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A Perfect Explanation
Finalist for the Desmond Elliott Prize
Enid Campbell, granddaughter of a duke, grew up surrounded by servants, wanting for nothing except love. But when her brother died in the First World War, a new heir was needed, and it was up to Enid to provide it.
A troubled marriage and three children soon followed. Broken by postpartum depression, overwhelmed by motherhood and a loveless marriage, Enid made the shocking decision to abandon her family, thereby starting a chain of events—a kidnap, a court case, and selling her son to her sister for £500—that reverberated through the generations.
Enid Campbell, granddaughter of a duke, grew up surrounded by servants, wanting for nothing except love. But when her brother died in the First World War, a new heir was needed, and it was up to Enid to provide it.
A troubled marriage and three children soon followed. Broken by postpartum depression, overwhelmed by motherhood and a loveless marriage, Enid made the shocking decision to abandon her family, thereby starting a chain of events—a kidnap, a court case, and selling her son to her sister for £500—that reverberated through the generations.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published March 15, 2019
67 people are currently reading
2143 people want to read
About the author
Eleanor Anstruther
3 books24 followersEleanor Anstruther was born in London, educated at Westminster School and studied History of Art at Manchester University where she was distracted from finishing her degree by a trip to India. She was lost and found for the next twelve years, starting a commune and travelling the world before finally settling down to write her acclaimed debut novel, A Perfect Explanation, (Salt Books) which was long listed for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the 2019 Not The Booker Prize. Her latest novel, In Judgement of Others, (Troubador) is available now. Founder of The Literary Obsessive, she’s grown a significant following on Substack where she champions indie lit fiction, serializes her work before taking it to print, and runs the popular interview series, 8 Questions.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 114 reviews
July 16, 2022
“She hadn’t spent twenty-five years designing a perfect explanation for her life only to have it shot down in one surprise attack.”
Enid hasn’t seen her son, Ian, in twenty-five years and he’s coming to visit. At first it seems she loved him more than life itself but at the same time, she was totally prepared to go to her death without ever seeing him again. These contradictory feelings make more sense as the author reveals her character’s complexity and the life events she has experienced. One of those events was tragic and Enid’s prolonged grief brings about an inability to function. What happens to the marriage of a person in the grips of major depression? And the children? Ian was the last child, conceived in an effort to hold onto an inheritance. Now, it seems, his visit may lay waste to her carefully constructed rationalizations…her designed life. Sometimes people pop up and rock all the thoughts we’ve been thinking about ourselves for decades about who we are, how we love others, and how we love ourselves. Others can hold up a mirror that shreds rationalizations, forcing us to grapple with reality. It can be good or it can be very bad.
Eleanor Anstruther’s debut novel captured my attention from the first sentence. “What irritated Finetta about her mother was not the lack of love but the obvious hatred.” Hatred is not an emotion often associated with parenting. What dysfunction had so roiled this family that they were left with the stinging blade of hatred? Finetta is the middle child and the only girl.
As Enid spends the last of her days in a home for the aged, we are made privy to her thoughts and behaviors. The story occurs on two timelines, Enid's present in 1964 and Enid's past, which takes the reader back to 1921 through 1931. In 1964, she is old, estranged from Ian. Finetta, her daughter, makes weekly visits, which Enid fails to appreciate.
“She twisted each ankle. They were bony, like misshapen sticks. It was unacceptable. Who’d stolen her life? That’s what she wanted to know. It was hers that needed answers. She’d given up her sons’ lives long ago. She’d lost them both. If a man insisted on calling himself such, the correct course would be to write. Why hadn’t he written? He’d had decades to compose a note that need only say, Mother —.”
The author describes Enid’s old age in painful detail but something else is going on here, too. Whereas many go into their senior years with sharpened emotional capacity and a positive mental attitude, Enid is not that person. Her emotional life is blunted and suffering every bit as much as her physical body. Her mental attitude has wrapped her in a cage of her own thinking. You don’t have to be old for this to happen. A healthy emotional and mental life needs positive nutritive feeding and just as the body needs exercise, the emotion and thoughts need to move about, looking for light, practicing for resilience. Mental and emotional fitness is a part of us that can be improved. Rather than having the same thoughts every day, we can take a new road. It takes work, often hard work, and as I’ve read in other books and articles, a daily practice helps build that road. Enid’s story is a cautionary tale, and one that shows the pitfalls of being set in one’s ways. One important caution is to seek help for depression, sooner rather than later.
The novel is sad, but the writing is beautiful and mature. It was a finalist for the Desmond Elliott prize, which is open to debut authors in the UK and Ireland. At the end of the book, the author reveals how her life story connects her to 'A Perfect Explanation.'
Enid hasn’t seen her son, Ian, in twenty-five years and he’s coming to visit. At first it seems she loved him more than life itself but at the same time, she was totally prepared to go to her death without ever seeing him again. These contradictory feelings make more sense as the author reveals her character’s complexity and the life events she has experienced. One of those events was tragic and Enid’s prolonged grief brings about an inability to function. What happens to the marriage of a person in the grips of major depression? And the children? Ian was the last child, conceived in an effort to hold onto an inheritance. Now, it seems, his visit may lay waste to her carefully constructed rationalizations…her designed life. Sometimes people pop up and rock all the thoughts we’ve been thinking about ourselves for decades about who we are, how we love others, and how we love ourselves. Others can hold up a mirror that shreds rationalizations, forcing us to grapple with reality. It can be good or it can be very bad.
Eleanor Anstruther’s debut novel captured my attention from the first sentence. “What irritated Finetta about her mother was not the lack of love but the obvious hatred.” Hatred is not an emotion often associated with parenting. What dysfunction had so roiled this family that they were left with the stinging blade of hatred? Finetta is the middle child and the only girl.
As Enid spends the last of her days in a home for the aged, we are made privy to her thoughts and behaviors. The story occurs on two timelines, Enid's present in 1964 and Enid's past, which takes the reader back to 1921 through 1931. In 1964, she is old, estranged from Ian. Finetta, her daughter, makes weekly visits, which Enid fails to appreciate.
“She twisted each ankle. They were bony, like misshapen sticks. It was unacceptable. Who’d stolen her life? That’s what she wanted to know. It was hers that needed answers. She’d given up her sons’ lives long ago. She’d lost them both. If a man insisted on calling himself such, the correct course would be to write. Why hadn’t he written? He’d had decades to compose a note that need only say, Mother —.”
The author describes Enid’s old age in painful detail but something else is going on here, too. Whereas many go into their senior years with sharpened emotional capacity and a positive mental attitude, Enid is not that person. Her emotional life is blunted and suffering every bit as much as her physical body. Her mental attitude has wrapped her in a cage of her own thinking. You don’t have to be old for this to happen. A healthy emotional and mental life needs positive nutritive feeding and just as the body needs exercise, the emotion and thoughts need to move about, looking for light, practicing for resilience. Mental and emotional fitness is a part of us that can be improved. Rather than having the same thoughts every day, we can take a new road. It takes work, often hard work, and as I’ve read in other books and articles, a daily practice helps build that road. Enid’s story is a cautionary tale, and one that shows the pitfalls of being set in one’s ways. One important caution is to seek help for depression, sooner rather than later.
The novel is sad, but the writing is beautiful and mature. It was a finalist for the Desmond Elliott prize, which is open to debut authors in the UK and Ireland. At the end of the book, the author reveals how her life story connects her to 'A Perfect Explanation.'
February 20, 2020
Written as an act of compassion, Eleanor Anstruther's A Perfect Explanation takes us beneath the stiff veneer of British aristocracy to recount the story of the cruelty her father suffered as a child.
