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Axon Family #1
Every Day Is Mother’s Day
From the author of the Man Booker prize-winners ‘Wolf Hall’ and ‘Bring Up the Bodies’ comes a story of suburban mayhem and merciless, hilarious revenge.
Barricaded inside their house filled with festering rubbish, unhealthy smells and their secrets, the Axon family baffle Isabel Field, the latest in a long line of social workers.
Isabel has other problems a randy, untrustworthy father and a slackly romantic lover, Colin Sidney, history teacher to unresponsive yobs and father of a parcel of horrible children. With all this to worry about, how can Isabel begin to understand what is going on in the Axon household?
Barricaded inside their house filled with festering rubbish, unhealthy smells and their secrets, the Axon family baffle Isabel Field, the latest in a long line of social workers.
Isabel has other problems a randy, untrustworthy father and a slackly romantic lover, Colin Sidney, history teacher to unresponsive yobs and father of a parcel of horrible children. With all this to worry about, how can Isabel begin to understand what is going on in the Axon household?
226 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1985
261 people are currently reading
1528 people want to read
About the author
Hilary Mantel
123 books7,852 followersHilary Mantel was the bestselling author of many novels including Wolf Hall, which won the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. Bring Up the Bodies, Book Two of the Wolf Hall Trilogy, was also awarded the Man Booker Prize and the Costa Book Award. She also wrote A Change of Climate, A Place of Greater Safety, Eight Months on Ghazzah Street, An Experiment in Love, The Giant, O'Brien, Fludd, Beyond Black, Every Day Is Mother's Day, Vacant Possession, and a memoir, Giving Up the Ghost. Mantel was the winner of the Hawthornden Prize, and her reviews and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, and the London Review of Books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 260 reviews
August 22, 2025
Dark and gothic, this was a great debut novel ☺️
August 27, 2016
I love Hilary Mantel. Her writing has such precision. She misses nothing and finds exactly the right way to phrase her observations.
Unfortunately, even her skill did not save Every Day is Mother’s Day. This was Mantel’s first book, the story of a mentally unfit daughter, her disturbed mother, the social worker assigned to their case, and the married man who sleeps with the social worker. There is an undercurrent of supernatural malevolence thrown in for good measure.
The writing is not quite as polished as it is in Mantel’s later books, but it’s still very good. What I couldn’t handle was the unrelenting dreariness. The characters are all unhappy people living bleak, miserable lives, but they are all so horrible to each other, so mean and malicious, that it’s hard to feel much for any of them. On Wikipedia, they call it a “black comedy,” which really stretches the definition of comedy. (A Place of Greater Safety, Mantel’s novel about the French Revolution, is more cheery.) There are some highlights here, like a dinner party that really is amusing, where nothing escapes Mantel’s keen eye and sharp tongue, but aside from that, this book is weaker than her later novels.
Unfortunately, even her skill did not save Every Day is Mother’s Day. This was Mantel’s first book, the story of a mentally unfit daughter, her disturbed mother, the social worker assigned to their case, and the married man who sleeps with the social worker. There is an undercurrent of supernatural malevolence thrown in for good measure.
The writing is not quite as polished as it is in Mantel’s later books, but it’s still very good. What I couldn’t handle was the unrelenting dreariness. The characters are all unhappy people living bleak, miserable lives, but they are all so horrible to each other, so mean and malicious, that it’s hard to feel much for any of them. On Wikipedia, they call it a “black comedy,” which really stretches the definition of comedy. (A Place of Greater Safety, Mantel’s novel about the French Revolution, is more cheery.) There are some highlights here, like a dinner party that really is amusing, where nothing escapes Mantel’s keen eye and sharp tongue, but aside from that, this book is weaker than her later novels.
July 12, 2012
Her 1st novel and it's excellent. It’s grim, brooding and infinitely entertaining; this author’s raw talent as a storyteller is immediately evident. The main character is Muriel Axon, a mentally handicapped shut-in who lives with her equally dysfunctional mother Isobel. Another key player is her barely functioning social worker who is more focused on her married lover than dealing with Muriel & her mother's problems. Despite the subject matter this is a surprisingly funny novel, the humour is very British and decidedly dark. If you like it don’t miss its sequelVacant Possession
July 26, 2019
“Give me time,” she said mockingly. “That’s the anthem of the married man. Give me time while I make my excuses, give me time while I sort out my head. Just another week, just another decade, just till my wife understands. Be reasonable, give me time, just till my children grow up, give me time. And what do you suppose time will give to me?”
Evelyn and her disturbed daughter Muriel live together in a small, claustrophobic house, shunning social services or any sort of help from the outside world. When Muriel becomes pregnant, the need for solitude pushes them both over the edge. At the same time Isabel, who works for the Social Services is trying over and over to get into the house to see Muriel, but is never allowed. (I get the impression that Evelyn is suffering from some form of Munchausen By Proxy, because she treats Muriel pretty badly and keeps trying to tell her that she's not well over and over again.)
Isabel then decides to go to an evening class where she meets married man Colin, who begins to fall for her quite hard whilst stuck in an unhappy marriage with his wife Sylvia.
The main question is whether Muriel will ever get the help she desperately needs, and does she even want it?
This is the strangest book I have read in a long time. It's sort of funny, but also it's very dark and the topics raised are a bit OTT. It felt like Mantel was given full reign to write the oddest story she's ever had a nightmare about and couldn't resist peppering it with nasty little moments for added crunch. None of the characters are very nice, so it's almost impossible to warm to any of them. A weird first novel, so strange to think this is written by the same person who wrote Wolf Hall...
