FictionReviewA story told in fragments as working-class Lucy finds her way in the modern world
The protagonist of Jessica Andrews’s debut novel is a young woman trying to carve out a place in the world. Lucy moves from Sunderland to university in London, struggles to fit in and survive financially, and then, after graduation, retreats to her late grandfather’s cottage in Ireland. It’s a standard coming-of-age narrative, but also features something very rare in literary fiction: a working-class heroine, written by a young working-class author.
The story is told in numbered fragments, a modish narrative device that doesn’t always work. Saltwater is billed as “for fans of Sally Rooney and Olivia Laing”, but Andrews has little in common with either. You can draw a much stronger line to Sara Baume, whose novel A Line Made By Walking follows a young woman’s breakdown in another Irish cottage, or Jenny Offil’s Dept of Speculation, a masterpiece of the disjointed form. In Saltwater’s case, the fragments suit the protagonist’s youth: though the existence of the internet is barely acknowledged, Lucy is of a generation raised by social media, a medium comprised of brief chunks of text devoted to self-exposure. At the same time, the structure mimics the nature of memory.
The writing is disarmingly honest – sometimes, when it comes to Lucy’s relationship with her mother, uncomfortably so This is a courageous book dealing frankly with youth, puberty, mother-daughter relationships, class, disability and alcoholism. There are difficult truths, but no wallowing.
The brevity of the segments helps to break up the emotional intensity, while stories and anecdotes from Lucy’s upbringing relieve the adolescent angst. This is where the novel shines, in Andrews’s descriptions of Lucy’s friends and family, especially her single mum, her brother, who is born profoundly deaf, and her neighbourhood. Of her grandmother, she writes: “Everything about her was silver; her voice as she sang along to the radio in the mornings, the shiny fish scales caught on her tabard at the end of the day.” In Washington, Sunderland, “Boys at school knew the factory was looming over their future, waiting for them to grow into the overalls.”
There were times when I wanted to hear more about the other characters, but then the entire project is devoted to one young woman’s subjectivity. There is little dialogue, but if the interiority can occasionally feel wearing, it is worth it for its refreshing perspective. Lucy feels the acute tension and anxiety that arises between leaving your community and staying. I found parts of this novel intensely moving – I wish I had read it when I was 19. For those who leave, it will be a balm to know they are not alone. For those who stay, Saltwater tells you there is life elsewhere, but that finding it can tear your heart in two.
Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett’s The Tyranny of Lost Things is published by Sandstone. Saltwater is published by Sceptre (£16.99). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £15, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99.
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