Leaves

by John Simmons

"A yell became an intrusion of privacy. Was this a clamouring for entry into houses or lives? Looking on then, looking back now, I wish I could have been more definite. It might have made me a different, better person, a player not a spectator." Ophelia Street, 1970. A street like any other, a community that lives and breathes together as people struggle with their commitments and pursue their dreams. It is a world we recognise, a world where class and gender divide, where set roles are acknowledged. But what happens when individuals step outside those roles, when they secretly covet, express desire, pursue ambitions even harm and destroy? An observer in the midst of Ophelia Street watches, writes, imagines, remembers, charting the lives and loves of his neighbours over the course of four seasons. And we see the flimsily disguised underbelly of urban life revealed in all its challenging glory. As the leaves turn from vibrant green to vivid gold, so lives turn and change too, laying bare the truth of the community. Perhaps, ultimately, we all exist on Ophelia Street.

221 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2015

Reviews

[Miriam Smith (A Mother’s Musings) · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a lovely weekend I had reading this beautiful book, creatively written there were times the narrative read like poetry.
"Leaves" by John Simmons is a character dominated story depicting the lives of several residents of Ophelia Street a no-through road in London predominantly set in 1970. I was particularly drawn to this due to 1970 being my birth year and it was interesting to read how life, standards and ideals were back then.
Each diverse character was totally unique and intriguing, some likeable some not but it was a truly engaging read seeing how all of the neighbours interacted with each other, living their own lives with their innermost thoughts and feelings.
Generally this book was a light and entertaining read but there were some poignant moments, some quite sad and it did occasionally cause you to think of your own mortality. There's also a murder that keeps the reader guessing throughout.
The story is set out in chapters covering the four seasons of 1970 and you really do get the feeling that you are living in Ophelia Street with the characters, spying on their lives and feeling the tension in the street especially after a hostel opens for recently released prisoners. There's even a mention of the 'skinheads' typical of the 1970's. It was lovely how the seasons changed the street visually and in turn the emotions of the residents for which the author described brilliantly.
Overall a very good read that I'd happily recommend and I fully intend to read the author's next book "Spanish Crossings" very soon too.
4 stars - paperback version read.

[Lolly K Dandeneau · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is strange and unsettling about Leaves is how beautiful Simmons describes everything and yet how ugly some moments are. Each character is gorgeously written and you can smell and feel everything. The writing really is beautiful. Any author that can create this strange set of characters has undeniable talent. Siblings Gerald and Seline's relationship is uncomfortable more than because Seline's world exists inside the walls of their home and no where else. This is the creepy side you would see if you could peer inside the homes anywhere in the world. Robert's bent nature is in your face and is expressed so naturally in his actions that it isn't necessary to point out 'this is a foul character'.
The children themselves behave as I would expect them to in life, they are not your typical fictionalized darlings.
"You'll get filthy," said Susie with some distaste. "Leave it alone."
But Elaine was engrossed in her business. She picked up scraps of nondescript articles, dropped them again, moved along the line, as if searching for clues. At last she came to the end and a small wooden box with a polythene bag in it. The bag was not tied, so Elaine opened it.
"Phew!" She staggered backwards, pushing the bag away from her.
"What is it?" Susie asked.
"Come and have a look."
"No, cone on, let's go."
David, though, could not resist. Nervously, with one hand picking at a button on his shirt, he sidled up to the bag. Even from a few feet away the smell was sickening. Elaine stood, one hand pinching her nostrils shut, the other hand holding open the bag for others to see.
"What is it?" asked David.
"It's a cat," said Elaine.
"Is it dead?"
"Course it is. That's why it smells."
"Ugh," David shuddered.
"Baby!"
"I'm not."
"Yes you are."

That is children! Elaine is a little mean herself David the softer of the children. Her eagerness at digging through filth, the sort to push boundaries in ways other well behaved children wouldn't reminded me of how different people really are from the start. The little personalities that we forget are already there and asserting themselves at such a young age.
There are so many different things happening here with all the characters. Horrible acts, painful inner struggles, brutal cruelties- it is uniquely told. It also makes me take a second look at everyone in my neighborhood.
There is beauty in looking back at how we behaved 'back then'. Things change, and yet a lot of things don't. Leaves are still falling in my head. I really really enjoyed this! Had to sit back and just sift through it all before reviewing.

[Jackie Law · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leaves, by John Simmons, offers a trip down memory lane to 1970’s London. Although evocative it neither rose tints nor overly criticises a time too easily remembered for misogyny, stagnancy and reluctance to change. There is an honesty in the characterisations which encourages sympathy, even for those hard to like. The reader is offered a chance to reflect on behaviour that was expected and acceptable, which would be frowned upon today.