Substantial wealth had come down through the line of a great grandmother, a woman intent on re-instituting the practice of primogeniture as the family moved forward. For this, a male heir was required. Her husband had died, and a son in the war, leaving her with two daughters - one of whom she demanded, with all the maternal power at her command, provide her a replacement. This daughter was indifferent toward motherhood and, in many ways, unfit to raise a child; a reality that became clear to all only after her first son had been grievously injured in a fall. This did not alter the plan, however, nor the choice of womb, and soon a second son was born. Custodial tragedies ensued.
Anstruther strives with all her heart and every ounce of her talent to convey the inner life of the parties involved; their drives, their fears, their flaws, and the many selfish choices they made to meet their needs within the stark restrictions imposed upon them by inherited wealth. She succeeds in this quite beautifully; these are deeply emotional portrayals. Still, the freedom such empathetic imagining affords can only take one so far. Eventually, and rather inevitably, we are run to ground by established fact. This is a tragedy replete with recorded verifications. It's a past that cannot be changed or softened or understood enough to strip it of its pain - a reality our author arrives at in her closing pages.
A sad story, passionately explored and intelligently written...which, as you may have guessed by now, only served to make it sadder.
Substantial wealth had come down through the line of a great grandmother, a woman intent on re-instituting the practice of primogeniture as the family moved forward. For this, a male heir was required. Her husband had died, and a son in the war, leaving her with two daughters - one of whom she demanded, with all the maternal power at her command, provide her a replacement. This daughter was indifferent toward motherhood and, in many ways, unfit to raise a child; a reality that became clear to all only after her first son had been grievously injured in a fall. This did not alter the plan, however, nor the choice of womb, and soon a second son was born. Custodial tragedies ensued.
Anstruther strives with all her heart and every ounce of her talent to convey the inner life of the parties involved; their drives, their fears, their flaws, and the many selfish choices they made to meet their needs within the stark restrictions imposed upon them by inherited wealth. She succeeds in this quite beautifully; these are deeply emotional portrayals. Still, the freedom such empathetic imagining affords can only take one so far. Eventually, and rather inevitably, we are run to ground by established fact. This is a tragedy replete with recorded verifications. It's a past that cannot be changed or softened or understood enough to strip it of its pain - a reality our author arrives at in her closing pages.
A sad story, passionately explored and intelligently written...which, as you may have guessed by now, only served to make it sadder.
April 16, 2019
She hadn't spent twenty-five years designing a perfect explanation for her life only to have it shot down in one surprise attack.
A Perfect Explanation by Eleanor Anstruther has been deservedly longlisted for the Desmond Elliot Prize for first time novelists, a prize for books with "a compelling narrative, arresting characters and which is both vividly written and confidently realised," which would indeed stand as a perfect review of this book. The judges specifically cited:
The story alternates between the 1920-30s, the birth of Enid's three children and the resulting post-natal depression and family dramas, and 1963, as Enid, nearing the end of her life, lies in a nursing home, looking back on her life, and awaiting her regular visit from her daughter, but one that perhaps, just possibly, after decades, may also include her (once) son.
The author has access to various family records as to what happened, and the novel adheres to the facts of the case, but she has used her imagination and, importantly, her empathy, to understand why. Her biological grandmother's decisions and actions may appear inexplicable, and those of the other characters in this highly dysfunctional family, little better at times, but Anstruther brings colour into what might appear a black-and-white story, and understanding into the seemingly inexcusable.
is published by the wonderful Cromer based Salt Publishing: my copy, ordered direct from the publisher (which makes such a difference to them if you are able to do it), came with a bookmark, a postcard, a personal note, a sampler of another novel - and, of course, a small packet of salt.
Fittingly I read the novel on a trip to Norfolk, to my parent's home, and less than 10 miles from the site of Didlington Hall (http://www.lostheritage.org.uk/houses...) which plays a crucial role in the story. Best known for its collection of Egyptian antiquities which, in the 1880s, was to spark the interest in Ancient Egypt of the then young boy, Howard Carter (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_...), in the 1920s when the novel was set the it housed a community and refuge for Christian Scientists.
Recommended.
A Perfect Explanation by Eleanor Anstruther has been deservedly longlisted for the Desmond Elliot Prize for first time novelists, a prize for books with "a compelling narrative, arresting characters and which is both vividly written and confidently realised," which would indeed stand as a perfect review of this book. The judges specifically cited:
Aptly for this most viscerally inward-looking of texts, we spend a great part of it closeted with Enid, alone. Her mind, pinched between ignorance and incapacity, is not an easy space to share but Anstruther paces this little room precisely, punctuates cerebral intensity with momentous action, the internal monologue with scintillating dialogue, and the dark inroads of this soul with episodic diversion.The novel is a fictionalised version of a true, but bizarre, story from Anstruther's family - her aristocratic grandmother, Enid Campbell, granddaughter of the 8th Duke of Argyll sold her son, Anstruther's father, to her own sister. See: https://www.you.co.uk/why-an-aristocr...
The story alternates between the 1920-30s, the birth of Enid's three children and the resulting post-natal depression and family dramas, and 1963, as Enid, nearing the end of her life, lies in a nursing home, looking back on her life, and awaiting her regular visit from her daughter, but one that perhaps, just possibly, after decades, may also include her (once) son.
The author has access to various family records as to what happened, and the novel adheres to the facts of the case, but she has used her imagination and, importantly, her empathy, to understand why. Her biological grandmother's decisions and actions may appear inexplicable, and those of the other characters in this highly dysfunctional family, little better at times, but Anstruther brings colour into what might appear a black-and-white story, and understanding into the seemingly inexcusable.
is published by the wonderful Cromer based Salt Publishing: my copy, ordered direct from the publisher (which makes such a difference to them if you are able to do it), came with a bookmark, a postcard, a personal note, a sampler of another novel - and, of course, a small packet of salt.
Fittingly I read the novel on a trip to Norfolk, to my parent's home, and less than 10 miles from the site of Didlington Hall (http://www.lostheritage.org.uk/houses...) which plays a crucial role in the story. Best known for its collection of Egyptian antiquities which, in the 1880s, was to spark the interest in Ancient Egypt of the then young boy, Howard Carter (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_...), in the 1920s when the novel was set the it housed a community and refuge for Christian Scientists.
Recommended.
March 15, 2020
Gloriosky! This book was so annoying for the first 22 chapters or so. Every single one of the characters acted like they'd been eating lead paint chips. I stuck with it because the book is based on a true story, and I wanted to see how it turned out. I'm glad I did continue. Around chapter 23, the story gets more interesting and focused as the custody battle begins. I read from that point to the end all in one go.
In the late 1930s, Ian Anstruther, the author's father, was "sold" by his mother Enid to his aunt Joan for £500 when he was an adolescent. (That's about £34,000 in today's money.) Just that fact taken out of context sounds purely mercenary, and in a sense it was. But if you understand the long trajectory that led up to that transaction, you might be able to at least partially forgive Enid. Ian never did forgive his mother.
This story made me think of the story of King Solomon in the Hebrew Testament. He offered to cut a baby in half to determine who loved the child. The true mother was willing to let her rival have the baby in order to save the child's life.
Sadly, in the case of Ian Anstruther, it appears that neither Enid nor Joan truly loved him. They fought a bitter custody battle for twelve years, not because they wanted him, but because he was "the heir". One or the other of them could have given up at any point for the sake of the child's well-being, agreeing to some sort of visitation so they could still have time with him. Neither one of them loved him enough to do that. In the end, no one really "won", and the most vulnerable members of the family suffered the most.
