Review: The Girl on the Swing

Title: The Girl on the Swing
Author: Ali Cooper
Nationality: British
Year: 2010
Publisher: Standing Stone Press
Rating: 9/10
Summary: Beautiful and emotive

The outline

A middle-aged doctor who has lost her son and lost her job is caught up in visions of what she believes are her past lives. But are they true or is there a more rational explanation?

Sample

I am standing on the seafront, on the southwest corner where the road meets the sea, where the steep ramshackle streets meet the crumbly cliff. A cold, brisk, sea breeze burns my skin, stings my cheeks with salt. The sunlight is piercing, icy blue, glaring on the water; it lacks the yellow fullness of summer. The salty fishy smell of the harbour penetrates my nostrils. I wrinkle my nose. I am counting. One. Two. Four. Six. It is a game. I count some more as I stare out towards the streak of purple which lines the horizon. Ten. Twelve. Fifteen. Seventeen. Do I not know my numbers or am I deliberately cheating? Mostly the latter, I think. Suddenly and unexpectedly I reach one hundred. I call out. 'Coming! Ready or not!' My voice has a lilt, an accent that surprises me, as though it is not my own.

The verdict

This is an absolutely wonderful novel and Ali Cooper’s lyrical and elegant writing will stay with you long after you’ve closed the final page. The story expertly mixes modern day tragedy with past life drama which results in a poignant and moving novel. It addresses big themes such as our relationship with the past, relationships across the class divide and the affects of loss and it never fails to hit the mark with them.

Cooper is particularly adept at creating a believable and multi-faceted central character. Every word is written exactly as you would expect it to be by the central character, Julia, a middle-aged doctor who has long self-censored her feelings and ideas in order to conform with her domineering husband and the society that she moves in. I found it extremely refreshing to read a book where a middle-aged woman was the central character.

This is the kind of novel which, if it had been published by one of the big publishers, would have been nominated for a string of awards. That it hasn’t been is undoubtedly the fault of the award-givers and not Ali Cooper.