Hatchett and Lycett by Nigel Williams

by Nigel Williams

Despite its binary title Nigel Williams' immensely entertaining comic novel Hatchett and Lycett, like the classic Truffaut film Jules et Jim, is dominated by a ménage à trois. As the book is set (mainly) in Croydon at the beginning of World War II, the threesome is of the staunchly English stiff-upper-lip, platonic variety; although any novel whose subplots include the mysterious disappearance of an adulterous cleric, a lecherous chemistry master and a Sapphic murder at Mallory Towers, is hardly likely to disappoint the prurient. The eponymous (Dennis) Hatchett and (Alec) Lycett, old school chums and now schoolmasters at Crotchet Green's Kirby Grammar are both "sweet" on the same childhood friend Norma Lewis, who teaches at the neighbouring "gels" school, Saltdene. Squaring their initially unacknowledged romantic triangle is not the only problem. A Saltdene/Kirby trip to France results in the death (in distinctly suspicious circumstances) of the rather butch Franco-admiring Spanish teacher, Miss Everett. Hatchett asks Norma (if on this occasion only humorously) to marry him and Norma finds herself smuggling Rachel, a Jewish-German girl with an astonishing grasp of nuclear physics, into England as her niece. The moment war is declared Alec enlists and becomes engaged to Norma. However, the reappearance of Alec's long-banished twin brother Lucius and the continuing decimation of Saltdene's fascistic, lesbian, Spanish department by poisoning and strangulation prove almost as alarming as the increasingly omnipresent exploits of the "heartless Nazis".In places Williams relies too heavily on the Curse of the Comic Capitals (there are a tad too many "The Boy With the Peculiar Ears" and "The Question of the Tomato Sandwich" type gags) but this book is littered with fragments of absolute comic genius--a magnificently rambling vicar's sermon just before Chamberlain's immortal speech is hilarious. There are also touches of astonishing pathos. The Agatha Christie-style murders, while often very funny, feel like an ingredient too many; even Williams himself seems to forget about them halfway through. The unmasking of the murderer at, an unsurprisingly farcical, funeral-cum-wedding is something of an anticlimax. By then Williams has made the unravelling of a darker secret from Hatchett and Lycett's childhood far more intriguing. Its resolution, together with the settling of the bizarre love triangle (more of a love hexagon by the end), provides the book's real, and much more satisfying, dénouement. --Travis Elborough

Paperback

First published March 28, 2002

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I once used to read Nigel Williams' books regularly but this one passed me by at the time. It's a bit of an oddity - part childhood friendship tale, part war narrative (at least the effects of war), part comedy, part love story, part scientific thriller, part murder mystery with a huge nod to Agatha Christie. In the end this disjointedness didn't make for a gripping narrative. I also found myself mixing up characters - a lot of them seemed too interchangeable. However, it was not a difficult read so passed the time.

[Susan Grimshaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very entertaining book based on the relationships between two friends, Hatchett and Lycett and Norma, the woman they both love. It is set mainly in Croydon at the beginning of World War Two, but interspersed with flash back chapters about Hatchett and Lycett's childhood friendship in 1921. Some of it is very sad indeed, but there are lots of laugh out loud moments too. Well worth reading , I enjoyed it very much.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog here in October 2003.

When a teacher dies on a school trip to France in 1939, her colleagues decide that it will be easier to smuggle her body through Customs back to England before "discovering" her death than it will be to deal with the complexities of the French judicial system. Though this turns out to be only the first in a series of murders of teachers at the Croydon girls' school at which she taught, the start of the war a month later overshadows the investigation, as does a last minute decision to help a Jewish girl escape to England by pretending she is part of the school party.

Stirring this in with a love triangle between the teachers most likely to work out what happened, and you get the recipe for this hilarious novel by the author of The Wimbledon Poisoner. While some of the jokes and ideas may have been recycled (notable sources include Spike Milligan's war memoirs, Catch-22 and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie), and while most of the characters are eminently dislikeable, much enjoyment can be had laughing at the absurdities of the home front early in the War, the absurdities of the crime genre, and the absurdities of young love. The odd serious moment - several characters take a small boat to evacuate soldiers from Dunkirk, for example - serves to heighten the effectiveness of the humour (as it does for Spike Milligan and Joseph Heller too, of course).

Hatchett and Lycett (named after the two male teachers in the love triangle) is well put together by a master craftsman of humour. It may not be really original, but it is better than the average comic novel. It doesn't seem to be stretching Williams terribly much (I didn't get the feeling that The Wimbledon Poisoner reached the limits of his talent either). Craftsmanship rather than inspiration is the order of the day here.

[Jill Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nigel Williams is a British writer whose work I wish was better known here in the United States. He writes wonderful novels about English life, using characters we can mostly identify with. I'd say that most of his work has a satirical bent but he's rarely mean in his portrayals of the lazy, the stupid, the crazy... One of his best books, "Unfaithfully Yours", is an absolutely hysterical work about four married couples who grow to hate their partners. I mean, REALLY hate their partners...

Williams' novel "Hatchett & Lycett" is less funny and more poignant than the others I've read. Set in 1939 - with flashbacks to 1921 - it is the story of two young men - Alec Lycett and Dennis Hatchett - and their life-long friendship. The third of their group is Norma Lewis, who is a bit in love with both guys. August 1939 brings the beginning of the war to their town of Croydon, located directly south east of London and the site of London's first airport. Hatchett and Norma teach school together, while Lycett has just joined the army. But they continue their friendship and Lycett proposes to Norma; she accepts. Meanwhile, some teachers at their joint school begin to die. Norma and Lycett look into these murders while continuing to dance around their own feelings for each other. The war begins to literally "hit home" as soldiers are rescued from Dunkirk and bombs are dropped by German bombers on their way to and from London raids.

The book also looks at the lives of the two boys in 1921. There is a mysterious death and Lycett's identical twin brother is sent off to school as a punishment for "misdeeds". The past - 1921 - plays as much a part as the present - 1939, and Williams does an excellent job in joining the two parts together. While there are some humorous parts to the book, most of it is sadly charming. Sort of like real life.

[Angie Swain · Rating 2 out of 5]

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