Evelyn and her disturbed daughter Muriel live together in a small, claustrophobic house, shunning social services or any sort of help from the outside world. When Muriel becomes pregnant, the need for solitude pushes them both over the edge. At the same time Isabel, who works for the Social Services is trying over and over to get into the house to see Muriel, but is never allowed. (I get the impression that Evelyn is suffering from some form of Munchausen By Proxy, because she treats Muriel pretty badly and keeps trying to tell her that she's not well over and over again.)
Isabel then decides to go to an evening class where she meets married man Colin, who begins to fall for her quite hard whilst stuck in an unhappy marriage with his wife Sylvia.
The main question is whether Muriel will ever get the help she desperately needs, and does she even want it?
This is the strangest book I have read in a long time. It's sort of funny, but also it's very dark and the topics raised are a bit OTT. It felt like Mantel was given full reign to write the oddest story she's ever had a nightmare about and couldn't resist peppering it with nasty little moments for added crunch. None of the characters are very nice, so it's almost impossible to warm to any of them. A weird first novel, so strange to think this is written by the same person who wrote Wolf Hall...
March 30, 2025
If you mostly know Mantel for her Thomas Cromwell trilogy, her debut novel, a black comedy, will come as a surprise. Two households become entangled in sordid ways in 1974. The Axons, Evelyn and her intellectually disabled adult daughter, Muriel, live around the corner from Florence Sidney, who still resides in her family home and whose brother Colin lives nearby with his wife and three children (the fourth is on the way). Colin is having an affair with Muriel’s social worker, Isabel Field. Evelyn is dismayed to realize that Muriel has, somehow, fallen pregnant.
Everyone in this short, spiky novel has been neglected by or separated from a mother, and/or finds motherhood oppressive. The picture is bleak indeed. Colin and Florence’s mother is institutionalized; Muriel’s pregnancy is an embarrassment to be hidden; childbirth is a traumatic memory for Evelyn: “She had been left alone to scream, on a high white bed. … The parasite was straining to be away.” But you’ll find humour and delicious creepiness here, too: a dinner party so atrocious you have to laugh; Evelyn’s utter lack of manners and house that seems to be haunted by poltergeists. The offspring of Barbara Comyns and Shirley Jackson, this is also reminiscent of Muriel Spark or early Margaret Atwood.
I could see the seeds of future Mantel (Evelyn is a retired amateur medium – a precursor of the psychic in Beyond Black) but enjoyed this for its own sake. Very annoyingly, when I started reading this and saw on Goodreads that it has a sequel, I glanced at the page for the latter and there was a huge spoiler. Harrumph. Not sure I’ll read Vacant Possession, but this was strong evidence that it’s worth diving into the back catalogue of big-name authors.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
Everyone in this short, spiky novel has been neglected by or separated from a mother, and/or finds motherhood oppressive. The picture is bleak indeed. Colin and Florence’s mother is institutionalized; Muriel’s pregnancy is an embarrassment to be hidden; childbirth is a traumatic memory for Evelyn: “She had been left alone to scream, on a high white bed. … The parasite was straining to be away.” But you’ll find humour and delicious creepiness here, too: a dinner party so atrocious you have to laugh; Evelyn’s utter lack of manners and house that seems to be haunted by poltergeists. The offspring of Barbara Comyns and Shirley Jackson, this is also reminiscent of Muriel Spark or early Margaret Atwood.
I could see the seeds of future Mantel (Evelyn is a retired amateur medium – a precursor of the psychic in Beyond Black) but enjoyed this for its own sake. Very annoyingly, when I started reading this and saw on Goodreads that it has a sequel, I glanced at the page for the latter and there was a huge spoiler. Harrumph. Not sure I’ll read Vacant Possession, but this was strong evidence that it’s worth diving into the back catalogue of big-name authors.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
December 29, 2022
A strange book this, apparently the author's first novel. Evelyn Axon is a retired medium, increasingly tormented by spirits in her squalid house - though it becomes clear that at least some of the phenomena are due to her seemingly mentally disabled daughter, Muriel. A parallel interwoven thread follows the latest social worker assigned to their case, Isabel, who is new to the job and already doubting her suitability. She becomes involved with Colin, brother of the Axons' neighbour Florence, although it is not until late in the story that they realise the connection.
Colin is unhappy in his marriage to Sylvia and aggravated by their noisy self-absorbed children. The course of his affair with Isabel is well described and like everything in the book carries an air of depressing gloom. Black comedy elements include the stultifying Christmas scene at Colin's family home and a dinner party he and Sylvia attend which gives Abigail's party a run for its money.
It becomes clear nearer the end that Evelyn's deceased husband was a monster - so it's no wonder that her perception that he has been reincarnated tips her over the edge into taking her final horrendous action. She had only married him because her aunt and uncle, who had taken her in at the age of thirteen when her father died and her mother went into a nursing home, gave her the ultimatum four years later of marrying an employee of her uncle's or being evicted. I found one sentence in her backstory OTT and unbelievable - "She cried as the taxi took her down the drive, not because her childhood had been happy, but because crying passed the time." Some of the incidents in the book are obvious attempts to crank up the misery level and it becomes absurd at times. None of the characters are sympathetic and given all this I can award it only 2 stars, for the quality of the writing.