In the late 1930s, Ian Anstruther, the author's father, was "sold" by his mother Enid to his aunt Joan for £500 when he was an adolescent. (That's about £34,000 in today's money.) Just that fact taken out of context sounds purely mercenary, and in a sense it was. But if you understand the long trajectory that led up to that transaction, you might be able to at least partially forgive Enid. Ian never did forgive his mother.
This story made me think of the story of King Solomon in the Hebrew Testament. He offered to cut a baby in half to determine who loved the child. The true mother was willing to let her rival have the baby in order to save the child's life.
Sadly, in the case of Ian Anstruther, it appears that neither Enid nor Joan truly loved him. They fought a bitter custody battle for twelve years, not because they wanted him, but because he was "the heir". One or the other of them could have given up at any point for the sake of the child's well-being, agreeing to some sort of visitation so they could still have time with him. Neither one of them loved him enough to do that. In the end, no one really "won", and the most vulnerable members of the family suffered the most.
January 14, 2020
This novel, which takes place in the 1920s and one day in 1964, is the fleshing out of a scandal regarding Enid Campbell, the author's paternal grandmother. The Campbells were an aristocratic family with properties in England and Scotland at a time when male inheritance was important to the line. It's a sad and depressing tale of a dysfunctional family, but it's very well written. It's also a heartbreaking tale of the three children caught in the crossfires of the family feud.
As the story begins, it is 1964. Enid is an old woman in a nursing home awaiting the visit of her daughter Finella, who will possibly be accompanied by her son Ian, whom she has not seen for 25 years. From there we travel back to the 1920s when Enid was a young girl reluctant to marry but forced to by the circumstances of her older brother's death in the Great War and her older sister's disinterest in men and disinclination to marry to carry on the line. So it's up to Enid to supply a male for inheritance purposes.
She marries Douglas Anstruther and has three children: Fergus, a tragic figure born with hydrocephalus at a time when little was known about that; Finetta, a beautiful, perfect little girl but, still, just a girl; and Ian, finally the perfect little heir. But when Ian is still a baby Enid deserts her husband and children and has no communication with them for two years. When she finally returns even more scandal ensues, with bitter divorce and custody proceedings that drag on for 14 years, culminating in Enid ceding custody of Ian to her sister Joan if 500 pounds in debts she has accrued are paid by Joan. In essence, she sells her son to her sister. ("At least," thinks Ian, "I know what I'm worth.")
That's all on public record. It's a sad story of what seems to be a cold, unnatural, unfeeling mother, a dysfunctional, unloving family, and three children who are helpless pawns or almost collateral damage as the adults spar with each other over the years. But author Eleanor Anstruther wanted to understand the whys, not just the whats, and, through conversations with her father Ian, through his archive of letters, court papers, medical reports, photographs, with his permission has written a 307-page account of the events. It's a work of love to her father, as she retells a part of his past. (An account which he did not live to see as a published book since he died in 2007.)
Her initial goal was that of trying to understand and vindicate Ian's mother so that he could finally accept and love her. But the author says she "gave it up when the facts revealed an impossible to comprehend network of choices." Yet the author and her readers do learn through this account to understand a little more about Enid Campbell. About a woman who apparently had always been troubled emotionally and grew even more so with an unsatisfying marriage, the birth of three children, and undiagnosed postpartum depression. During her life, she was regarded as evil and mad, unnatural and unfeeling. The book leaves us a bit more sympathetic to her and her actions.
And, if you google Sir Ian Anstruther (1922-2007), the author's father and real life victim of his family's dysfunction, you will be filled with joy and hope. You will see that he made a good life for himself, as a soldier in WWII, as a British diplomat, as the author of several books, champion of the poor, and the father of six children, the youngest being our author Eleanor. (You will also see that the two sons, neither one the eldest child and one actually the next-to-youngest, have inherited his titles. Some things never seem to change.)
As the story begins, it is 1964. Enid is an old woman in a nursing home awaiting the visit of her daughter Finella, who will possibly be accompanied by her son Ian, whom she has not seen for 25 years. From there we travel back to the 1920s when Enid was a young girl reluctant to marry but forced to by the circumstances of her older brother's death in the Great War and her older sister's disinterest in men and disinclination to marry to carry on the line. So it's up to Enid to supply a male for inheritance purposes.
She marries Douglas Anstruther and has three children: Fergus, a tragic figure born with hydrocephalus at a time when little was known about that; Finetta, a beautiful, perfect little girl but, still, just a girl; and Ian, finally the perfect little heir. But when Ian is still a baby Enid deserts her husband and children and has no communication with them for two years. When she finally returns even more scandal ensues, with bitter divorce and custody proceedings that drag on for 14 years, culminating in Enid ceding custody of Ian to her sister Joan if 500 pounds in debts she has accrued are paid by Joan. In essence, she sells her son to her sister. ("At least," thinks Ian, "I know what I'm worth.")
That's all on public record. It's a sad story of what seems to be a cold, unnatural, unfeeling mother, a dysfunctional, unloving family, and three children who are helpless pawns or almost collateral damage as the adults spar with each other over the years. But author Eleanor Anstruther wanted to understand the whys, not just the whats, and, through conversations with her father Ian, through his archive of letters, court papers, medical reports, photographs, with his permission has written a 307-page account of the events. It's a work of love to her father, as she retells a part of his past. (An account which he did not live to see as a published book since he died in 2007.)
Her initial goal was that of trying to understand and vindicate Ian's mother so that he could finally accept and love her. But the author says she "gave it up when the facts revealed an impossible to comprehend network of choices." Yet the author and her readers do learn through this account to understand a little more about Enid Campbell. About a woman who apparently had always been troubled emotionally and grew even more so with an unsatisfying marriage, the birth of three children, and undiagnosed postpartum depression. During her life, she was regarded as evil and mad, unnatural and unfeeling. The book leaves us a bit more sympathetic to her and her actions.
And, if you google Sir Ian Anstruther (1922-2007), the author's father and real life victim of his family's dysfunction, you will be filled with joy and hope. You will see that he made a good life for himself, as a soldier in WWII, as a British diplomat, as the author of several books, champion of the poor, and the father of six children, the youngest being our author Eleanor. (You will also see that the two sons, neither one the eldest child and one actually the next-to-youngest, have inherited his titles. Some things never seem to change.)
March 12, 2019
“It was the starting that was the joy when no mistakes had been made, when the world was free and open, when nothing was said that needed to be unsaid”
Eleanor Anstruther grew up knowing the family story of how her father, as a boy, was sold by his mother to his aunt for five hundred pounds. These forebears were an aristocratic family whose wealth included large properties in Scotland and London. Children were important as heirs; the family inheritance to be managed and passed on. Although A Perfect Explanation is a work of fiction it was built around facts found in letters, court papers, medical reports and photographs. It offers a fascinating picture of a family bound by gendered tradition, in which truths deemed unpalatable, including parental favouritism, silently festered to the detriment of all.
The tale is told across two timelines – a day in 1964 and the years between the two world wars. The protagonist is Enid Campbell, a society beauty who later eschews company. Although pampered and selfish she regards herself as hard done by. The coldness of parents and their favouring of certain offspring repeat across the three generations featured. Mothers love their sons more than their daughters who are expected to do their duty without unseemly fuss.
Enid is one of three siblings. They were born and raised in the fairy-tale castle of Inveraray in Argyllshire. When her uncle, the ninth Duke of Argyll and husband of Princess Louise, died, Enid’s family had to move to a smaller property on the estate, thereby freeing the castle for her cousin’s occupancy. Enid regarded this as her first lesson in how anything she loved could be taken away. The next lessons were when her beloved brother, her parents’ heir, was killed in the war, and her father, who had always favoured her, died of illness. Enid was left with her domineering mother who she believed preferred her sister, Joan. Enid had married Douglas to spite her mother, an act she was told contributed to her father’s demise. She regretted that Douglas rather than her brother returned from the war.
