The Backward Shadow

Jane Graham #2

by Lynne Reid Banks

Jane has had her baby and is living along with him in a country cottage. Her idyllic time there is soon complicated by the arrival of Toby, the love of her life, and her friend Dorothy. The two women start up a shop in the village, and it is their changing fortunes and feelings for the men on whom so much of their lives are staked which form the core of this funny and vivdly-told novel.

The Backward Shadow is a worthy sequel to The L-Shaped Room

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, British Literature, 20th Century, Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Modern

254 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Lynne Reid Banks is a British author of books for children and adults. She has written forty books, including the best-selling children's novel The Indian in the Cupboard, which has sold over 10 million copies and been made into a film.
Banks was born in London, the only child of James and Muriel Reid Banks. She was evacuated to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada during World War II but returned after the war was over. She attended St Teresa's School in Surrey. Prior to becoming a writer Banks was an actress, and also worked as a television journalist in Britain, one of the first women to do so. Her first novel, The L-Shaped Room, was published in 1960.
In 1962 Banks emigrated to Israel, where she taught for eight years on an Israeli kibbutz Yasur. In 1965 she married Chaim Stephenson, with whom she had three sons. Although the family returned to England in 1971 and Banks now lives in Dorset, the influence of her time in Israel can be seen in some of her books which are set partially or mainly on kibbutzim.

Reviews

[Joan Barton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love the world Banks creates.

[Cary Ledingham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book on the cottage bookshelf - presumably my mother read it 50 years ago!
I thoroughly enjoyed it - the descriptive narrative, the complicated relationships and of course the backward shadow…
Things don’t always turn out the way we think they might.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried hard to like this book but nearly gave up on it. Like other reviews have said, it's dated, the language is stilted at times and there are a couple of episodes that some might regard as near racist. I don't think she is being racist, I think it's just patronising, along the lines of the 'look-I'm-being-kind-to-black-people' school. My main problem with the book is that it's just flat and unengaging. There's nothing to excite or interest and the writing is at times quite boring. You know you have a problem when you find paragraphs over a page long - thick screeds of didactic prose with not a lot going on. Then there's the sheer lack of realism, which tainted the L Shaped Room too: the Heal's thing which I can't reveal as it would be a spoiler. It wasn't all bad - the scene between Jane and Henry towards the end of the book was well written and full of passion and insight - it's just a shame the rest of the book couldn't live up to that.

[Daisy Jenel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This sequel to 'The L-Shaped Room' is interesting as a piece of cultural history, reflecting 1960s norms, but for all that is fairly slight in terms of plot. Our heroine, Jane, along with baby David, is now living in the countryside but still holding a torch for Toby, the Jewish writer she fell in love with in the first book. To Reid-Banks' credit, she doesn't provide a neat, happy ending. All that aside, I found the character of best friend Dottie irritating, to say the least; and Jane certainly doesn't help herself with all her inner monologues which never quite transfer to having real conversations with people at the right time. Worth looking at - but only if you want to see where the story goes after the first book, or if you're really into the 1960s.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every bit as good as The L-Shaped Room, maybe even stronger.

[Richard E. Rock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the finest novels I've ever read. In fact, the reason I read fiction at all can be be found within the pages of The Backward Shadow.

Jane Graham, who we met in The L-Shaped Room has had her baby and now lives in a country cottage. She's come into some money and is lazily planning an escape to New York, but then along comes best friend Dottie with a crazy plan to open a chic shop in the nearby village. Meanwhile, the love of her life Toby drifts back in through the front door.

Or at least, that's what's going on on the outside, but The Backward Shadow is an an autopsy as much as it is a story; an autopsy on the mind and soul of a woman, a single mother, caught at a crossroads in her life. Lynne Red Banks opens her up and examines in forensic detail every facet of Graham's psyche as she navigates her way through these uncertain waters.

Good fiction allows us, from the comfort of our sofas and our beds, to live in the heads and walk in the shoes of people living different lives to us. People going through traumas and experiences that we will never know, whether they be small and personal or huge and world-changing. The Backward Shadow achieves this and so much more. In my opinion, it's a classic.

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the L Shaped Room very much and immediately sent off for the rest of the trilogy. Only it isn’t a trilogy; the narrative voice has changed, (horribly literary in stretches and the narrator appears to have bought a thesaurus) the characters aren’t the same characters and the new characters are below par.

It is almost as though a young aspiring novelist had a story to tell and told it well, and then, for whatever reason, a successful novelist attempted a sequel without having a ready made story. The first book is touching and engaging and delightfully naive. The second fails the believability test by a long way and becomes rather tedious (this was a struggle to finish and I got next to no pleasure out of the reading experience).

But others seem to have enjoyed it ... and she did write the Indian in the Cupboard, so all is forgiven. I won’t be reading the third book in the trilogy.

[Wesley Azzopardi · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I began to understand it Dottie's philosophy, if one can call it that, of the backward shadow, the thief that destroys by reaching behind it, which deguts the present from the future."

A captivating read that roots greatly from the themes of depression, lonileness and desperation, a mixture that Reid Banks managed to blend so well. But in some times this mixture becomes too emphasized, that may lose grasp of what the moral of the story is: that our past shapes up our present, and defines what is to come - and that past can indeed degut anything you have ever dreamed of. Would give this a 3.5/5...