Colin is unhappy in his marriage to Sylvia and aggravated by their noisy self-absorbed children. The course of his affair with Isabel is well described and like everything in the book carries an air of depressing gloom. Black comedy elements include the stultifying Christmas scene at Colin's family home and a dinner party he and Sylvia attend which gives Abigail's party a run for its money.
It becomes clear nearer the end that Evelyn's deceased husband was a monster - so it's no wonder that her perception that he has been reincarnated tips her over the edge into taking her final horrendous action. She had only married him because her aunt and uncle, who had taken her in at the age of thirteen when her father died and her mother went into a nursing home, gave her the ultimatum four years later of marrying an employee of her uncle's or being evicted. I found one sentence in her backstory OTT and unbelievable - "She cried as the taxi took her down the drive, not because her childhood had been happy, but because crying passed the time." Some of the incidents in the book are obvious attempts to crank up the misery level and it becomes absurd at times. None of the characters are sympathetic and given all this I can award it only 2 stars, for the quality of the writing.
January 26, 2013
All I can say is, don't read this when you're pregnant. You'll end up convinced that you've made a terrible mistake, that family life is a horror, that you are on a downward chute toward abject misery. As soon as you put down the book, you'll realize the author is presenting a one-sided view of that lifestyle. But while you're reading it, you'll feel like you're mucking about in a dirty toilet bowl.
For this, I would give the book zero stars. Which may not be entirely fair, since Mantel's not responsible for when I chose to read her book. But even if I weren't huge with child, I will say that I prefer books written with warmth and heart. Perhaps this just wasn't a book for me.
Also, there is a huge coincidence midway through the book that I found pretty unbelievable.
On the other hand, Mantel's writing style is so crisp, lucid, and memorable that I'm willing to throw in a couple of stars just for that. Perhaps her approach, when applied to different subject matter, would appeal to me. The truth was that I was looking for 'Wolf Hall' and the bookstore was out of stock--and thus, the reading of this book. Ugh. I finished it just to see how low the narrative could drag the institutions I hold dear--parenthood, family life, romance. The answer was, pretty low. Mantel does not seem to believe in love.
For this, I would give the book zero stars. Which may not be entirely fair, since Mantel's not responsible for when I chose to read her book. But even if I weren't huge with child, I will say that I prefer books written with warmth and heart. Perhaps this just wasn't a book for me.
Also, there is a huge coincidence midway through the book that I found pretty unbelievable.
On the other hand, Mantel's writing style is so crisp, lucid, and memorable that I'm willing to throw in a couple of stars just for that. Perhaps her approach, when applied to different subject matter, would appeal to me. The truth was that I was looking for 'Wolf Hall' and the bookstore was out of stock--and thus, the reading of this book. Ugh. I finished it just to see how low the narrative could drag the institutions I hold dear--parenthood, family life, romance. The answer was, pretty low. Mantel does not seem to believe in love.
May 9, 2025
33rd book read in 2025
I have been unwilling to read The Mirror and the Light, the final volume of the Wolf Hall trilogy, ever since I bought it during the pandemic to help my favorite Indie bookstore. It has been longer than that since I finished the second volume, Bring Up the Bodies. I am worried that I don’t remember enough to follow the story. I probably need to start over with Wolf Hall but who has the time?
Hilary Mantel published 12 novels during her writing career. I decided to go back to her first one which I also owned. In an interview I learned that her major interest was history. The first one she wrote was A Place of Greater Safety, about the French Revolution. She had poured years into researching and writing it, having a wonderful time doing so. But she was not able to sell it to a publisher.
Thus, she decided to write something shorter and more current. Every Day Is Mother’s Day was her first published novel. She admired Muriel Spark, who had always sold well, so she tried to write that sort of thing, and it worked! Though I must say I feel she outdid Ms Spark in creepiness, which is saying something.
The titular mother is Evelyn Axon who practices as a medium. Her daughter, Muriel, is mentally challenged. The two live in crumbling squalor, isolated from their neighbors. Evelyn herself is full of superstitions and fears. She is certain there is an entity in the house that moves things around.
Social services has assigned a social worker to help with Muriel, which is not going well at all. When it becomes evident that Muriel is pregnant everything weird rachets up several notches.
The writing is excellent, the humor sharp, and the tension builds like a Patricia Highsmith novel. I cannot say I loved this novel, but I did admire the skill of the author. If you are looking for a horror story this would do.
I have been unwilling to read The Mirror and the Light, the final volume of the Wolf Hall trilogy, ever since I bought it during the pandemic to help my favorite Indie bookstore. It has been longer than that since I finished the second volume, Bring Up the Bodies. I am worried that I don’t remember enough to follow the story. I probably need to start over with Wolf Hall but who has the time?
Hilary Mantel published 12 novels during her writing career. I decided to go back to her first one which I also owned. In an interview I learned that her major interest was history. The first one she wrote was A Place of Greater Safety, about the French Revolution. She had poured years into researching and writing it, having a wonderful time doing so. But she was not able to sell it to a publisher.
Thus, she decided to write something shorter and more current. Every Day Is Mother’s Day was her first published novel. She admired Muriel Spark, who had always sold well, so she tried to write that sort of thing, and it worked! Though I must say I feel she outdid Ms Spark in creepiness, which is saying something.
The titular mother is Evelyn Axon who practices as a medium. Her daughter, Muriel, is mentally challenged. The two live in crumbling squalor, isolated from their neighbors. Evelyn herself is full of superstitions and fears. She is certain there is an entity in the house that moves things around.
