The Sound of Coaches

by Leon Garfield

Orphaned at birth and adopted by a coachman and his wife, a young man struggles to discover his origins.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Childrens

236 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Leon Garfield FRSL (14 July 1921 – 2 June 1996) was a British writer of fiction. He is best known for children's historical novels, though he also wrote for adults. He wrote more than thirty books and scripted Shakespeare: The Animated Tales for television.

Garfield attended Brighton Grammar School (1932-1938) and went on to study art at Regent Street Polytechnic, but his studies were interrupted first by lack of funds for fees, then by the outbreak of World War II. He married Lena Leah Davies in April, 1941, at Golders Green Synagogue but they separated after only a few months. For his service in the war he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. While posted in Belgium he met Vivien Alcock, then an ambulance driver, who would go on to become his second wife (in 1948) and a well-known children's author. She would also greatly influence Garfield's writing, giving him suggestions for his writing, including the original idea for Smith. After the war Garfield worked as a biochemical laboratory technician at the Whittington Hospital in Islington, writing in his spare time until the 1960s, when he was successful enough to write full-time. In 1964, the couple adopted a baby girl, called Jane after Jane Austen, a favourite writer of both parents.

Garfield wrote his first book, the pirate novel Jack Holborn, for adult readers but a Constable & Co. editor saw its potential as a children's novel and persuaded him to adapt it for a younger audience. In that form it was published by Constable in 1964. His second book, Devil-in-the-Fog (1966), won the first annual Guardian Prize and was serialised for television, as were several later works (below). Devil was the first of several historical adventure novels, typically set late in the eighteenth century and featuring a character of humble origins (in this case a boy from a family of traveling actors) pushed into the midst of a threatening intrigue. Another was Smith (1967), with the eponymous hero a young pickpocket accepted into a wealthy household; it won the Phoenix Award in 1987. Yet another was Black Jack (1968), in which a young apprentice is forced by accident and his conscience to accompany a murderous criminal.

In 1970, Garfield's work started to move in new directions with The God Beneath the Sea, a re-telling of numerous Greek myths in one narrative, written by Garfield and Edward Blishen and illustrated by Charles Keeping. It won the annual Carnegie Medal for British children's books. Garfield, Blishen, and Keeping collaborated again on a sequel, The Golden Shadow (1973). The Drummer Boy (1970) was another adventure story, but concerned more with a central moral problem, and apparently aimed at somewhat older readers, a trend continued in The Prisoners of September (1975) republished in 1989 by Lions Tracks, under the title Revolution!, The Pleasure Garden (1976) and The Confidence Man (1978). The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris (1972) was a black comedy in which two boys decide to test the plausibility of Romulus and Remus using one of the boys' baby sister. Most notable at the time was a series of linked long short stories about apprentices, published separately between 1976 and 1978, and then as a collection, The Apprentices. The more adult themed books of the mid-1970s met with a mixed reception and Garfield returned to the model of his earlier books with John Diamond, which won a Whitbread Award in 1980, and The December Rose (1986). In 1980 he also wrote an ending for The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished at the 1870 death of Dickens, an author who had been a major influence on Garfield's own style.

He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1985. On 2 June 1996 he died of cancer at the Whittington Hospital, where he had once worked.

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jim Hawkins of Treasure Island is the model here for Garfield's young hero, Sam Chichester. Torn between an untrustworthy yet alluring actor and his adopted father, a crippled coachman, Sam makes mistakes but in the end comes down on the right side of the ledger. Garfield also draws on Dickens' writing for inspiration, and like Dickens, is a marvelous quick sketch at minor characters who pop to life at a few strokes of the pen.

[Reagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find myself struggling to assign a rating to this book, somewhere between 3 and 4 stars is where it currently sits in my mind, but since I cannot express reasons as to why it is deserving of only 3 stars I will adorn it with 4 for now.

Set in eighteenth century England, The Sound of Coaches tells the story of a boy born into tragic and mysterious circumstances of which determine his future as the adopted son of a coachman and his wife. The only link to his past is a wooden box holding a gentlemen's pistol and a ring set with cheap cut glass. Sam, named on the fateful night of his birth by a benevolent and random group of strangers, seemed destined to ride through life without ever knowing the truth of his origins. He would equally indulge himself in dreamy and nightmarish thoughts about his father, wondering if the pistol he had as his birthright was a credit to his father's nobility or a condemnation of him as a criminal. Sam was brought up to be a coachman, and his adopted Ma and Pa loved him in their own gruff, hard, and weathered way. They were decent and simple people who raised Sam to the best of their abilities, but his unsettled spirit and pride led to an awful falling out and left Sam on his own to discover a different life.

