Emmaleen Kriel
Close the door softly behind you
(Oshun Books, 2005)
When she was widowed, Emmaleen Kriel, South African doctor’s wife, mother of seven, left her comfortable middle class life to go into domestic service in the United Kingdom. Her account of working as a cook and caregiver in many different “situations” is unusual and interesting in a compassionately gossipy way. She describes a great variety of people, including the other domestic staff, and comments on this reversal of roles  previously she was the “madam”. She reflects on the relationship between employers and those who serve them, where very often the former are helpless, dependent, frail and old, a shadow of their former selves. Some of these employers took their wealth as a sign of their own superiority; others had the humility and humour not to. It is presented in the form of slightly self-conscious diary entries, interspersed with letters and smses to her own family members who only feature as a rather vague presence in the book.
Will Eaves
Nothing To Be Afraid Of
(Picador, 2005)
This complex, many-layered novel is set in the theatrical world of London and the south of England, and covers an era stretching from the early 1940s till the present. It follows the lives of a group of actors, producers and critics, whose loves and hopes are revealed with great sensitivity and realism, but at the same time are full of secrets and pretence, fear of failure and betrayal. The phrase, “nothing to be afraid of,” occurs about midway, uttered by one of the most simpatico yet most intelligent characters, Alice, who is a would be actress, making a living by writing reviews under a pseudonym. The harm done to others, inadvertently and on purpose, is one of the strands Eaves weaves into this dense plot, the complexity of which is only gradually revealed. This prodigiously clever author is the Arts editor of the Times Literary Supplement and the novel is awash in delightful poetic references, especially to The Tempest which is the play being performed by the novel’s characters.