Social services has assigned a social worker to help with Muriel, which is not going well at all. When it becomes evident that Muriel is pregnant everything weird rachets up several notches.
The writing is excellent, the humor sharp, and the tension builds like a Patricia Highsmith novel. I cannot say I loved this novel, but I did admire the skill of the author. If you are looking for a horror story this would do.
February 20, 2022
Mantel dazzles,even in her first novel.
January 20, 2019
Wow! Mantel's first published novel takes the reader to a very dark place indeed. I didn't really want to be there, but I couldn't look away, because it was and is all so possible. Despite the grim central story and the depressingly miserable secondary characters, there are some funny moments, not least a dinner party attended by Colin, one of the supporting cast, and his wife. A gathering of more poisonous and pretentious people would be hard to imagine.
Brilliant stuff, but anyone reading it needs to be in a cheerful frame of mind!
Brilliant stuff, but anyone reading it needs to be in a cheerful frame of mind!
July 15, 2012
A bit like watching a train wreck. Very grim. England, 1970s. Characters with serious, sad, issues. No one to like. And yet, I finished it. I was interested. I wanted to find out what happened. Many of the threads were not tied up. We were just left to understand why people were so messed up. Clever writing, interesting sentences, interesting associations and descriptions. But not necessarily an experience I would wish on anyone.
March 24, 2018
Always wanted to read Hilary Mantel. Wish I hadn't waited so long. Now I have lots of good stuff ahead of me. This was an odd book and reminded me a bit of the late, great Ruth Rendell's psychological portraits of really strange English families. I'm looking forward to reading some of her newer books.
November 5, 2022
Was very dark and depressing. A tougher read than the previous 2 Mantel standalone books that I read recently .
Deals with mental illness, social isolation, dealing with inner demons and putting up a brave front
The title was intriguing and a reference to it was finally made in page 161 of my copy.
I actually started with it's sequel...and then realized there was a prequel...
And once I am mentally strong enough will go on and read the next book.
Deals with mental illness, social isolation, dealing with inner demons and putting up a brave front
The title was intriguing and a reference to it was finally made in page 161 of my copy.
I actually started with it's sequel...and then realized there was a prequel...
And once I am mentally strong enough will go on and read the next book.
November 7, 2011
I love reading prose like Ms Mantel's: brisk, precise and compelling. It's a relief to be able to read two of her books in succession after having slogged through weightier tomes, which is no slur on any of the writing involved nor, indeed, a comment on any of the stories conveyed. But the elegant readability of her language, the way it doesn't ever snag or get in the way of the story: it's like slipping into a comfortable robe at the end of the day. Refreshing and, like the work of Muriel Spark's that it's been compared to, exceedingly crisp.
That said, I'd expected more of a horror element to this book, given the reviews. The ambiguity as to the "tenants" was interesting, as was the reason the police dug up the garden and, of course, the whole thing with Muriel and her condition. I enjoyed how Ms Mantel left so much to the reader's imagination, though I do wish she'd expanded more on Evelyn's trade. I didn't really find the book creepy, though. Grotesque, in that the characters do some really hideous things, but not at all scary. For that, I give the book 3 stars: it's very well-written, but it doesn't evoke the tension that a book like, say, Beryl Bainbridge's "The Dressmaker" might. It's a comfortable read, which pretty much defeats the purpose of the story.
I also thought it misleading that the back cover blurb makes Colin sound like a peripheral character. I found him to be the moral, if flawed, center of the story, as most of it revolved around him and the near-absurdist situations he found himself in. This, for people who've been following my somewhat contentious discussion regarding The Marriage Artist, I thought a near-perfect example of a protagonist who isn't also the hero: again, a refreshing use of prose.
I received this book gratis from Picador.
That said, I'd expected more of a horror element to this book, given the reviews. The ambiguity as to the "tenants" was interesting, as was the reason the police dug up the garden and, of course, the whole thing with Muriel and her condition. I enjoyed how Ms Mantel left so much to the reader's imagination, though I do wish she'd expanded more on Evelyn's trade. I didn't really find the book creepy, though. Grotesque, in that the characters do some really hideous things, but not at all scary. For that, I give the book 3 stars: it's very well-written, but it doesn't evoke the tension that a book like, say, Beryl Bainbridge's "The Dressmaker" might. It's a comfortable read, which pretty much defeats the purpose of the story.
I also thought it misleading that the back cover blurb makes Colin sound like a peripheral character. I found him to be the moral, if flawed, center of the story, as most of it revolved around him and the near-absurdist situations he found himself in. This, for people who've been following my somewhat contentious discussion regarding The Marriage Artist, I thought a near-perfect example of a protagonist who isn't also the hero: again, a refreshing use of prose.
I received this book gratis from Picador.
October 15, 2010
Mantel is, as they say, a witty writer and I keep turning page after page with interest. She's not above preposterous coincidence or straight-faced pun. (Mrs. Axon is something of a medium who reaches out like an axon to trasmit messages to the other side.)
But you must understand that all the characters in this book are a joyless lot whose lives are so empty they cannot for the most part even find ways to struggle for something better. Colin struggles, ineptly, and fails. Murial struggles and succeeds with some horrifying consequences. Mantel is also able in a few deft pages to show us the worst middle class children I can remember reading about. Maybe its a black comedy as reviewers are wont to say, but the comedic elements are not in the tale but in little nooks and crannies, in some of the absurdities, and in the really good satire of a character who has little connection with the story.