Enid and Douglas have a son, Fagus, and a daughter, Finetta. Enid struggles with the demands of motherhood and grows to despise her husband while still expecting his support. Their son was born with hydrocephalus but the obvious signs are neither discussed nor treated. The condition makes him clumsy and he suffers a life changing fall while under Enid’s care. As well as the guilt she feels there is resentment as she believes she is being unfairly blamed.
With the young heir now damaged and therefore the inheritance Enid had expected to come her way in jeopardy she decides she must produce another son to prevent Joan being bequeathed their mother’s sizeable estate. The responsibility of providing care for a disabled child and a newborn baby – her daughter is largely ignored – tips Enid over the edge.
The book opens on a day in 1964 with Finetta preparing to make one of her regular visits to Enid who now lives in a nursing home in Hampstead run by Christian Scientists, a belief she turned to in an attempt to cure Fagus. We learn that Finetta has a son and a daughter but the same skewed parenting preferences as her mother and grandmother.
“She’d fed and bathed them both, divorced their father and sent them away to school as soon as possible. They had grown up.”
“Her daughter was a stranger who moved with a stranger’s mood; a thing that passed and left little trace, unlike her son, for whom she felt a love so crushing she could only watch him, constantly, whether he was there or not.”
Finetta is doing her duty towards her mother but takes pleasure in observing the limitations of the life of the ‘almost dead but not dead enough’. She regards any suffering Enid must endure as her just deserts. This visit though will be different as her younger brother, Ian, is to join her – the first time he will have seen their mother in twenty-five years.
Enid feels no gratitude at her daughter’s willingness to visit each Tuesday.
“Enid had done nothing to deserve such loyalty and she resented it. She wanted to be left alone. She didn’t want to have it pointed out that she was still a mother. It was as if Finetta did it on purpose, shoving the reminder of her existence as a punishment from which Enid could not escape, a revenge dripped week by week”
Now an old woman waiting to die, cut off from the wider family she scorned yet craved attention and sympathy from, Enid cannot still the memories of her past actions which caused the breach and led to suffering for all.
The interwar timeline takes the reader through these actions, when Enid had her babies and failed to meet her own and her family’s expectations. Despite the appalling way in which she treats everyone her story is told with a degree of sympathy.
There is darkness and tension in Enid’s perceptions and yearnings. She appears childlike in her jealousies, incapable of loving selflessly. Her feelings of entitlement and perceived lack of understanding lead to her wishing to hurt her mother and sister. She cannot cope with the demands made by her children. Always she wants without being able to give.
I have read many stories of minor historical figures and the troubles they encounter despite their privileged existences. This tale offers much more depth and nuance than is typical. The writing pulls the reader under the skin of each character from where they may view the pain of selfish frustrations. There are truly shocking moments yet they are never sensationalised. Rather there is a balance in the telling that allows the reader to form their own opinions. The complexities of family relationships and the pressures these create offer much to consider.
A riveting tale of grown children damaged by the relentless actions of their entitled parents. Well paced and skilfully written, this is a haunting, recommended read.
Eleanor Anstruther grew up knowing the family story of how her father, as a boy, was sold by his mother to his aunt for five hundred pounds. These forebears were an aristocratic family whose wealth included large properties in Scotland and London. Children were important as heirs; the family inheritance to be managed and passed on. Although A Perfect Explanation is a work of fiction it was built around facts found in letters, court papers, medical reports and photographs. It offers a fascinating picture of a family bound by gendered tradition, in which truths deemed unpalatable, including parental favouritism, silently festered to the detriment of all.
The tale is told across two timelines – a day in 1964 and the years between the two world wars. The protagonist is Enid Campbell, a society beauty who later eschews company. Although pampered and selfish she regards herself as hard done by. The coldness of parents and their favouring of certain offspring repeat across the three generations featured. Mothers love their sons more than their daughters who are expected to do their duty without unseemly fuss.
Enid is one of three siblings. They were born and raised in the fairy-tale castle of Inveraray in Argyllshire. When her uncle, the ninth Duke of Argyll and husband of Princess Louise, died, Enid’s family had to move to a smaller property on the estate, thereby freeing the castle for her cousin’s occupancy. Enid regarded this as her first lesson in how anything she loved could be taken away. The next lessons were when her beloved brother, her parents’ heir, was killed in the war, and her father, who had always favoured her, died of illness. Enid was left with her domineering mother who she believed preferred her sister, Joan. Enid had married Douglas to spite her mother, an act she was told contributed to her father’s demise. She regretted that Douglas rather than her brother returned from the war.
Enid and Douglas have a son, Fagus, and a daughter, Finetta. Enid struggles with the demands of motherhood and grows to despise her husband while still expecting his support. Their son was born with hydrocephalus but the obvious signs are neither discussed nor treated. The condition makes him clumsy and he suffers a life changing fall while under Enid’s care. As well as the guilt she feels there is resentment as she believes she is being unfairly blamed.
With the young heir now damaged and therefore the inheritance Enid had expected to come her way in jeopardy she decides she must produce another son to prevent Joan being bequeathed their mother’s sizeable estate. The responsibility of providing care for a disabled child and a newborn baby – her daughter is largely ignored – tips Enid over the edge.
The book opens on a day in 1964 with Finetta preparing to make one of her regular visits to Enid who now lives in a nursing home in Hampstead run by Christian Scientists, a belief she turned to in an attempt to cure Fagus. We learn that Finetta has a son and a daughter but the same skewed parenting preferences as her mother and grandmother.
“She’d fed and bathed them both, divorced their father and sent them away to school as soon as possible. They had grown up.”
“Her daughter was a stranger who moved with a stranger’s mood; a thing that passed and left little trace, unlike her son, for whom she felt a love so crushing she could only watch him, constantly, whether he was there or not.”
Finetta is doing her duty towards her mother but takes pleasure in observing the limitations of the life of the ‘almost dead but not dead enough’. She regards any suffering Enid must endure as her just deserts. This visit though will be different as her younger brother, Ian, is to join her – the first time he will have seen their mother in twenty-five years.
Enid feels no gratitude at her daughter’s willingness to visit each Tuesday.
“Enid had done nothing to deserve such loyalty and she resented it. She wanted to be left alone. She didn’t want to have it pointed out that she was still a mother. It was as if Finetta did it on purpose, shoving the reminder of her existence as a punishment from which Enid could not escape, a revenge dripped week by week”
Now an old woman waiting to die, cut off from the wider family she scorned yet craved attention and sympathy from, Enid cannot still the memories of her past actions which caused the breach and led to suffering for all.
The interwar timeline takes the reader through these actions, when Enid had her babies and failed to meet her own and her family’s expectations. Despite the appalling way in which she treats everyone her story is told with a degree of sympathy.
There is darkness and tension in Enid’s perceptions and yearnings. She appears childlike in her jealousies, incapable of loving selflessly. Her feelings of entitlement and perceived lack of understanding lead to her wishing to hurt her mother and sister. She cannot cope with the demands made by her children. Always she wants without being able to give.
I have read many stories of minor historical figures and the troubles they encounter despite their privileged existences. This tale offers much more depth and nuance than is typical. The writing pulls the reader under the skin of each character from where they may view the pain of selfish frustrations. There are truly shocking moments yet they are never sensationalised. Rather there is a balance in the telling that allows the reader to form their own opinions. The complexities of family relationships and the pressures these create offer much to consider.
A riveting tale of grown children damaged by the relentless actions of their entitled parents. Well paced and skilfully written, this is a haunting, recommended read.
