NTTVBG: The Illusionist – Jennifer Johnston

 

Before I can get on to telling you all about my travels there's a NTTVBG read to catch up with as today we are busy discussing The Illusionist by
Jennifer Johnston over on Reading Matters' blog.

Having initially read the back cover of this book I admit that it is the sort of thing that I may well pick up myself so I was quite looking forward to this read, especially after many of the others that had been chosen so far have taken me out of my comfort zone a bit.

Stella initially meets Martyn on a train. A chance meeting that eventually leads to marriage and a daughter, Robin. Despite being initially won over by him Martyn's charm seems to wear thin once they have become husband and wife and she soon starts to resent Martyn and the way in which he is controlling her life. One of the major problems for Stella seems to be that she knows so little about her husband. He is an illusionist, bit a conjurer, and appears to be very determined to keep his life something of a secret from her. The fact that he has no family also adds to this air of mystery.

Stella goes from being a career woman who moved from Dublin to London to work to instead being stuck at a house in the country which her husband bought because it suited the birds he wanted to keep for his act. It is only though an old friend and work colleague, Bill, that Stella gets any escape. He was always convinced that there was a writer inside Stella and hence a gift to her of a typewriter gives her an opportunity to find an outlet for these creative juices.

The book concentrates on Stella's relationships with her husband and daughter – both re-examied as her daughter pays her a visit following Martyn's funeral. Neither relationship is at all easy and there is a great deal of sadness associated with the relationship with her daughter in particular. I did struggle though to feel much empathy when it came to Stella's relationship, or lack of it, with her husband. The signs that things were not working and that he was being unreasonable seemed so strong to me (and to Stella's friend Bill) but it still took quite a major event for Stella to realise this for herself and actually leave him. I realise that knowing when and how to end a relationship when a child is involved can't be easy, but for some reason I found Stella's lack of backbone somewhat annoying and I lacked patience with her. (Maybe I'm just becoming heartless in my old age?)

Overall it was an OK read. I'm not sure I'd rush out to find anything else that Jennifer Johnston has written, but it also seemed far better than the last book I read!