In spite of my occasional real laughter, both characters and story are depressing. Short of egregious generalizations to which some reviewers are given, its tale of northern English emptiness has little to say to readers who sometimes know love, fear, uncertainty or any of the other emotions. Unlike Experiment in Love, itself pretty grim, this novel does not make me want to think more about it. Yet maybe someday I'll read the sequel,Vacant Possession; after all, she is a great writer and keeps you entertained even if you feel depressed in the process.
But you must understand that all the characters in this book are a joyless lot whose lives are so empty they cannot for the most part even find ways to struggle for something better. Colin struggles, ineptly, and fails. Murial struggles and succeeds with some horrifying consequences. Mantel is also able in a few deft pages to show us the worst middle class children I can remember reading about. Maybe its a black comedy as reviewers are wont to say, but the comedic elements are not in the tale but in little nooks and crannies, in some of the absurdities, and in the really good satire of a character who has little connection with the story.
In spite of my occasional real laughter, both characters and story are depressing. Short of egregious generalizations to which some reviewers are given, its tale of northern English emptiness has little to say to readers who sometimes know love, fear, uncertainty or any of the other emotions. Unlike Experiment in Love, itself pretty grim, this novel does not make me want to think more about it. Yet maybe someday I'll read the sequel,Vacant Possession; after all, she is a great writer and keeps you entertained even if you feel depressed in the process.
May 24, 2017
not finished, just started, but so far: 1) the 'medium' 's connection to the other world isn't, so far: far from being creepy and supernatural, it's just about someone deluded; 2) it's a sharp, sharp satire on social manners, so far. I can't understand all the reviews about 'the characters are unloveable' or 'there's no plot': it's very clearly a satire of manners and mores and the recent past in little england, why are you expecting 'nice' characters or a 'plot'?
the problem is the whole, not the pieces and parts. The later trick in the book, more common now, of interspersing beautiful writing with sarcastic comic writing works well. The dinner party isn't good, it's dull and improbable, but the Christmas scene before it is perfect. Warning: her characters speak in scintillating wit, all of them.
or: the telling, the book, is fine, you'll enjoy reading it, the affair in particular is perfectly written and the denouement revealing what Evelyn really senses - the 'other world' and what the 'biting and scratching' she feels really is (separately, near the end) are shocking, unexpected and believable - but what you're left with as the sum total in your mind after reading the book is the bad bit, hence 2. Not much really. But as a reading experience, very good
the problem is the whole, not the pieces and parts. The later trick in the book, more common now, of interspersing beautiful writing with sarcastic comic writing works well. The dinner party isn't good, it's dull and improbable, but the Christmas scene before it is perfect. Warning: her characters speak in scintillating wit, all of them.
or: the telling, the book, is fine, you'll enjoy reading it, the affair in particular is perfectly written and the denouement revealing what Evelyn really senses - the 'other world' and what the 'biting and scratching' she feels really is (separately, near the end) are shocking, unexpected and believable - but what you're left with as the sum total in your mind after reading the book is the bad bit, hence 2. Not much really. But as a reading experience, very good
October 22, 2022
"At first she had said, ‘Mother, Mother,’ and Evelyn thought it was ‘Murder’ she had called out in the dark.”"
The first book of Dame Mantel was a sign of things to come. As a fan, I could see the threads of future books like Beyond Black and A change of climate. Standalone the book was a tease that did not land so convincingly as a black comedy and leaves you in a dark place.
Imagine in the first chapter you are shown a seance and a medium and her autistic daughter who the ghosts will trouble. And then the story moves on to a social worker and her affair with a cheating husband. Slowly she connects many dots while unraveling horror of a totally different nature where ghosts are involved. And in this book none of the mothers turn out in good light.
The Axons - Evelyn and her daughter Muriel live on their own in a house filled with meddling ghosts. Muriel is autistics, shut-in and is almost bullied by Evelyng in the name of protection and yet the unthinkable happens - Muriel is pregnant. Here there is enough possbilities thrown in- including the supernatural.
Social service worked Isabel is trying to succeed where multiple predecessors failed. On her personal life front, she falls in love with Colin Sydney who is trying to leave his wife and three kids (and failing miserably). In her dramatic life, she misplaces the social service file on Muriel and leaves Muriel at the complete mercy of her mother. Colin's sister Florence is the Axon neighbour and has a bit of family hatred going on with the wife.
The characters seem to be in debates and ponderings on family life and chapters till Ms.Mantel reveals flashes of "horror" from the Axon family. There is one almost Wodehouse-ish dinner where everything goes awry and a convenient plot development. The role of social services as a thankless job is potrayed through caricatures and there is almost empathy in asking the question "How do you expect them to care for others?". Of course the adultery angle that has to be kept under covers is a silly plot device.
On the plus side - it is a showcase of potential. RIP Ms.Mantel.
The first book of Dame Mantel was a sign of things to come. As a fan, I could see the threads of future books like Beyond Black and A change of climate. Standalone the book was a tease that did not land so convincingly as a black comedy and leaves you in a dark place.
Imagine in the first chapter you are shown a seance and a medium and her autistic daughter who the ghosts will trouble. And then the story moves on to a social worker and her affair with a cheating husband. Slowly she connects many dots while unraveling horror of a totally different nature where ghosts are involved. And in this book none of the mothers turn out in good light.
The Axons - Evelyn and her daughter Muriel live on their own in a house filled with meddling ghosts. Muriel is autistics, shut-in and is almost bullied by Evelyng in the name of protection and yet the unthinkable happens - Muriel is pregnant. Here there is enough possbilities thrown in- including the supernatural.