August 3, 2019
A well-written, engaging but heartbreaking account if a dysfunctional family and the ensuing suffering
maybe
April 10, 2019
Dysfunction among the upper classes: A fictionalised family history captures the brutality of aristocratic tradition. Never give birth to a writer. And whatever you do, don’t let any of your children give birth to a writer. Leave a grandchild reckoning with the family skeletons and you run the risk of being assailed down the generations without a right of reply.
March 18, 2019
This is one mesmerizing story that I can’t recommend enough. The story is told on two-time lines, one set in a nursing home where Enid Campbell resides, a very aloof woman who after a life time still does not fit in with the people around her. The year is 1964 and her daughter Finetta is due to make a dutiful daughter call on her but one of the nursing home staff has told her that her son Ian is also going to accompany her daughter today. A son that has not seen his mother for 25 years. The story bounces back to this day and the anticipation of his arrival. The primary time line is set in the past, after the first world war and before the second world war.
Enid Campbell was the granddaughter of the 8th Duke of Argyll and would have been able to live out her life quietly in luxury but when he brother, and heir to the family fortune and title dies in the first world war, not having left any children to continue after him, then the responsibility to produce an heir goes to Enid. Enid and her now newly widowed mother don’t have a great relationship so she sort of panics in case the family fortune is passed by her and on to her sister. Enid marries Douglas, not really a man who her mother would have approved of and they have a son Fergus, who from birth obviously has a condition that no-one will recognise. The little boy is clumsy with an enlarged head and prone to falling down a lot.
Now I do have to feel sorry for Enid to be honest as she does love her son dearly but when an accident results in him becoming blind his grandmother makes no excuse for wanting him to be sent away into a home and forgotten about and replacement being produced as soon s possible. Enid had already a daughter, Finetta but a healthy son was demanded of her. Ian was born not too long after leaving Enid obviously suffering from post-natal depression.
Although this story is fiction it is wound round fact. Enid Campbell was the grandmother of the author of this book who has researched her family history through every means possible, including court documents, medical files and Ian, her own father’s account of his childhood. The accounts portrayed in the book of him as a young boy are horrendous at times, some things that occurred I would think were terrifying, unforgivable and life scarring.
This is an outstanding family history put together in a way that tells of paths that were demanded to be followed through tradition, heart breaking that children could be used as a means to an end or sadly hidden away. In the epilogue the author describes how the writing of this book came about, Finetta the only one, besides her father that she ever knew. The feelings have been put together as how she believes they would have occurred and this worked perfectly for me. This has to be one of my favourite reads of this year. Just outstanding!
Enid Campbell was the granddaughter of the 8th Duke of Argyll and would have been able to live out her life quietly in luxury but when he brother, and heir to the family fortune and title dies in the first world war, not having left any children to continue after him, then the responsibility to produce an heir goes to Enid. Enid and her now newly widowed mother don’t have a great relationship so she sort of panics in case the family fortune is passed by her and on to her sister. Enid marries Douglas, not really a man who her mother would have approved of and they have a son Fergus, who from birth obviously has a condition that no-one will recognise. The little boy is clumsy with an enlarged head and prone to falling down a lot.
Now I do have to feel sorry for Enid to be honest as she does love her son dearly but when an accident results in him becoming blind his grandmother makes no excuse for wanting him to be sent away into a home and forgotten about and replacement being produced as soon s possible. Enid had already a daughter, Finetta but a healthy son was demanded of her. Ian was born not too long after leaving Enid obviously suffering from post-natal depression.
Although this story is fiction it is wound round fact. Enid Campbell was the grandmother of the author of this book who has researched her family history through every means possible, including court documents, medical files and Ian, her own father’s account of his childhood. The accounts portrayed in the book of him as a young boy are horrendous at times, some things that occurred I would think were terrifying, unforgivable and life scarring.
This is an outstanding family history put together in a way that tells of paths that were demanded to be followed through tradition, heart breaking that children could be used as a means to an end or sadly hidden away. In the epilogue the author describes how the writing of this book came about, Finetta the only one, besides her father that she ever knew. The feelings have been put together as how she believes they would have occurred and this worked perfectly for me. This has to be one of my favourite reads of this year. Just outstanding!
April 11, 2023
What irritated Finetta about her mother was not the lack of love but the obvious hatred. Lack of love was easy to explain - her mother had loved others more, her love was finite, there was only so much to go round. But her hatred was endless. Finetta had tried in myriad ways to understand it, but at forty-four, she was tired. It was inexplicable. She had to live with it.
March 27, 2020
This debut novel is at first interesting with regard to characters within particular social constructs and then becomes a moving family portrait based on the author's family. It is very well done.
Alternating time frames take us from between WWI and WWII juxtaposed with the 1960's.
Briefly, so as not to ruin the story for others, the main character followed is Enid who is somehow swept off her feet to marry, has children out of duty to her mother's demand for male heir, struggles with maternal duties and the ability to relate to others both in and outside the family...and much more.
If at first you don't get into it, give it more time. You will be rewarded.
Library Loan
Alternating time frames take us from between WWI and WWII juxtaposed with the 1960's.
Briefly, so as not to ruin the story for others, the main character followed is Enid who is somehow swept off her feet to marry, has children out of duty to her mother's demand for male heir, struggles with maternal duties and the ability to relate to others both in and outside the family...and much more.
If at first you don't get into it, give it more time. You will be rewarded.
Library Loan
January 6, 2020
I can only imagine what it must have been like for Eleanor Anstruther, a fledgling writer who gradually uncovered the explosive story of her grandmother.
Aristocratic privilege. A loveless marriage. Favoritism and gender inequalities. Postpartum depression. Mental illness. Wacky religious beliefs. Kidnapping. A red-hot court case. How could any writer walk away from a story like this?
Ms. Anstruther chose to embrace the story and the result is a fascinating look at Enid Campbell, her paternal grandmother, whose purpose in life was to provide a male heir for the aristocracy. Her first son, Fagus, was born with hydrocephalus and her daughter, Finetta, was pretty much a castaway at a time when males were revered. When she gives birth to Ian, the overwhelmed and mentally unstable mother abandons her children, leaving them to be cared for by her sister Joan (who is gay at a time when reputations are ruined by coming out.) It has the makings of a potboiler and the plot thickens as the story goes on.
The book is told from two time points – the mid to late 1920s when all of this was unfolding and 1964, when Enid was in a nursing home. I found myself racing through the 1964 passages, which became somewhat repetitive, and focusing rabidly on the bulk of the novel – the past.
Eleanor Anstruther reconstructed the story from letters, court papers, medical report and photographs, and, of course, her father Ian’s perspective. She strives to fairly give voice to the others in her family without demonizing – a good thing. In her quest for fairness, there were times when I wished she had freed herself a little more from the tethers of reality and give her creative muse even more expansion.
Still, this is a book that is page-turning and brings readers face-to-face with a privileged world and its inhabitants. It is a solid debut. 3.5 stars.
Aristocratic privilege. A loveless marriage. Favoritism and gender inequalities. Postpartum depression. Mental illness. Wacky religious beliefs. Kidnapping. A red-hot court case. How could any writer walk away from a story like this?
Ms. Anstruther chose to embrace the story and the result is a fascinating look at Enid Campbell, her paternal grandmother, whose purpose in life was to provide a male heir for the aristocracy. Her first son, Fagus, was born with hydrocephalus and her daughter, Finetta, was pretty much a castaway at a time when males were revered. When she gives birth to Ian, the overwhelmed and mentally unstable mother abandons her children, leaving them to be cared for by her sister Joan (who is gay at a time when reputations are ruined by coming out.) It has the makings of a potboiler and the plot thickens as the story goes on.