It was not known then but the city and the country as a whole were on the cusp of change. Those who look back with nostalgia may well pause when reminded of how things actually were: the cold and damp that could not be dispelled by a small, electric fire; the expectation that women would not aspire to more than life with a husband to whom they would willingly defer; the conspiracy of silence when truth could shine a light into dark corners it was easier to ignore.

The story is told from the point of view of a young reporter taking up his first job on a local newspaper. Set over the course of four seasons he writes of events in the street where he has come to live. We are told only the bare details of this narrator. His tale is of the residents in the houses he looks out on, a street like any other at the time.

Ophelia Street housed a pub, a shop, two rows of terraced houses (some divided into flats) and two larger detached properties at the end of a cul de sac. One of these larger houses belonged to the owner of an adjacent factory where several of the residents worked. The second had been converted into a hostel for newly released prisoners of the criminal justice system. This was a microcosm of society: economically, socially and racially diverse. Prejudices were nurtured.

In one of the flats lives Keith, a teacher who married Brenda when she fell pregnant with their son, David, now five years old. They could afford to live somewhere better and Brenda resents that they do not, although she has never voiced this opinion to her husband. Keith holds to his socialist ideals, of being part of a working class community. He struggles to make friends.

“he set high standards, especially for others. Setting standards was easier than living up to them”

Below Keith lives Joe along with his aged mother, Ginny, his wife and their two children. Joe tolerates Keith who likes to sit with Ginny, comfortable with her company and their silences. Keith also likes to visit the pub, another escape from the oppression he feels at home.

The factory owner, Gerald, lives with his habitually reclusive sister, Seline. The factory and their large, dark house were inherited from their parents who died in a boating accident when Seline was just seventeen. Gerald plans to make changes at the factory and promotes another resident, Robert, to help oversee his plans. Robert lives with his mother, a widow who dotes on her cruel son. Seline is flustered by these changes and reacts in ways that Gerald would never have imagined.

The street hums with a life that ebbs and flows with familiar routines. Workers come and go while their children attend school or play outside. Notable amongst these youngsters is Elaine, the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Irish mother. Elaine delights in taunting some of the adults who pass her by, including a resident of the hostel who is struggling with his newly found freedom.

The author takes us inside each home where the women prepare food for their men, watch TV and silently rail against their restraints. Thought processes are explored, expectations and frustrations simmer. These are snapshots of everyday life through the course of one calendar year which will bring violence, death and upheaval. It is a tale of individual loneliness, of how people take out their personal unhappiness on those they may be expected to care for.

In one scene Keith takes his young son for a walk in the city while his wife stays home to prepare lunch.

“it offered him his best chance to perform that eternal paternal urge, to indoctrinate the son in the beliefs of the father.”

When difficulties arise or opinions differ, thoughts and feelings are suppressed.

“they all felt uneasy, as if each had unpleasant news to break to the others, without knowing exactly what the news was, and dreading that they might find out.”

In presenting this story as a fictional memoir the families come to life. What is exposed is often uncomfortable but is written deftly with sensitivity. The prose is lyrical, a pleasure to read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and felt something close to disappointment that the author was not the young narrator, now thirty years older and looking back on a pivotal time in his career. He seemed so real.

It is hard to mourn the passing of places such as Ophelia Street and the life which the residents endured. This is, however, as fine an example as I have ever read of how fiction can capture a moment of history, and bring it vividly back to life.

My copy of this book was provided gratis by the publisher, Urbane Publications.

[Michelle Ryles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully written book. It is set in 1970 and is split into 5 parts; 4 parts representing each season and 1 final part for New Year. You can really feel the seasons through the writing; the chill of Winter; the promise of Spring; the madness of Summer; and the crispness of Autumn.

Meet some of the residents of Ophelia Street; Keith and Brenda, who have been unhappily married since their shotgun wedding as teenagers; siblings Gerald and Selene, Gerald owns the local factory and Selene runs around after him like a servant; and Robert Johnson, bullying his mother and driving his flashy sports car up and down the street, thinking he’s landed on his feet when Gerald hands over the reins of the factory. I felt like a curtain twitcher as I peeped into the lives of the residents of Ophelia Street and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough to satisfy my curiosity.

There are some other residents but the main characters were really brought to life and have stuck in my mind long after reading the final page. I have to give a special mention to Mrs. Johnson’s pets - Timmy the cat and Joey the budgie who don’t escape Robert’s bullying.