Social service worked Isabel is trying to succeed where multiple predecessors failed. On her personal life front, she falls in love with Colin Sydney who is trying to leave his wife and three kids (and failing miserably). In her dramatic life, she misplaces the social service file on Muriel and leaves Muriel at the complete mercy of her mother. Colin's sister Florence is the Axon neighbour and has a bit of family hatred going on with the wife.
The characters seem to be in debates and ponderings on family life and chapters till Ms.Mantel reveals flashes of "horror" from the Axon family. There is one almost Wodehouse-ish dinner where everything goes awry and a convenient plot development. The role of social services as a thankless job is potrayed through caricatures and there is almost empathy in asking the question "How do you expect them to care for others?". Of course the adultery angle that has to be kept under covers is a silly plot device.
On the plus side - it is a showcase of potential. RIP Ms.Mantel.
July 28, 2011
I read this several months after reading it's sequel (Vacant Possession). So I had an inkling of where the story was headed to, but this didn't spoil the story at all.
This is very well-written, economical, convincing. The dark humour doesn't undermine the seriousness of this sharp satire of 1970s Britain. It's a world where people hate their stupid pointless jobs, cannot work out why they sire noisy ungrateful smartarse kids, resist the urge to murder their oppressive paranoid parents... or do they? A succession of social workers try but fail to make any difference whatsoever to their clients' miserable lives.
The small cast of characters are carefully interlinked, and frequently only the subtlest hints point to what is really going on. Miss a sentence or two and you'll miss the resolution of one of the threads (for example the link between Isabel Field the Social Worker and Muriel, her client, who has become pregnant, is not solely professional. But you could easily miss why!)
There are some excellent set-pieces, for example Christmas Day at the Sidney home - the author captures the grinding tedium of it, the exchanges of rubbishy presents, the maddening turmoil of the hyped-up children, how utterly anti-climactic it cannot fail to be.
The dinner party at Frank's is also quite brilliant, possibly even more excruciating than Abigail's Party.
Definitely recommended, but while Vacant Possession stands up perfectly well on it's own, reading the two books in the correct order is probably the way to go!
This is very well-written, economical, convincing. The dark humour doesn't undermine the seriousness of this sharp satire of 1970s Britain. It's a world where people hate their stupid pointless jobs, cannot work out why they sire noisy ungrateful smartarse kids, resist the urge to murder their oppressive paranoid parents... or do they? A succession of social workers try but fail to make any difference whatsoever to their clients' miserable lives.
The small cast of characters are carefully interlinked, and frequently only the subtlest hints point to what is really going on. Miss a sentence or two and you'll miss the resolution of one of the threads (for example the link between Isabel Field the Social Worker and Muriel, her client, who has become pregnant, is not solely professional. But you could easily miss why!)
There are some excellent set-pieces, for example Christmas Day at the Sidney home - the author captures the grinding tedium of it, the exchanges of rubbishy presents, the maddening turmoil of the hyped-up children, how utterly anti-climactic it cannot fail to be.
The dinner party at Frank's is also quite brilliant, possibly even more excruciating than Abigail's Party.
Definitely recommended, but while Vacant Possession stands up perfectly well on it's own, reading the two books in the correct order is probably the way to go!
August 9, 2013
This is quite a debut novel. And Muriel Axon is quite a character. This is a book of very black humour, an odd and quirky story, and is probably quite British (of the 1970s variation)... "Happiness seems a bit ambitious" remarks Isabel Field and this does seem to be the case for most of the novel where Colins interesting method of staving off too much despair by playing a recording of Sousa marches because "you wouldn't kill yourself after that -- after you'd marched about a bit. It would be too ridiculous." Full of little details like that and mad surreal moments, and some scary ones too. Such a hard novel to describe, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
July 30, 2012
I loved this book! It's quirky and a little disturbing but also a really fun read. Mantel really knows how to let a story unfold, giving away enough information - but not too much - as you get to know the characters. In many ways, it's like getting to know people in real life. You take the available information, make assumptions or educated opinions about the person based on that information, and revise as necessary. The final third of the book really became an intensely fun build. I couldn't put it down once the momentum started going!
August 11, 2014
The first book by one of my favorite authors is a nasty piece of work. Practically all the characters are ugly and horrible, and I was pleased that the book was only 225 pages, as that was about all I could take of their company. It left me feeling appreciative that at some point in her career, the author stopped trying to be Martin Amis and started being, well, Hilary Mantel.
July 20, 2010
a tale of horror told chiefly by implication
September 11, 2013
A mostly grim book with one or two comic moments. I only read the book because I was on holiday and had run out of novels. Recommended if you enjoy misery.
October 26, 2022
I didn’t find this comical but can appreciate it as there are many, many scenes of mayhem.
The writing is exquisite as it painted the complexity of a mother-daughter relationship and a marriage (that is a habit) but is kind of reinvigorated after an affair and a daredevil feat to get hold of a missing file that is sensitive.
I liked how the story hinted at some things – where in putting these together it was hard to believe how short this novel is as there is a lot going on; seamlessly, effortlessly, Hilary Mantel intertwines her characters in each other’s lives to produce a wonderful kind of chaos.
I loved the ending – the suggestion that Muriel’s state of mental health maybe really down to a haunted house – right throughout there are hints of the supernatural – but the supernature stays in the background as the story really focuses on the bizarreness of the everyday ordinary.
