high-tailed it to my local Waterstone’s (as I am wont to do…I’m sure the staff are sick of the sight of me) and homed in immediately on the Gs. There I found a small selection of works bearing the name, all a similar length and housed in similarly bright jackets. For some reason I took a particular fancy to a book named A Long Way From Verona, I suppose because of the obvious Romeo and Juliet associations.
Published in 1971, Jane Gardam’s A Long Way From Verona tells the story of Jessica Vye, a precocious, some might say obnoxious, thirteen-year-old living in North East England (hurrah) around the time of the Second World War. At the age of nine Jessica has what she calls a ‘violent experience’ which, far from being violent at all, involves an established author telling her that she is 'a writer beyond all possible doubt.' Jessica carries this missive with her through to senior school where, encouraged by helpful and unhelpful teachers alike, she continues to write with a vengeance, eventually even winning a competition in The Times, a feat on which she is congratulated by the very same author who encouraged her in the first place.
A Long Way From Verona is a lovely little novel which is written in a self-assured and seemingly effortless style; as the narrator of her own story (or stories) Jessica Vye is charmingly unreliable, adding extra gravitas to events that most would deem commonplace and, conversely, relaying major events in a childish and ineffectual manner. Indeed, the book has absolutely nothing to do with Verona, or Romeo and Juliet for that matter (unless, of course, I’ve missed something), so the title is at once wholly accurate and a tad misleading…at least to literal-minded dipshits like myself. A Long Way From Verona may not be a literary game-changer, however it is a lovely book to enjoy in a single sitting or over a lazy weekend.
This piece was originally published on alisonlaurabell.tumblr.com in July 2012.