This Is Private

by Sheila Turner

Folly St. Michael is in Westshire, and in "This is Private," we follow its fortunes through a year in which the whole established pattern is threatened by sudden and far-reaching change; the kind of change that nowadays sometimes emanates from aloof and impersonal officialdom. We learn about Folly and its crisis from the journal of a retired army officer, a man who settled there after repeated misfortune had played havoc with his own life--for one thing that Major Colman has kept up from earlier and better days is the writing of his journal. In its pages we share a remarkable degree of intimacy with the village and its people, while, for those who care also to read between the lines, there emerges a portrait of a man who is not just the "old drunk" he often calls himself but is in fact a very sympathetic and even lovable character, who still has it in him to play an important part in resolving the problems of the community whose affairs and personalities he so engagingly and faithfully records.

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1962

Reviews

[Alisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a place called Folly St. Michael lives an eclectic but mostly well-meaning set of villagers, all observed and recorded by the elderly Major Charles Colman in his diary in the 1960s.
When their idyllic-looking village is threatened by government plans to buy up valuable farm land and construct a "new town" in their midst, everyone must band together to thwart the march of progress.

This book is a shade darker than most of my favorite cozy village type novels, because the narrator, Major Charles Colman, is reaching the end of his life and is beset by deep regrets. Particularly, regrets over his failed marriage. And his way of coping with his pain is to drink and keep on drinking, while neglecting his health and his home. He feels he simply can't do anything else. And yet in spite of his despondent state, he's a keen observer of the little dramas going on around him, even finding himself drawn in to efforts to save the town.

This is a very readable narrative but with a bittersweet tone. I enjoy Sheila Turner's writing in a similar way to how I enjoy Miss Read's Thrush Green series, with its compelling portrayal of ordinary people, but it did surprise me that she took a slightly darker approach in this one.