The writing is exquisite as it painted the complexity of a mother-daughter relationship and a marriage (that is a habit) but is kind of reinvigorated after an affair and a daredevil feat to get hold of a missing file that is sensitive.
I liked how the story hinted at some things – where in putting these together it was hard to believe how short this novel is as there is a lot going on; seamlessly, effortlessly, Hilary Mantel intertwines her characters in each other’s lives to produce a wonderful kind of chaos.
I loved the ending – the suggestion that Muriel’s state of mental health maybe really down to a haunted house – right throughout there are hints of the supernatural – but the supernature stays in the background as the story really focuses on the bizarreness of the everyday ordinary.
October 22, 2022
Excellent Mantel writing.
Other than that? Miserable low life characters in mostly self made obnoxious and majority disastrous situations.
Fun to read or any ion of inspirational? 1 star.
Emotional cretin land tale. She got so much better.
Other than that? Miserable low life characters in mostly self made obnoxious and majority disastrous situations.
Fun to read or any ion of inspirational? 1 star.
Emotional cretin land tale. She got so much better.
July 4, 2017
I love Mantel's writing but, man, this book is unrelenting. It starts off dark and just gets darker. Misery and more misery. And the ending disappointed me. So . . . I'll stick to her short stories, which I love, and Wolf Hall.
April 20, 2016
Vor langer Zeit hat Evelyn Axon einmal als Medium gearbeitet und Kontakt zu Verstorbenen aufgenommen. Seitdem scheint im Haus die Zeit stillzustehen. Evelyn und ihr inzwischen verstorbener Mann waren stets für sich geblieben. Das war vermutlich auch besser so; denn Evelyn hatte ihren eigenen Kopf und sah nicht ein, ihre Wäsche so auf die Leine zu hängen, wie ihre Nachbarinnen es für richtig hielten. Wir befinden uns im Jahr 1973, als britische Milchmänner die Milch noch in Flaschen vor die Tür stellten und man eine Telefonzelle suchen musste, um von unterwegs jemanden anzurufen. Evelyn lebt mit ihrer vermutlich geistig behinderten Tochter Muriel zusammen. Muriel ist in der Schule zweimal sitzen geblieben und anschließend in der Sozialbürokratie verloren gegangen. Was genau ihre Behinderung ausmacht, bleibt ungeklärt. Muriel könnte ebenso gut völlig normal sein. Vielleicht ist sogar Evelyn das Problem; denn sie hört Stimmen und wird von frechen Wesen in ihrem eigenen Haus bestohlen, geschubst und schikaniert. Das Haus verfällt langsam. Evelyn kann keine Glühbirne auswechseln, wüsste vermutlich noch nicht einmal, wo man so etwas heute kauft. Sozialamt und Jugendamt versuchen, Evelyn dazu zu bringen, Muriel in eine Tagesstätte für Behinderte zu schicken. Schließlich kann Evelyn nicht ewig allein für Muriel sorgen. Doch Evelyn verhält sich den Sozialarbeitern gegenüber feindselig. Wer die Briefe an Evelyn und die Aktennotizen über Mutter und Tochter Axon liest, den wundert das nicht. „Bitte zögern Sie nicht, uns zu kontaktieren,“ schreiben sie immer wieder. Die Ämter scheinen um ihrer selbst willen zu existieren und nicht zum Wohl der Klienten. In dieser ohnehin beklemmenden Situation gibt es Anzeichen, dass Muriel schwanger sein könnte. Mutter und Tochter sind nicht in der Lage, Hilfe von außen anzunehmen, so dass man für die Schwangere und ihr Baby nun das Schlimmste befürchten muss.
In ihrem ersten (1985 erschienen) Roman erzeugt Hilary Mantel eine beklemmende Situation mit grotesk bis boshaft gezeichneten Figuren. Außer Mutter und Tochter Axon treten die Nachbarin Florence auf, deren Bruder samt Familie und Geliebter und mehrere Sozialarbeiter. Die raffinierte Verknüpfung der Figuren miteinander war für mich erst allmählich durchschaubar. So kompliziert hätte die Konstellation für meinen Geschmack nicht sein müssen. Der dargestellte Konflikt ist - erschreckend - zeitlos, wenn Menschen ohne Hilfe von außen nicht mehr zurechtkommen, diese Hilfe aber vehement und mit allen Tricks ablehnen. Gerade das Wissen, dass die Autorin selbst als Sozialarbeiterin tätig war, ließ mir hier entsetzt die Haare zu Berge stehen. Die Vorgänge im Haus Axon sind unbestreitbar gruselig; sicherlich könnte man sich darüber auch empören. Das Buch hat in seiner Trostlosigkeit bei mir ähnliche Gefühle ausgelöst wie McEwans Der Zementgarten oder O’Donnells Bienensterben. Wer die genannten Bücher schrecklich fand, wird mit Mantels Erstling vermutlich nicht glücklich. Wer jedoch ihre listige Art der Personenbeschreibung schätzt, liegt hier richtig.