I loved the way the book was split into seasons and watching the way the street changed over the year – the introduction of the offenders hostel, the factory closure and the murder of little Elaine Card. People might feel cheated that the murderer isn’t identified, but I felt all the clues were there as I interpreted the child’s sock as a trophy. I actually thought there might have been another murder - I thought Selene would end up putting arsenic in Gerald’s whiskey!

I really liked this book – I’ve been talking about it since I finished it. It’s a year in the life of Ophelia Street as the leaves change from green to gold before finally losing hold and tumbling to the ground. There’s murder, suicide, death, divorce and new beginnings - what more could we ask for?

Thank you to Urbane Publications for allowing me to read this book before publication.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Leaves” is very well written story of humanity and community. Parts of the description in particular is beautiful, like reading a poem or song lyrics.

My full review: https://whatrebeccasread.wordpress.co...

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Memory grows plump in youth and wastes away to skin and bone."

John Simmon's novel Leaves waited forty years to be published. The novel is set in North London in 1970, the year Simmons wrote the first draft. Simmons went on to forge a career teaching writing. Returning to his languishing novel after forty years Simmons rewrote it from the perspective of the narrator looking back to the events and people of Ophelia Street, a cul-de-sac of "pre-Raphaelite fancy" that had become a prison for occupants "straining to burst free from its hold."

The narrator is a London newcomer, a journalist starting his first job. Over the year he lived on Ophelia Street the narrator observed and recorded the people of the street. Now after thirty years passing he tells us the story of Ophelia Street and the events that gave him the story that made his career.

The inhabitants of the street seem ordinary at first glance. A young family, a brother and sister, grown men living with their mothers. A factory at the end of the street is owned by one family and employs others. There is a pub that brings men together and separates families. Children play on the streets. The street empties when summer vacations lure people to the sea shore.

The book opens with the death of a stray dog which brings three people together to check out what had happened and to deal with the body. Over the year, as the leaves change, we learn more about the inner lives of the inhabitants. There is the death of a marriage and of several elderly people, the conception of a child, the murder of small animals and the murder of a child. At the end of the year almost everyone has left Ophelia Street which is to be torn down and replaced with modern dwellings.

I had mixed feelings about the book as I read it. Early on it felt voyeuristic and recalled Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock. The narrator tells us we are all being watched in the city. I also felt I understood the narrator and have been just as bad! My high school diary is full of observations about the people I knew, even down to my recording everything that happened during one study hour, who dropped a pencil, who passed notes, who set their head down and napped. The narrator justifies this as practicing journalistic observation. I will gladly accept that understanding!

The structure is complicated. The author has written a narrator whose story is told in both in real time (30 years later) and in real time (1970) with dialogue, action, and descriptions of people's inner thoughts and feelings (circa 1970). It raises questions. Is the narrator a voice for the author? Is he a reliable narrator? How much has the narrator reconstructed the events of Ophelia Street based on imagination?

There are mysterious and dark goings on but the reader is left to connect the dots. I actually appreciate that belief in the intelligence of the reader, although some readers will grouse that the mysteries were not 'solved'.

Reviews talk about the beautiful writing and that is what drew me to request the book from NetGalley. Epigrams and quote-worthy sentences abound. "We all have a tendency to romanticise [sic: this is a British novel!] the past, particularly to romanticise our own past." "He suddenly realized how fragile was the glass of this friendship." And, "Ophelia Street was,"..."A place that had seen better and grander times. Like a once-fine ocean liner slumped on a deep sea bed, but breaking up, for better, for worse."

I do wonder about the title, based on the changing seasons, when I would have thought that "Ophelia Street" would have better suited.

I look around at my suburban street and wonder what secrets and horrors, loneliness and isolation, hopes and dreams reside in these houses? Is there a story to be told in every street? I sincerely hope we are quite boring.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the author's words: "I was completely reconciled to climbing on the backs of others to get higher in life. My feelings now might be more mixed but then, thirty years ago, I wanted to get on and make a name for myself. I can now see that particular part of history repeating itself when I think of my son, the same age now as I was then. Anyway, back in 1970, Ophelia Street, its people and the events that were unfolding there, all these were working out well for me. They were providing me with the foundation of raw material that I needed as the year rolled on. It was as if a script were being written for me"

I couldn't empathize nor sympathize with any of the characters. I thought the writing was stilted, the situations and characterizations morbid, grisly and disturbing. I felt my time was better spent doing anything but finishing this book.

[Lynn Michell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much over-hyped. It's precious and self-conscious. Sorry!