With Sam now on his own, the story takes a bit of a sad turn. Hopelessness creeps in and Sam feels isolated from the world, looking for comfort in the arms of a less than honorable barmaid, Jenny. He begins to make choices that cause the reader cringe inside, for we hope so much that this young man will find some answers to his past that will ease the burden of his loneliness. Without a continuous source of income, Sam is seduced into the world of players (actors) by a washed up and unscrupulous tragedian, Mr. Coventry. Through this new life Sam discovers his talent as well as the secrets surrounding his birth. More than anything Sam wants to make amends with his adopted Ma and Pa, but his pride is a frequent stop on the road to his reconciliation.

I love Garfield's use of the English language in this tale, which is why I think it deserves a 4 star rating. However, I found many of the characters unlikeable - even Sam - which is perhaps why I was tempted toward a 3 star review. While the ending is very touching and the there are redeemable qualities to be found, especially in Sam and his adopted Pa, I was swept away in the hopelessness through a good portion of the book. There is a central theme of fate, that our paths are destined, and despite most of the paths being filled with dismay and poor choices, the ending did seem bring everything full circle. I can't help but recognize that even though I struggled with the characters, they were likely very true to the human-ness of the period and represented each life and circumstance authentically to its time.

Overall I certainly enjoyed the book, and appreciated Garfield's ability to use language in a beautiful and living way that brings a narrative to life. I'm not sure of which audience he intended to engage, but I don't believe I would give this book to a child under 16 due to some of the mild adult content and language.

[Adam Stevenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best of his later books and maybe my second favourite overall. The Sound of Coaches uses the familiar Garfield tropes of the child of low social standing and mysterious parentage trying to decide his loyalty - but its done very well.

First of all, this in the only novel set (at least partly) around the life of the coachman. That whole eighteenth century subculture of roads and constant movement was one I hadn't considered before and seeing it through Garfield's evocative eyes was very enjoyable.

This is also one of his most adult books, there are lots of moments of reflection. The whole second half of the book is set amongst touring actors and asks quite interesting questions about how we live in reality and in dreams - and what an actor's life, where the dreamworld of the stage has so much vigour than reality, does to a person.

There are other lovely touches, like a few character where the main character, Sam, is drunk and lordly refers to himself as 'one' in his own internal monologue. There's another part which is narrated from the baby Sam's viewpoint - not in terms of language but in terms of understanding (where he frequently gets irritated that all his attempts to communicate are followed by being fed).

Finally, the ending is very different to the usual one - no axe murders or gunfights here, things just shuffle themselves into a new status quo. It's not a climactic ending but it manages to be a satisfying one.

[Jesslaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wish there was a half star option as this is another 3.5.
This is my first book by this author who seems to have something of a following. I enjoyed the language of the book just as much as the story. The descriptions we not long but packed with clever and beautiful imagery.

The story itself is ok, reminds me a bit of Dickens. I enjoyed the relationships portrayed and how they changed. Each person longed to be known and loved in some way. Each person pretended that they didn’t care or need this when the relationship was damaged or not fulfilling the need to be known and loved.

[Denise Spicer · Rating 3 out of 5]

1974 Penguin books Viking Press 216 pages
Black and white engraving by John Lawrence

Another orphan story. Husband and wife coachman and guard, Mr. and Mrs. Chichester, adopt baby Sam. When his mother, a passenger on their coach, dies in childbirth, she leaves his identity a mystery. He grows up to become a coach driver himself until a tragic accident leaves his adopted father crippled. Sam leaves for London and eventually finds his other “pa”, a drunken but talented actor. He’s not the nobleman of his dreams. Interesting characters, settings, and time period but per the author’s own admission not necessarily historically accurate. So part historical fiction, part speculative fiction.

[Susan]

Young man growing up in 18th century England.

[Melissa Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really a 3.5 rounded up to a 4. The story was ok, but the writing was excellent.

[Stephen Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great tale of goings-on some time around the late eighteenth century. Vividly drawn characters and a great plot.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a very odd tale. Some of it I enjoyed. Some of it drove me crazy. By and large, I liked it, and I definitely liked some of the characters and detested others. Needless to say, I was ambivalent.

[SmokingMirror · Rating 4 out of 5]

At last I have finished a novel, after weeks of being able to read only shorter works! Granted, this is not a long novel, nor complex, and it might perhaps be viewed as young adult, although the book is not labeled as such. I almost gave up reading at a point in which it seemed the story might go the way of The History of Tom Jones, a Foundlingor Davy, a trite plot twist, but it proceeded on the way it stated, minus the "sexual coming of age" boredom that I feared, and took its own plot twists, some of which are apparent in advance, but not all.

[arjuna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Garfield has an incredible ability to stand back, to let a situation unfold with all its humour and pain, to show his characters innate fallibility (and likeability, and unlikeability too) without judgment or condemnation. Extraordinarily moving, constantly zigging and zagging in unexpected directions, or adopting unexpected tones.

[Julie Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Garfield's use of the English language is the highlight of the book for me. So wonderfully perfect for the story.