A Piece Of The Night

by Michèle Roberts

This is the story of Julie—the dutiful daughter, the romantic heroine, the perfect wife and mother. The woman who seeks nothing but acceptance. But Julie knows she is also the witch, the whore, the madwoman, the insatiable, the lesbian. As her two worlds threaten to collide and fall apart, Julie realizes she must come to terms with the different aspects of her psyche, and that she must fight to find an identity uniquely her own.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Feminism, Lesbian

Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Michèle Brigitte Roberts is the author of fifteen novels, including Ignorance which was nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction and Daughters of the House which won the W.H. Smith Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Her memoir Paper Houses was BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week in June 2007. She has also published poetry and short stories, most recently collected in Mud: Stories of Sex and Love. Half-English and half-French, Roberts lives in London and in the Mayenne, France. She is Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first novel Michele Roberts wrote and it tells the story of Julie brought up in a French village where Catholicism reigns supreme and then sent to school in England. The novel moves between present day (1970s) where Julie has gone home to visit her mother who is unwell and her childhood and early years. Julie’s journey from a Catholic upbringing and schooling, through university and marriage and motherhood to coming out and living communally with other women is explored and explained. It mirrors the radical feminist movement of the early 1970s and is what Rosemary White referred to as a “feminist confessional realist novel”; a form of consciousness raising highlighting the social and political situation of women. Woven in as well is a smaller secondary narrative telling the story of Amy Sickart, a late nineteenth century explorer forced to take the veil when her companion and source of financial support marries and no longer needs her friendship.
Roberts explores the nature of motherhood and the relationship between Julie and her mother Claire and the very different relationship between Julie and her own daughter. Through the book Julie comes to terms with her own feelings and relationships and the reader is taken on a journey with her; it is written well enough for the reader to care about Julie and future. As Frankova has pointed out Roberts’s writing is marked by a paradox. The story can be misty and nebulous at times, but there are contrasts of clear detail and poetic descriptions. It is Roberts’s view that;
“The surrealism in the novel will come from details being heightened from the ordinary and the mundane just a little into the bizarre—so you'll still see the connection to the everyday.”
Towards the end of the novel Roberts says that we carry the memory of our childhood like a photograph in a locket and there is a very vivid description of childhood and especially of the role of the Catholic Church, a topic Roberts returns to many times. Roberts says that every novel she writes begins from an image. This one begins with the image of a dead nun in the school chapel. Themes of death, resurrection, loss and reparation mean, as Roberts says, that we are directly in Melanie Klein territory.
I enjoyed this novel and will read more by Roberts.

[Lina Ahrens · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not expect to like it this much going in, I think the cover and blurb are done pretty poorly. An unruly narrator takes you across a journey about family history, religion and struggle for an autonomous life and sexuality without leaving out the contradictory and tough parts. Main character is a lesbian!

[sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

i really wanted to love it but i didn’t - don’t get me wrong it was good! i enjoyed it but it also made me feel gross most of the time
favourite scene was when jenny was shelling peas <3

[Ruth Brumby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some beautiful descriptions. An excellent structure in parts with rhythmically alternating past and present sections reflecting off one another. Very interesting about the complications of family and French and English heritage. However it did not seem as a story to go any where and I was not enabled to feel empathy with any of the characters or with the narrator.

[Jo Bullen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The final read for my 1970s module and it was alright. I did want to shake the main character.

[Keryl Lavender · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved the book. The young woman Julie's journey to find her sexuality,her repressed childhood,her motherhood, marriage, her feminist views is relatable to at least every woman out there. Would totally recommend.

[Pat Stearman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I ploughed through this. I'm sure it's well written in its own way, but oh it did flit from place to place and time to time without rhyme or reason - hard going and not sure it was worth it! (We saw Michele Roberts with Kate Mosse at Durham Book Festival so I thought I ought to try one of her books too - I'll be sticking with Kate!!)

[Arley]

The Women's Press Fiction 1984