[Jane Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set mainly in 1970, in London, on a typical cul-de-sac, of the time. The story’s narrator is a young reporter, who is new to Ophelia Street, and the story, divided into the four seasons of 1970 are his impressions of the people and households he shares the street with. The narrator is a shadowy character, you don’t think about him, as the story draws you into its urban tale.

The book is beautifully written, lyrical, but what it depicts and explores is often poignant, and sometimes horrifically violent. The tragedy and violence creep up. You are not prepared for something so terrible, in amongst live’s relentless ordinariness. The impact of these events resonates.

Many of the characters are not easy to like, but you do empathise with their situation. Some of the relationships are strange, and sometimes sinister, and gut-wrenchingly sad.

The time period is faithfully represented. The sexual discrimination, misogyny and social class divide are evident. The depth of despair this period represents, with its collapse of Britain’s industrialisation, strikes and mass unemployment, add to the sense of hopelessness and inevitability this London street represents.

The literary fiction lovers will appreciate the purity of this book, the characters are complex and real, the exploration of community and humanity under pressure is engaging. If you enjoy reading, to experience how others feel and live, this book will meet your needs.

I received a copy of this book from Urbane Books in return for an honest review.

[The Literary Shed · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Simmons’ Leaves is a very beautiful and considered novel. Lyrical at times, it focuses on North London’s Ophelia Street, a ‘no-through road, a huddle of houses, obscured from sight’ in 1970.

Split into five parts, which follow the seasons and end with the new year, we see and experience the characters who inhabit the road through narrator Michael’s eyes. A young journalist, a ‘provincial newcomer’ to the city, Michael uses the street and the people who live in it as his feature subjects, a way to hone his observational and writing skills over the course of a year. He revisits Ophelia Street thirty years on, mimicking Simmons himself who originally wrote the novel when he was twenty-one, only to come to it again more than forty years later to revise and publish it.

While a melancholia pervades the book, Leaves is neither depressing nor voyeuristic, but rather a layered look at ordinary people leading lives filtered with light in dark places. It’s a lovely read with lots of quiet moments and stirring imagery.

See: http://www.theliteraryshed.co.uk/read...


This review was published as part of Love Books Group Tours' virtual book tour. Many thanks to the publisher for a review copy. All opinions are our own. All rights reserved.

[Pearl Bamford · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Ophelia Street was. A no-through road, a huddle of houses, obscured from sight in North London in the new year of 1971. A place that had seen better and grander times. Like a once-fine ocean liner slumped on a deep sea bed, but breaking up, for better, for worse."

In this novel, Michael, a young journalist observes people, event and situations unfolding in Ophelia street and attempts to document this through his journalism texts. Using ethnographic anthropological observation methods, vignettes of residences in Ophelia Street are captured within this novel often touching of the fatalism of life, the journey that people are on and the eventual progression of life.

Although this is written with the voice of Michael, you are taken on many journeys of households lives, their flaws and the consequences of actions identified in a year of the lives of people on Ophelia Street.

Although this is not my normal style of book, Leaves is full of beautiful writing, evocative and contains imaginative metaphors, i am really glad that I picked this one up.

[Mayreen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fair read with some good character studies, however, it was a little on the dark side in places, even for me! and some of the characters were so cruel in nature, it was beginning to upset me as it all seemed so real! perhaps this is a compliment to the author in a way.

[Lynda Dickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of beautiful writing and imaginative metaphors, Leaves captures the reader's attention from the very first sentence: "Ophelia Street was." Originally written in 1970, but not published until recently, the author has revisited the text and narrates it from a position of thirty years' hindsight.

Leaves examines the lives of the residents of Ophelia Street, London, over the course of one year, 1970, told through the eyes of our narrator Michael, a budding reporter new to London, who hones his writing craft by weaving tales around the lives of his neighbors. On his first day in Ophelia Street, he uncovers his role: "the possibility of discovering some things I had not known about myself and other people." Their stories are by no means important in the grand scheme of things, but as our narrator later states, "Every event has the potential to become a news story, every person is in some sense newsworthy, there are no people who should be deprived of the dignity of attention." Later in the book, the ordinary goings-on turn into extraordinary events, demonstrating that you never really know what goes on behind closed doors.