The book is told from two time points – the mid to late 1920s when all of this was unfolding and 1964, when Enid was in a nursing home. I found myself racing through the 1964 passages, which became somewhat repetitive, and focusing rabidly on the bulk of the novel – the past.
Eleanor Anstruther reconstructed the story from letters, court papers, medical report and photographs, and, of course, her father Ian’s perspective. She strives to fairly give voice to the others in her family without demonizing – a good thing. In her quest for fairness, there were times when I wished she had freed herself a little more from the tethers of reality and give her creative muse even more expansion.
Still, this is a book that is page-turning and brings readers face-to-face with a privileged world and its inhabitants. It is a solid debut. 3.5 stars.
April 23, 2020
3 ½ stars
This novel started out with some compelling and insightful writing, and I settled in for a treat.
“She should tell her mother to stuff it, but was over-ruled by a small girl in pig tails with a bird book trying to pour tea without spillage.” - A Perfect Explanation
I was expecting a much more dramatic ending to this story. It really felt like it was building up to something. Instead, I got an ending that completely fizzled out. It was anticlimactic, and I really questioned the plausibility of everything that happened on that final day.
Here are some of the things I didn’t understand:
While the book did not quite live up to my high expectations, I still found the style of writing to be engaging. I was waffling between 3 and 4 stars, but the ending decided the matter.
This novel started out with some compelling and insightful writing, and I settled in for a treat.
“She should tell her mother to stuff it, but was over-ruled by a small girl in pig tails with a bird book trying to pour tea without spillage.” - A Perfect Explanation
I was expecting a much more dramatic ending to this story. It really felt like it was building up to something. Instead, I got an ending that completely fizzled out. It was anticlimactic, and I really questioned the plausibility of everything that happened on that final day.
Here are some of the things I didn’t understand:
While the book did not quite live up to my high expectations, I still found the style of writing to be engaging. I was waffling between 3 and 4 stars, but the ending decided the matter.
June 18, 2020
This book was so desperately sad. I felt bad for Enid and, most especially (of course), the children. I also felt a little bad for Joan, because I could see why she felt like she did, but I still don't think it's right, and that she also should never have told him.
I wished it had a happier ending, though I could understand why Ian could never forgive her. (Poor Finetta though!)
But...I didn't love the writing, and the way it was structured was odd. Most of the chapters from 1964 could've been left out.
I wished it had a happier ending, though I could understand why Ian could never forgive her. (Poor Finetta though!)
But...I didn't love the writing, and the way it was structured was odd. Most of the chapters from 1964 could've been left out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 22, 2019
I was disappointed with this novel, given the reviews it had had. To make a great novel, there are fascinating subjects (check) with great taglines (sort of check) brilliantly written (definitely no check). It;s the sort of novel that in Mary Wesley’s deft and capable hands could have been great. As it was there are too many blanks and the writing simply isn’t good enough. Ian Anstruther had a fascinating life. This should have been a biography
March 9, 2020
I did not think this book was particularly well written, but I was totally absorbed by the story based on real people and events. It’s hard to believe what this hot mess of a family did to each other.
March 20, 2023
Man stelle sich vor: Man ist die neue Freundin eines coolen Hotshots mit riesiger, stinkreicher Familie. Man wird zu einem Familienereignis eingeladen - beispielsweise einem Geburtstag. Man sitzt mit 40 Menschen um einen Tisch herum, die man nicht kennt. Diese Menschen erzählen alle möglichen Geschichten: Über Tante Erna und Opa Heinrich und wie sie damals und überhaupt. Das Problem ist: Man kennt weder Tante Erna, noch Opa Heinrich und hat auch keine Bezugspunkte, um sich in deren Stories zurechtzufinden. Ungefähr so fühlte sich das erste Drittel von "A Perfect Explanation" an. Eleanor Anstruther wirft einen in die Geschichte ihrer eigenen Familie hinein, gibt einem aber überhaupt keine Chance, die handelnden Personen erst einmal kennenzulernen und ihre Beziehungen zueinander zu verstehen. Irgendwann fühlt man sich nicht mehr ganz so verloren in diesem Wust aus Namen, aber besser wird der Roman dadurch nicht.
Ja, es ist ihre Familiengeschichte, in der eine - offenbar psychisch kranke Mutter - erst ihre Kinder verlässt, dann nach Rückkehr das Sorgerecht erstreitet, dann den Familienerben für 500Pfund an die verhasste Schwester verkauft, um ihre Schulden zu bezahlen. Ich frage mich nur, warum Anstruther diese Geschichte unbedingt veröffentlichen musste, wenn alle Personen darin so absolut verabscheuenswürdig sind.
Sicher, auch sie hat diese Personen nicht (mehr) kennengelernt. Aber nicht nur war sie als Autorin nicht in der Lage, mir die Motivation auch nur einer Figur nahezubringen und verständlich zu machen. Nein, sie hätte die Geschichte auch als feministische Emanzipation und weiblichen Ausbruch aus gesellschaftlichen Normen stilisieren und die Protagonistin Enid zu einer echten Heldin machen können. Stattdessen ist das hier hauptsächlich die Geschichte einer Frau, die nie gelernt hat, selbstständig für ihr Leben Verantwortung zu übernehmen (noch im Altersheim trauert sie dem Kriegstod ihres Bruders hinterher, der sich - hätte er überlebt - ansonsten um sie gekümmert hätte), geschweige denn für ihre Kinder. Sie sucht Ausflüchte, sie sucht die Schuld immer bei anderen, sie ist immer das Opfer. Und ja, da spielt auch eine psychische Störung mit hinein. Und auch die emotional kalte Familie. Trotzdem: Enids Entscheidungen sind immer die falschen.
Und so fühlt sich dieser Roman eher an wie ein Versuch, öffentlich ganz viel schmutzige Wäsche zu waschen. Denn absolut niemand kommt hier gut weg.
Ja, es ist ihre Familiengeschichte, in der eine - offenbar psychisch kranke Mutter - erst ihre Kinder verlässt, dann nach Rückkehr das Sorgerecht erstreitet, dann den Familienerben für 500Pfund an die verhasste Schwester verkauft, um ihre Schulden zu bezahlen. Ich frage mich nur, warum Anstruther diese Geschichte unbedingt veröffentlichen musste, wenn alle Personen darin so absolut verabscheuenswürdig sind.
Sicher, auch sie hat diese Personen nicht (mehr) kennengelernt. Aber nicht nur war sie als Autorin nicht in der Lage, mir die Motivation auch nur einer Figur nahezubringen und verständlich zu machen. Nein, sie hätte die Geschichte auch als feministische Emanzipation und weiblichen Ausbruch aus gesellschaftlichen Normen stilisieren und die Protagonistin Enid zu einer echten Heldin machen können. Stattdessen ist das hier hauptsächlich die Geschichte einer Frau, die nie gelernt hat, selbstständig für ihr Leben Verantwortung zu übernehmen (noch im Altersheim trauert sie dem Kriegstod ihres Bruders hinterher, der sich - hätte er überlebt - ansonsten um sie gekümmert hätte), geschweige denn für ihre Kinder. Sie sucht Ausflüchte, sie sucht die Schuld immer bei anderen, sie ist immer das Opfer. Und ja, da spielt auch eine psychische Störung mit hinein. Und auch die emotional kalte Familie. Trotzdem: Enids Entscheidungen sind immer die falschen.
Und so fühlt sich dieser Roman eher an wie ein Versuch, öffentlich ganz viel schmutzige Wäsche zu waschen. Denn absolut niemand kommt hier gut weg.
