Restitution

by Maureen Duffy

Betony Falk, who was orphaned as a child, finds out that her father had been a German Jewish refugee baby. Her own sense of identity undermined, she sets out on a quest for the truth which takes her to Germany and into the past - and the more she finds out, the less she knows who she is now.

247 pages, Hardcover

First published July 2, 1998

About the author

Maureen Patricia Duffy (born 21 October 1933) is a contemporary British novelist, poet, playwright, nonfiction author and activist.

Duffy's work often uses Freudian ideas and Greek mythology as frameworks.[1] Her writing is distinctive for its use of contrasting voices, or streams of consciousness, often including the perspectives of outsiders. Her novels have been linked to a European tradition of literature which explores reality through the use of language and questioning, rather than through traditional linear narrative.[2] James Joyce in particular, and Modernism in general, are significant influences on her fiction, as is Joyce Cary.[3] "Duffy has inspired many other writers and proved that the English novel need not be realistic and domestic, but can be fantastical, experimental and political."[1] Her writing in all forms is noted for her 'eye for detail and ear for language'[4] and "powerful intense imagery".[5]

Reviews

[Perry Whitford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story of loss, guilt, and the nature of identity which never entirely coalesced into an exceptional treatment of its themes.

Betony Falk lost both her parents while still young and was raised by her grandmother, Gran Bet, who becomes vague when questioned about her father in particular. Betony starts her own investigation into her ancestry.

Anton von Falk is an aged WWII army veteran who was married to a Jewish woman in 1930s Berlin. He tells the story of their romance and separation against the background of the rise of Hitler and the Third Reich's policy of anti-Semitism. As his surname suggests, he has a connection to Betony.

Gil, a gay dancer of mixed race, becomes Betony's lodger. There is a connection between them too from the past, though not a familial one. He appeared to me at first as though he may have had a sinister agenda, but this is not the case.

Betony's quest to discover the truth about her past is the central focus of the novel, and very well handled it was too for the most part, yet it should have been dwarfed by two other strands in the story.

An extraordinary choice made by Gran Bet years before while she was a grieving mother was more interesting emotionally than Betony's own story, yet Duffy didn't seem to think so. This choice and it's consequences had to remain secret for a while for the rest of the plot to work, but once revealed it was brushed aside even though it overshadowed all that followed.

Likewise, Anton's memories of Nazi Germany could have been a book in its own right. Relegated to the second of three narratives in a shortish novel a potentially gripping and tragic tale amounted to little more than a collection of fleeting snapshots without any scenes or images vivid enough to do the situation justice.

The inclusion of Gil's narrative gave the novel another background with which to exp!ore its central theme of identity. He helps Betony with her search and adds a youthful voice, though his wobbly dialect was a bit of a mess.

Duffy's conclusions about ancestry and personal identity are very positive however. If you want to go back far enough we are all related anyhow, so why should it matter if we find out that our blood's not the exact mix we thought it was?

"I'm trying to understand it all. To get used to the idea of being someone different."
"But you aren't. You are you."

Exactly.