The residents of Ophelia Street include: school teacher Keith Russell, his wife Brenda, and son David; Joe and Edie Wheatley, his aging mother Ginny, and their children; factory owner Gerald Fermin and his sister Selene, whose parents died when they were young ("... they were known to no one. No one knew what they were really like and, over the years, they had become mysteries to each other."); Robert Johnson, who lives with his mother Clara; Derek and Elaine Card and their eight-year-old daughter Elaine; Ernie Jack and the other residents of the newly-established hostel for ex-convicts. This is 1970, a time when the women stay home alone while the men work and the children go to school, when the men go the pub every night, the children play in the street, and the only things neighbors know about each other is what they hear and observe, sometimes by peeking from behind a closed curtain.

The story is split into five sections, one for each season of the year, and the last section for the beginning of the new year. In each section, the author conveys the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the passing seasons, focusing on the condition of the street's solitary tree, located in the front yard of the Fermins' property. The lives of the residents of Ophelia Street also change with the seasons. In Winter, we are introduced to the residents of Ophelia Street, a fairly ordinary and dormant place. Spring is the time of new beginnings and revelations. Summer brings us to a boiling point, when tragedy befalls the small community. In Autumn, "The leaves, like restless souls, wander the earth until swept away to be burnt or else are trampled into the soil, sodden with rain." We witness the fall and decay of not only the street, but the lives of the residents. The New Year brings about new beginnings and renewed hope. Although I was disappointed that the tragedy was never resolved, the ending brings the story to a satisfying and circular conclusion.

This book is truly an elegy to the passing of Ophelia Street and its residents.

I received this book in return for an honest review.

Full blog post (20 February): https://booksdirectonline.blogspot.co...

[Rachel Bridgeman · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is split into 5 parts-all the seasons plus a New Year section-and focuses on Ophelia Street in 1970's London.

The principle narrator is a jpurnalist with a sociology degree who has moved here to start a new postion on a local paper. Instead, he finds himself so fascinated by the minutiae of life under his nose that he begins logging their comings and goings and various interactions.

It makes the reader feel like a voyeur as he makes you feel as if you are standing there, right next to him, twitching the net curtains. It is an uncomfortable read in many ways as all the characters are immensely unlikeable-from factory manager Gerald and his sister Selene who share a house and a very odd relationship,to Keith and Brenda who are a married couple, one black, one Irish. I found it hard to stop reading despite my reluctancer to do so-the prose is very, very rich to the point that it took me a great deal longer to read this 205 page novel than one twice its length.

I wanted to find out how it ended, and what happened to the families and the answer is, as in real life, very little . 'Leaves' is a book where the most apparent changes happen with the season changes whilst the people there stagnate. The things that bring them together are very uncomfortable to the modern reader-racism, the 'Not In My Back Yard Brigade' who do not want a hostel for released prisoners opening in their street.

Beginning with an act of violence under the cover of darkness, I felt it set the tone for the whole novel and I genuinely would find it hard to rate . I think that people who enjoy literary fiction would appreciate it more than myself and find more which resonates with them. As a reader, I found it an exercise in pretentious voyerurism but again, it is one reader's perception of a novel which may be the total antithesis of the majority of readers.

If you are interested in character studies and microscopic viewpoints then this would be a great book for you. 'Leaves' is a re-issued and revised book so despite looking back 40 years, it is actually a debut so straddles some decades and does so awkwardly.

I remain grateful to the author and the publishers for letting me read 'Leaves', I feel that it's central concept, however, has fallen on less sophisticated ears than those it was intended for.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

One more, here early in the year. John Simmons' "Leaves", which I am putting in th debut novel category. Simmons is a published writer in Britain, of non-fiction and one other novel, some short stories too. But he wrote this some 40 years ago, and reworked it for publication. So I figure its a debut novel at least kinda sorta. His writing is lucid and lyrical, though the book was sort of depressing. Some of the best are. Its an outsider's-eye-view of one year on a street in a declining London neighborhood. There are some elegant touches - all the animals in the novel play the role of signs or metaphors. I'd give it 4 stars. Well done.

[K.L. Beckmeyer · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book for sad people who can't find the meaning in life and try to find contentment by giving up the search for it.
Seriously though, it's an excessively sad book, with poetic imagery crafted to make everything as sad as possible. The point of view is interesting, and it is reasonably well written. But I wouldn't want my kids to read it.

[Kazimiera pendrey]

I was given a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. What an amazing read this was I just loved reading it so much . The writing of this just was just wonderful and the characters so real. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys great writing

[e l burgess · Rating 3 out of 5]

.

Ophelia street and the changing seasons were the standout "characters" in this book. Beautifully written. The people themselves however left me disconnected. Maybe this was intentional.

[Eileen Hall · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a book I could warm to sadly.
I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher Urbane Publishing via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review.