Easy Peasy

by Lesley Glaister

After her father's suicide, his now adult daughter investigates the source of his pain, uncovering a long-lost diary that describes her father's experiences as a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II and his mysterious relationship with the familythat had lived next door

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

245 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Novelist Lesley Glaister was born in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England. She grew up in Suffolk, moving to Sheffield with her first husband, where she took a degree with the Open University. She was 'discovered' by the novelist Hilary Mantel when she attended a course given by the Arvon Foundation in 1989. Mantel was so impressed by her writing that she recommended her to her own literary agent.

Lesley Glaister's first novel, Honour Thy Father (1990), won both a Somerset Maugham Award and a Betty Trask Award. Her other novels include Trick or Treat (1991), Limestone and Clay (1993), for which she was awarded the Yorkshire Post Book Award (Yorkshire Author of the Year), Partial Eclipse (1994) and The Private Parts of Women (1996), Now You See Me (2001), the story of the unlikely relationship between Lamb, a former patient in a psychiatric ward, and Doggo, a fugitive on the run from the police, As Far as You Can Go (2004), a psychological drama, in which a young couple, Graham and Cassie, travel to a remote part of Australia to take up a caretaking job, only to be drawn into the dark secrets of their mysterious employers. Nina Todd Has Gone (2007) was another complex psychological thriller. Chosen, a dark and suspenseful book about a woman trying to rescue her brother from a cult, was followed by Little Egypt in 2014. This novel - set in the 20's in Northern England and Egypt, won a Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Award. Her next novel, The Squeeze, published 2017, centres on a relationship between a teenage Romanian sex-worker - a victim of trafficking - and a law-abiding, family man from Oslo. It's an unusual and (of course, twisted!) love story. Because not all love is romantic. In 2020 Blasted Things was published. This one is set just after World War 1 and is about the warping after-effects of a global war on society and on individuals. The two main characters, Clementine and Vincent, both damaged in different ways, must find their way in the post-war period. For them this results in a most peculiar kind of relationship and one that can only end in distaster.

Lesley Glaister lives with her husband in Edinburgh with frequent sojourns in Orkney. She has three sons and teaches Creative Writing at the University or St Andrews. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Reviews

[Cliff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really surprised at the reaction here to this slim, engaging book. For me, Glaister nailed on perfectly the cruelty and meanness of children to each other. The feel of it, the truth of it, made me queasy - maybe it's an English thing.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was amazing. In part because, after a run of reading crime novels, I was struck by how much harder it is to create a tale with tension and impact when there is not something to solve. And just as much because of the nuances and depths of each of the characters - something Lesley Glaister does so very well, understanding the capacity for cruelty we all possess, the misunderstandings and ignorances of childhood, the later fears and inappropriate behaviours as adults.

Certainly one to be re-read.

[Mo · Rating 5 out of 5]

"No one from outside can really understand a family: it is a culture it takes a lifetime to acquire."

Te lui om Engelse recensie te schrijven, beter iets dan niets.

In drie dagen uitgelezen! Goede start van het nieuwe jaar. Geleend van mijn ouders, zo even uit de boekenkast geplukt.

Ik ben fan. Mix van coming-of-age / character study / stream of consciousness. Je duikt diep in het brein van de hoofdpersoon en er komt flink wat ellende bij kijken. Dat zijn over het algemeen de boeken waar ik van houd: het blijft me bij. Herkenbaar op sommige momenten, op andere momenten (gelukkig) niet maar dan is inleven niet moeilijk. Het raakt mooie thema's: het zoeken naar antwoorden over het verleden in een omgeving die daar niet van gediend is, sensitiviteit als kracht vs. zwakte. Gezien willen worden als kind, dit maar op één manier kunnen bereiken, en de schaamte die dit met zich meebrengt.

QUOTES
"I am a wrecker of silences."
"She is rarely sleepy, either awake or asleep as if there is a very efficient valave in her, no leakage either way."
"No one from outside can really understand a family: it is a culture it takes a lifetime to acquire."
"I disliked him in the fierce way children can dislike weaklings or misfits - with a sort of fear."

[David Lockwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Peasy but not so easy.

[Cat. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is set in the England of the 90s, but moves back and forth quite fluidly between the main Griselda's childhood and the present. Her father was a POW of the Japanese during WWII. He's had terrible nightmares for the rest of his life; he finally commits suicide (which happens on about page 3 of the book, so not really a spoiler), and then Griselda spends 9 months trying to figure out who he was, and why he was so distant for her & her family. Meanwhile she is dealing with this new odd-looking boy whom father has taken great notice of, to the point of excluding her & her sister.

This is a book to read back through after it's finished; it's like a puzzle with pieces you didn't even recognize

[Sbrdsbks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a nice book, four stars is a bit much but three is not OK either. Some parts were quite strong, but sometimes it went on too long about the same subject (the building up to the cruel scene in the garden took many pages). And at the end I still don't understand why the father didn't pay any attention to his daughters.

[Marian · Rating 1 out of 5]

I generally love Lesley Glaister -- you can't get better creepy psychological fiction than her Trick or Treat -- but this stank. Tried to hard, unappealing characters, a narrative that didn't hang together. It's no loss that it's out of print.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great characterisation, as I've come to expect from this author. Not her best but still a good read - 8/10.

[Andrea Sachs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't like the people, didn't like the story.