February 17, 2019
Eleanor Anstruther’s debut novel is a beautifully assured portrait of a family riven by jealousy, tradition and grief. It’s based on the life of Anstruther’s grandmother, Enid Campbell, who infamously sold her youngest son, Ian, to her sister for £500. Ian is Anstruther’s father and, before he died, he gave her his blessing to write the novel, along with his papers and diaries.
Told from three perspectives - Enid, Joan and Enid’s neglected daughter Finetta - the story alternates between two timelines, 1921-1931 and 1964. In the latter we meet Enid, now in her old age and living a paltry existence in a Christian Science nursing home; while in the former we are called to witness the events that led her there. In the aftermath of the First World War Enid’s family is in tatters; her brother, the heir to the Campbell estates, has died and her father too, not long after. Her mother Sybil is desperate to secure the succession of the title, and the responsibility falls on Enid. Her sister Joan is unmarried and uninterested. Five years later she finds herself the mother of three children, stuck in a villa in the south of England, unable to fathom her circumstances. Post-natal depression and a devastating accident that leaves her eldest son blind and ill shatter her sense of self. As everything begins to unravel she descends into despair, taking everyone down with her.
A Perfect Explanation tries to imagine how and why Enid makes the choices that ultimately lead to the breakdown of her family, at the same time as following the trail of destruction through the generations. Anstruther is unflinching in the autopsy of the family dynamics: the rivalry between Joan and Enid; the grief of multiple losses; the cowardice of Enid’s husband, Douglas; and the emotional and physical abuse of their children. Particularly poignant is the fate of Finetta, the unwanted and unloved girl child who is apparently of no value or interest to anyone. It’s both a brilliant evocation of a lost culture - of primogeniture, privilege and pride - and an astute compassionate exploration of human failings. And there are lots of failings in this novel, so much so that it’s a wonder anyone gets out of it alive.
I would hotly tip this for a spot on the Women’s Prize longlist and another on the Walter Scott Prize longlist. It’s one to watch.
Told from three perspectives - Enid, Joan and Enid’s neglected daughter Finetta - the story alternates between two timelines, 1921-1931 and 1964. In the latter we meet Enid, now in her old age and living a paltry existence in a Christian Science nursing home; while in the former we are called to witness the events that led her there. In the aftermath of the First World War Enid’s family is in tatters; her brother, the heir to the Campbell estates, has died and her father too, not long after. Her mother Sybil is desperate to secure the succession of the title, and the responsibility falls on Enid. Her sister Joan is unmarried and uninterested. Five years later she finds herself the mother of three children, stuck in a villa in the south of England, unable to fathom her circumstances. Post-natal depression and a devastating accident that leaves her eldest son blind and ill shatter her sense of self. As everything begins to unravel she descends into despair, taking everyone down with her.
A Perfect Explanation tries to imagine how and why Enid makes the choices that ultimately lead to the breakdown of her family, at the same time as following the trail of destruction through the generations. Anstruther is unflinching in the autopsy of the family dynamics: the rivalry between Joan and Enid; the grief of multiple losses; the cowardice of Enid’s husband, Douglas; and the emotional and physical abuse of their children. Particularly poignant is the fate of Finetta, the unwanted and unloved girl child who is apparently of no value or interest to anyone. It’s both a brilliant evocation of a lost culture - of primogeniture, privilege and pride - and an astute compassionate exploration of human failings. And there are lots of failings in this novel, so much so that it’s a wonder anyone gets out of it alive.
I would hotly tip this for a spot on the Women’s Prize longlist and another on the Walter Scott Prize longlist. It’s one to watch.
July 28, 2021
4.5 stars. Really enjoyed this book. Based on the true story of a child sold to his aunt by his mother. I think the mother suffered with depression, certainly after the accident causing her eldest son to be blind. The author is the daughter of the son who’d been sold to his aunt. I do wish the author had shared a few photographs of the family members involved.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 7, 2020
I dont know what to say, its real.
April 1, 2019
This is a brilliantly engaging fictionalised account of a true story - the author’s own grandmother Enid Campbell who famously sold her son to her sister for £500.
It’s a beautifully & sensitively written narrative told from three different female family members perspectives & moves between 1920’s London at the time the events happened and 1960’s London when Enid is in a nursing home looking back over her life.
It’s a gripping and fascinating insight into the power of money, heritage and tradition within the aristocracy and how money can triumph over love and belonging. It’s also a powerful look into the emotions families bury and suppress and in particular women’s mental health and how it was viewed and treated in the last century.
My only negative was I desperate to learn more of Finnetta’s story: Enid’s only daughter but was left in the dark about her - maybe a great reflection however on the fact that she was always quite literally the forgotten & silent child throughout the book?
I cannot wait to read more from this author - what a debut!
It’s a beautifully & sensitively written narrative told from three different female family members perspectives & moves between 1920’s London at the time the events happened and 1960’s London when Enid is in a nursing home looking back over her life.
It’s a gripping and fascinating insight into the power of money, heritage and tradition within the aristocracy and how money can triumph over love and belonging. It’s also a powerful look into the emotions families bury and suppress and in particular women’s mental health and how it was viewed and treated in the last century.
My only negative was I desperate to learn more of Finnetta’s story: Enid’s only daughter but was left in the dark about her - maybe a great reflection however on the fact that she was always quite literally the forgotten & silent child throughout the book?
I cannot wait to read more from this author - what a debut!
February 24, 2020
4.5. Compulsively readable! The fact that it is based on truth, for me, all the more shocking.
March 27, 2019
A Perfect Explanation is a perfect book. Eleanor Anstruther's immaculate debut is a fictionalised narration of the true story of her ancestor, Enid Campbell, granddaughter of the 8th Duke of Argyll, who sold Enid's son to her sister, Joan, for £500.
Writing this, I find myself less concerned with the story – although it’s undeniably riveting – & more enamoured of the storytelling. With the way the author lays her words on the page. This book unfolds in layers of exquisitely fierce prose. The dialogue scalds – characters show scant compassion for Enid & her situation. They are often horribly, crushingly cruel. She was clearly a deeply flawed woman but obviously ill & a victim of the mores of the time.
Although it's an unbearably tragic story & one can look at Enid & judge her, the author chooses to show her compassion; to vindicate her & lay out her virtually impossible choices. Ultimately it's a kind book, a generous retelling in which no judgement is made. Anstruther has allowed all her characters to speak for themselves, reveal their prejudices & their vulnerabilities.
This is a haunting, astute & memorable book. I found it hard to put down & there is, I suspect, no higher praise. Not enough stars.
Writing this, I find myself less concerned with the story – although it’s undeniably riveting – & more enamoured of the storytelling. With the way the author lays her words on the page. This book unfolds in layers of exquisitely fierce prose. The dialogue scalds – characters show scant compassion for Enid & her situation. They are often horribly, crushingly cruel. She was clearly a deeply flawed woman but obviously ill & a victim of the mores of the time.
Although it's an unbearably tragic story & one can look at Enid & judge her, the author chooses to show her compassion; to vindicate her & lay out her virtually impossible choices. Ultimately it's a kind book, a generous retelling in which no judgement is made. Anstruther has allowed all her characters to speak for themselves, reveal their prejudices & their vulnerabilities.
This is a haunting, astute & memorable book. I found it hard to put down & there is, I suspect, no higher praise. Not enough stars.
May 23, 2021
Much like the real people involved in this saga, I couldn't wait for it to be over.
It must be very difficult to write a fair portrayal of deceased family members one didn't know, but I didn't feel like I had any insight into any of the players in this, and I actually ended up disliking Ian Anstruther most in the end.
It must be very difficult to write a fair portrayal of deceased family members one didn't know, but I didn't feel like I had any insight into any of the players in this, and I actually ended up disliking Ian Anstruther most in the end.
