Casting Off: A Memoir

by Elspeth Sandys

At the end of the first volume of Elspeth Sandys’ absorbing memoir, What Lies Beneath , an adult Elspeth has solved the riddle of her birth parents and begun to piece together the events of her early life and find her place in the world. Casting Off begins on the eve of Elspeth’s first marriage. She and her husband will soon depart New Zealand for England, joining a throng of Kiwis who chose to uproot themselves from their native land. New attachments will be new loves – of people; of places – will take the place of the old. But the home country will continue to exercise a pull. Backgrounding the personal story in this deeply satisfying memoir is the story of the Thatcher years and the creeping virus of neo-liberalism, the sexual revolution of the sixties, the beguiling world of books – reading and writing – and theatre. Elspeth Sandys’ refreshing honesty and her skill as a writer of fiction and drama propel the reader through an absorbing life story that is equally a commentary on the meaning of memoir and the peculiarities of memory.

224 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 2017

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have enjoyed Elspeth Sandys novels for many years, and eagerly sought out this new memoir but found it curiously disappointing. It starts well, and piques curiosity with mentions of her mother (who is clearly crazy) and a birth certificate which is missing the name of the father. There are a few bitter details about the mother: the only present to her daughter and grandchildren during the English years is a second-hand, size 40, corset, for example, and Elspeth confesses to a morbid fear that she will hear maternally voiced cries of "Jezebel!" at her first wedding, but Mother does lend the money to buy The Long House in the Cotswolds, so she can't have been all monster.

The book ends with the beginning of Elspeth's relationship to Maurice Shadbolt which allows for a sequel to be published. Despite his brief appearance at the end of the book, Maurice as suitor really comes to life, whereas the first two husbands are off-stage for the most part. Bruce, the second husband, at least features in a photograph and comes into focus when he is being a total cad, and wanting to have a relationship with a woman called Judy in New Zealand while staying married to Elspeth in England. Bruce also incurs debt in Elspeth's name and gets her into trouble with Inland Revenue, leading her to change her name permanently to her pen name.

The treatment of her relationship with her editor Vernon (who christened her Sandys, when she thought he was suggesting Sand as in George Sand) is rendered colourfully, and I liked the details about her thespian existence in the earlier part of the book. Even though John Hurt was a friend to Elspeth, she is honest about how alcohol turned Dr Jekyll into Mr Hyde. Jane Parkin as editor may have suggested that the poems be interspersed with the narrative and they do enliven what is otherwise a diary and journal-driven chronology of life's progression. What is missing is the realm of feelings - apart from resenting Bruce's disinterest in the birth of their child, how did she feel about being a mother again? - and humour. The beautiful but charming recovering addict Laura who comes to stay and won't leave offers possibilities, especially for the jealousy she arouses in Elspeth, but when she is encountered a decade later, married with two children, Elspeth merely dismisses her as "a lost soul".

I haven't read the first volume of the memoir, What Lies Beneath, but I don't know that I will be bothered with the third.

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Casting Off begins on the eve of Elspeth Sandys first marriage in Dunedin in the 1960s where she says, “Presbyterianism is in the air you breathe in this town. It is also, and always will be, in my bloodstream”.
This is the second volume of her memoir, the first What Lies Beneath explained her interesting and challenging background and childhood.
So I had to check out the difference between an autobiography and memoir before I could write the review, and I learned the autobiography is a chronological recording of the person’s experience while the memoir relies more on the author’s memory, feelings and emotions.
Sandys herself says, “I will try to stick to the facts, avoiding invention but guided, as I cannot help be, as I have always been, by imagination”.
I have not read the first volume but found this an interesting read and was able to pick up the facts of Sandys early life as the book progressed.
After her marriage the couple left New Zealand to live in England where they enjoy the arts and theatre scene. However work was intermittent and by 1968 she is divorced and back in New Zealand with a daughter.
The book is supported with photographs supporting many of the significant events in the author’s life. Many of the earlier photos are black and white but there are also a number of more recent coloured snaps, including The Long House a home she lived in London during her next marriage.
I enjoyed the inclusion of poems appropriately slotted throughout the book which shows the versatility of Sandys writing.
She has published nine novels, and two collections of short stories as well as numerous original plays and adaptions for the BBC and RNZ, as well as scripts for film and television. She now lives in Wellington, NZ has two children and six grandchildren.