In ihrem ersten (1985 erschienen) Roman erzeugt Hilary Mantel eine beklemmende Situation mit grotesk bis boshaft gezeichneten Figuren. Außer Mutter und Tochter Axon treten die Nachbarin Florence auf, deren Bruder samt Familie und Geliebter und mehrere Sozialarbeiter. Die raffinierte Verknüpfung der Figuren miteinander war für mich erst allmählich durchschaubar. So kompliziert hätte die Konstellation für meinen Geschmack nicht sein müssen. Der dargestellte Konflikt ist - erschreckend - zeitlos, wenn Menschen ohne Hilfe von außen nicht mehr zurechtkommen, diese Hilfe aber vehement und mit allen Tricks ablehnen. Gerade das Wissen, dass die Autorin selbst als Sozialarbeiterin tätig war, ließ mir hier entsetzt die Haare zu Berge stehen. Die Vorgänge im Haus Axon sind unbestreitbar gruselig; sicherlich könnte man sich darüber auch empören. Das Buch hat in seiner Trostlosigkeit bei mir ähnliche Gefühle ausgelöst wie McEwans Der Zementgarten oder O’Donnells Bienensterben. Wer die genannten Bücher schrecklich fand, wird mit Mantels Erstling vermutlich nicht glücklich. Wer jedoch ihre listige Art der Personenbeschreibung schätzt, liegt hier richtig.
August 23, 2016
this wasn't quite as good as the other 4 star books I just read, but it was better than a 3 star. mantel's writing is excellent - I have read wolf hall and bring up the bodies and love them. I think mainly the end wasn't completely satisfying to me, it got a little ghost storyish and I didn't think that was necessary. but hilary mantel did, so I'll defer to her!
this was a unique story, with a strange mother-daughter pair and what has been a sort of theme for me lately in the shining and the haunting of hill house, although this was less supernatural than both of those. what contains the badness, the people or the house? it always seems to be a combination of both a bad place and screwed up people. screwed up people are more vulnerable to a malevolent place, places get worse because of the horrific things enacted in them by the screwed up people.
her construction was interesting, there were two main locuses - a mother-daughter pair and a marriage/family, and then two other women, a sister and a mistress. with these, there were parallels (i.e. pregnancies) and connections that felt very true to life, or at least the way I experience parallels and connections in my life.
there wasn't really one likeable character in the book, but where that can often annoy me, it was no problem here. definitely dark and not at all uplifting. but not a depressing read, really - I think because you don't really identify with the characters that much. anyway, well crafted, well written. I think mantel is probably always worth reading.
this was a unique story, with a strange mother-daughter pair and what has been a sort of theme for me lately in the shining and the haunting of hill house, although this was less supernatural than both of those. what contains the badness, the people or the house? it always seems to be a combination of both a bad place and screwed up people. screwed up people are more vulnerable to a malevolent place, places get worse because of the horrific things enacted in them by the screwed up people.
her construction was interesting, there were two main locuses - a mother-daughter pair and a marriage/family, and then two other women, a sister and a mistress. with these, there were parallels (i.e. pregnancies) and connections that felt very true to life, or at least the way I experience parallels and connections in my life.
there wasn't really one likeable character in the book, but where that can often annoy me, it was no problem here. definitely dark and not at all uplifting. but not a depressing read, really - I think because you don't really identify with the characters that much. anyway, well crafted, well written. I think mantel is probably always worth reading.
January 7, 2013
I really enjoyed this dark and sinister book. Mantel reminds me of O'Connor or Shirley Jackson with her flawed characters and dark, dank, creepy settings. Unlike O'Connor though, Mantel's characters don't have moments of redemption or insight into their actions. Instead, we are just witnesses to their terrible deeds, ranging from lying to murder. And don't come here looking for neatly wrapped up ending. Much like horror movies, we are left wondering what terrible things will befall the new unsuspecting victims. Thankfully there is a sequel, but I'm not holding out for a tidy ending there as well. I think Mantel wants to leave us a little uncomfortable and slightly disturbed. All good creepy things do.
In typical British fashion, this book requires a little close reading. I had to go back a chapter or two multiple times to make sure that I had picked up on all of the implied interactions or subtleties. But I like a book that makes me work for it. The book was a little slow at parts in the first half, but I read the entire second half of the book in one night when I should have been sleeping. The pace picks up and doesn't stop until you are spit out at the final page. Darkly humorous, disturbing, and unrepentant, this book was thoroughly enjoyable and left me thinking about it (and a little creeped out) for some time after reading it.
In typical British fashion, this book requires a little close reading. I had to go back a chapter or two multiple times to make sure that I had picked up on all of the implied interactions or subtleties. But I like a book that makes me work for it. The book was a little slow at parts in the first half, but I read the entire second half of the book in one night when I should have been sleeping. The pace picks up and doesn't stop until you are spit out at the final page. Darkly humorous, disturbing, and unrepentant, this book was thoroughly enjoyable and left me thinking about it (and a little creeped out) for some time after reading it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 24, 2010
Dang, this was disappointing! After being swept up in Mantel's "Wolf Hall," I was looking forward to seeing how she would handle contemporary people and situations. Verdict: Not so well. There are 2 basic story lines happening here. The first deals with Evelyn Axon, a widowed mother of a (maybe) mentally challenged pregnant daughter, Muriel. Evelyn, a locally renowned spiritualist, is gradually losing her grip on reality and is convinced evil spirits are taking over their ramshackle flat, room by room. A corresponding story follows a Social Services counselor, Isabelle Field, assigned to monitor Muriel, but more likely to be found having a desultory quickie with an unhappily married school teacher saddled with a drinking problem and a nagging pregnant wife. Does this sound like a fun read? Mantel's talent for well-drawn characters is in full display here, but none of these characters was the least bit sympathetic or even interesting. The conclusion to Muriel's pregnancy was utterly depressing and somewhat disorienting. Isabelle Field's story all but faded into nothingness by the book's end. All in all, can't recommend it under any circumstances.
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