August 8, 2019
On his retirement, my dad did what many new-retirees do - research the family tree. There were no surprises apart from discovering that a child was born out of wedlock, raised by his grandmother as her own, and grew up not knowing that his 'sister' was in fact his biological mother. On a spectrum of family scandals, it's lightweight.
Author Eleanor Anstruther had a lot more material to work with, and the result is her fictionalised family history, A Perfect Explanation. Essentially, Anstruther's father, Ian, was sold to his Aunt Joan for £500. The story also includes postnatal depression, Christian Science, a kidnapping, much family bitterness, a long legal battle, and a large emerald ring.
Anstruther's grandmother, Enid Campbell, descendent of the Dukes of Argyll, grew up in a castle surrounded by servants. After the death of her brother in the First World War, Enid was expected to marry and produce a heir. She did so, however her beloved first son, Fagas, had medical problems from the outset. Enid, in a loveless marriage to Douglas, and under the constant and disapproving rule of her mother, decided that the only way to secure her family's future was to produce another heir - “...heritage dictates and heritage always wins”. That child was Ian.
The story is told from three perspectives (Enid, Joan and Enid's daughter, Finetta) and over two time periods - the years between the World Wars, and a single day in 1964, when Enid, elderly and living in care, is awaiting a visit from Finetta. The three characters provide perspectives on sibling rivalries, family duty, and the role of mothers.
At the heart of this novel is grief - Enid's grief over the loss of her father and brother; for Fagas and the life he was not able to lead; for herself and her unfulfilled dreams. However Enid's grief is expressed predominantly as anger and therefore she appears bitter and vindictive. In the book's endnotes, Anstruther said that she hoped the book would provide a way for her father to feel more kindly toward his mother - could the Enid of 1964 be explained by understanding the Enid of the 1920s (a woman who was devastated by post-natal depression but doing what she could to please those around her)?
Enid realises that her feelings about motherhood are vastly different from those of other women. As she's grappling with this, her Christian Scientist friend assures her that anyone in Enid's situation would do the same. Enid responds, “Would they? Then why aren’t there thousands, hundreds of thousands of women running for the doors of their houses?”
The descriptions of Enid's depression and her perceived isolation are well written, capturing the relentlessness and monotony of her situation, as well as the desperation -
Joan and her not-so-secret lesbian affair with the no-nonsense Pat are a highlight. Joan and Pat reside in London, socialise with the Bloomsbury set, drink gin and play cards. Pat's droll asides about Joan's family provide light relief in what is an otherwise grim story. On being 'engaged' in a child's upbringing, Pat says -
I found this story absolutely gripping and pretty much hit Google as soon as I finished reading. File it under 'truth is stranger than fiction'.
4/5 It's bananas. And heartbreaking.
Author Eleanor Anstruther had a lot more material to work with, and the result is her fictionalised family history, A Perfect Explanation. Essentially, Anstruther's father, Ian, was sold to his Aunt Joan for £500. The story also includes postnatal depression, Christian Science, a kidnapping, much family bitterness, a long legal battle, and a large emerald ring.
Anstruther's grandmother, Enid Campbell, descendent of the Dukes of Argyll, grew up in a castle surrounded by servants. After the death of her brother in the First World War, Enid was expected to marry and produce a heir. She did so, however her beloved first son, Fagas, had medical problems from the outset. Enid, in a loveless marriage to Douglas, and under the constant and disapproving rule of her mother, decided that the only way to secure her family's future was to produce another heir - “...heritage dictates and heritage always wins”. That child was Ian.
The story is told from three perspectives (Enid, Joan and Enid's daughter, Finetta) and over two time periods - the years between the World Wars, and a single day in 1964, when Enid, elderly and living in care, is awaiting a visit from Finetta. The three characters provide perspectives on sibling rivalries, family duty, and the role of mothers.
At the heart of this novel is grief - Enid's grief over the loss of her father and brother; for Fagas and the life he was not able to lead; for herself and her unfulfilled dreams. However Enid's grief is expressed predominantly as anger and therefore she appears bitter and vindictive. In the book's endnotes, Anstruther said that she hoped the book would provide a way for her father to feel more kindly toward his mother - could the Enid of 1964 be explained by understanding the Enid of the 1920s (a woman who was devastated by post-natal depression but doing what she could to please those around her)?
Enid realises that her feelings about motherhood are vastly different from those of other women. As she's grappling with this, her Christian Scientist friend assures her that anyone in Enid's situation would do the same. Enid responds, “Would they? Then why aren’t there thousands, hundreds of thousands of women running for the doors of their houses?”
The descriptions of Enid's depression and her perceived isolation are well written, capturing the relentlessness and monotony of her situation, as well as the desperation -
It was only Monday. She had a whole week to rouse herself. She could turn on the taps in the bathroom and pretend to be having a bath while lying on the floor and staring at the ceiling. Then she could go back to bed again, her thoughts covered with gauze, a bandage stuck with exhaustion and tiny hands, a white blaze of nothing through which she couldn't see and didn't want to.
Joan and her not-so-secret lesbian affair with the no-nonsense Pat are a highlight. Joan and Pat reside in London, socialise with the Bloomsbury set, drink gin and play cards. Pat's droll asides about Joan's family provide light relief in what is an otherwise grim story. On being 'engaged' in a child's upbringing, Pat says -
It's like a fashionable craze, having to be simply tremendous with one's offspring. My parents were distant mountains I had no inclination to climb. I had no problem with it.
I found this story absolutely gripping and pretty much hit Google as soon as I finished reading. File it under 'truth is stranger than fiction'.
4/5 It's bananas. And heartbreaking.
April 20, 2023
A very elegant novel - the writing and setting both a bit reminiscent of Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. A very insightful look at how a woman's emotions are so easily dismissed by those around her, but also at the moral greyness of such a situation, if a bit bathed in the issue (and privilege) of money.
I really enjoyed the timeline of the story; it switched back and forth between different perspectives, both of people and time, but it wove together very eloquently.
Made me want to cry and/or vomit. Idk which yet.
I really enjoyed the timeline of the story; it switched back and forth between different perspectives, both of people and time, but it wove together very eloquently.
Made me want to cry and/or vomit. Idk which yet.
June 10, 2019
I know people have loved this book. I didn’t. I respect that it was a fictionalisation of real stories in a real family. But I didn’t find a single character to root for. I though they were ALL despicable. In order to like a book I need to like a character or two. I think it’s probably pretty difficult to develop characters that are both flawed but likeable. That must be why it’s so rare.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 13, 2020
This book was given to me by a friend who actually knows the author so I read it with some interest and hoped for the best. I was not disappointed. I absolutely love Anstruther's writing style, it's easy to read but also beautiful and thought provoking.
The book is set between the 20's and 60's and the era's are depicted vividly, I really felt like I was there. The characters are based on actual members of her family and are very hard to like especially the main character Enid. The story is, in the most part, true. I did find the court case hard to read and very frustrating - can it really take that long? But a poignant, and for the most part satisfying ending.
Would highly recommend.
The book is set between the 20's and 60's and the era's are depicted vividly, I really felt like I was there. The characters are based on actual members of her family and are very hard to like especially the main character Enid. The story is, in the most part, true. I did find the court case hard to read and very frustrating - can it really take that long? But a poignant, and for the most part satisfying ending.
Would highly recommend.
October 6, 2019
Real life emotions, desires and mental illness are all displayed in the flawed characters of this wonderful novel. The characters are affected by culture, money and social acceptance that is clearly outlined for the reader. This book was difficult for me to put down.
February 4, 2020
4.5 could not put this down.
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