You Can't Help But Fall in Love with This Narrator
WOSU Book Critic Kassie Rose reviews "The Rain Before It Falls."

by Kassie Rose

Jonathan Coe is a British novelist. His newest novel, "The Rain Before It Falls," departs from his typical style of social satire with a story about four generations of women.

The novel begins with a death that leads to a mysterious set of recorded cassette tapes. This isn't a murder mystery, rather a family story where misguided love determines relationships through four generations of mothers and daughters.

It's a page-turner — albeit an uneven one — in which Coe ramps up to his finest story telling once the tapes start rolling.

They're recorded by the now deceased Aunt Rosamund who leaves instructions for her niece Gill, to give the tapes to Imogen, Gill's second cousin once removed.

Gill once met Imogen more than 20 years ago — Imogen was 7 years old, and blind.

Now, Gill can't find Imogen, so she and her two grown daughters listen to the tapes themselves.

Aunt Rosamund uses 20 photographs to jog her memory. Each one becomes a chapter and is described in detail to convey to the blind Imogen what her heritage looked like: the people who came before her, the houses they lived in and the places they visited.

The minute descriptions are required for the blind Imogen, but it's more detail than readers need, and I felt annoyed as it delayed me getting to the substance of the chapters.

It's part of that unevenness I mentioned earlier.

The first photograph is from 1938 when 8-year-old Rosamund is sent to live with her Aunt and Uncle in the English countryside during the war. Here she meets her 11-year-old cousin Beatrix with whom she bonds in friendship. Future photos take us through their schooling, marriages, and family gatherings as well as the mutations of Rosamund and Beatrix's relationship.

Most of the action takes place in London, Birmingham and the English countryside. Photo number 12, though, portrays a scene in the Auvergne district of France with Rosamund, her lover, and six-year-old Thea, whom Beatrix has temporarily abandoned.

Inspired by Canteloube's Songs of the Auvergne, the trip epitomizes a time of perfect love and joy. The music forever reminds Rosamund of the happiest time in her life. Indeed, she is listening to the folksongs when she dies.

Beatrix soon reclaims her daughter, and, through the years, Rosamund witnesses Beatrix abusing Thea — as Beatrix's mother abused Beatrix, and Thea will abuse Imogen, carrying forth a disturbing family legacy.

The novel ends with a letter sent to Gill from Thea in which we learn why Gill couldn't find Imogen. It's an ending that's a bit too neatly wrapped up.

And, perhaps this is a quibble but — I also felt oddly cheated when at the end I realized Gill and her family were narrative vehicles moving the plot and bookending the tapes. I had anticipated they would have had more emotional impact on the story.

There again is that unevenness I'm complaining about, which really is minor because — this is an irresistible family history with a shocking surprise about Imogen's blindness, and a narrator in Rosamund you can't help but to love.

"The Rain Before It Falls" by Jonathan Coe is published by Alfred A. Knopf.

WOSU Book Critic Kassie Rose can be heard Mondays at 12:35pm during NPR's "Day To Day" on WOSU 820.

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