[Helen Arnold · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really craved reading this. I have been feeling so nostalgic lately and The L-Shaped Room is a formative book for me. This had similar elements of the first book, and I just love Jane as a narrator - Lynne Reid Banks writes so well and clearly. But my god, it is dated and the racist portrayal of John makes this unpublishable today. And also, there is so much internalised misogyny for the narrator and Toby is such an arsehole!! But equally, I just love that this was written in the early 60s and so it does feel like an honest and accurate reflection of the times for middle class single mothers and for that little time-capsule I have deep gratitude.

[Silverymoonlady · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent sequel to the L Shaped Room.

Following the thoughts of many a parent who fears their own past or how they show love is affecting their child.
It's a strange read in some ways and quite difficult to read the text of a different age when black people were not accepted or written about with equality? I'm really not sure I'm explaining this properly for by no means is this a racist novel. Simply of a different era. Well written and can really feel part of the novel whilst reading.

[Pynk Moon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Like the first story in the series I listened to this as a radio play broadcast. I'm sure that as a result I'm missing some of the more intricate details of the narrative, but I think I've still got a pretty good idea of what's been going on.

This one just didn't connect with me for whatever reason. I guess the whole series was a little bit of a letdown because I came into it thinking that the books were going to go completely against the grain, like the way that Irvine Welsh's novels do, but they're rather tame in the end. Perhaps I just had the wrong ideas coming into this.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book and loved it and The L Shaped Room about 40 years ago. Just read it again as it was the only book in English at our holiday resort and I needed a book.
I loved it all over again. The characters are so well drawn.
However I was a little shocked by some of the language and attitudes reflected, and had to keep reminding myself that it was written over half a century ago and thankfully we have moved on.

[Michael P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bah. I really loved THE L-SHAPED ROOM despite its overt sentimentality, in fact, because of it. The book touched my own sentimentality. This sequel is every bit as well-intended and continues to show that an independent woman can make a success of life without a man, but the added sentimentality finally proved too much for me. It is just too well-made and tidy to touch me.

[Katherine Pederson · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a disappointment! I was so looking forward to the sequel to "The L-shaped Room" and the first half flowed nicely along, except it was missing the "grit" of the first book. But that's OK, I thought. It was nice to get re-acquainted with the characters. But the melodrama of Jane's thoughts! just rang untrue for me. It felt like the author was going to the dark side (Harlequin Romance).

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes I’ve enjoyed this, but, was enjoying it more at the start - then, v sadly, it got a lot more dramatic. Was thinking that I was going to be able to read more of her books, however, it diverged from what I see as ‘real life’. Maybe it’s me & I’m wrong..! Do realise this is fiction - but I like to be able to recognise real life!

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this having enjoyed the first book. This one was quite a lot different, focussing mainly on two characters. Whilst I quite liked it, the things that happened seemed a bit too random and out of the blue for it to have much credibility. Nevertheless, I will be reading book 3

[Mary Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

As others have said, it is a bit dated, but how can it or The L Shaped Room not be? They were written in a different time. The writing is good, the characters are interesting and it is an enjoyable read. Have times changed? Yes. And that's okay.

[T · Rating 2 out of 5]

Something about this sequel to The L-Shaped Room makes it seem even more dated than the first book, maybe because of its small village setting. I enjoyed the first book set in London, but here it seems as if little happens.

WSU library

[David Highton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the L-Shaped Room 50 years ago when a novel about an unmarried mother was not common. I thought I would read the sequel published about 10 years after and enjoyed it - not too dated with very strong characters. I will read the third and final book in the series soon.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

l remembered very little of this but totally entertained by the continuance of Jane's life as a single mother attempting to make enough money to survive. The parts played by Henry, John, Jane's father and Toby, variously delightful and heart-breaking.

[Deborah Wickham · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. Dated and tedious.

[Ruth Brumby · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story, but very much of its time.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10

[Fay McInnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was good to see where the characters from LShaped Room had progressed to

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book of three that started with the L Shaped Room. Jane is now living with her baby in a small cottage in a country town outside London. She tells of raising David, starting a business and how she makes a go of it. I know this is not everyone's cup of tea, but I really enjoyed it.

[Capella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up because I grew up reading Lynne Reid Banks and had no idea she wrote adult fiction. Her writing style is strong, as always, but the story is somewhat lackluster and perhaps dated, though still entertaining. It was more a look back through time than anything but enjoyable none the less.

[Carole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read the L shaped Room I wanted to know what happened next but it was a bit disappointing as nothing much did happen. Hoping the third book " Two is Lonely" is going to have a more satisfactory conclusion.

[Diane Wachter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lynne Reid Banks, HB-M @ 1970, 7/89. The L-Shaped Room sequal. The story of Jane, living in an English country cottage with her illigitimate child, determined to forge a viable, independent future. Okay.

[Lindsay]

This book, second in the Jane Graham trilogy, has simply confirmed what I already knew; that Lynne Reid Banks is a master of articulating the human condition.

[Richard Beasley]

Why?