annethology
  • Home
    • About Annethology
    • About me >
      • A little more about me
    • About my books
    • Author talks
    • Contact me
    • Forthcoming events
    • World Mental Health Day
    • Privacy
    • Sign up for my newsletter
  • First two novels
    • Sugar and Snails >
      • Acknowledgements
      • Blog tour, Q&A's and feature articles >
        • Birthday blog tour
        • S&S on tour 2022
      • Early endorsements
      • Events >
        • Launch photos
        • Launch party videos
      • in pictures
      • Media
      • If you've read the book
      • Polari
      • Reading group questions
      • Reviews
      • In the media
    • Underneath >
      • Endorsements and reviews
      • Launch party and events
      • Pictures
      • Questions for book groups
      • The stories underneath the novel
  • Matilda Windsor series
    • The accidental series
    • Matilda Windsor >
      • What readers say
      • For book groups
      • Interviews, articles and features
      • Matty on the move
      • Who were you in 1990?
      • Asylum lit
      • Matilda Windsor media
    • Stolen Summers >
      • Stolen Summers reviews
    • Lyrics for the Loved Ones
  • Short stories
    • Somebody’s Daughter
    • Becoming Someone (anthology) >
      • Becoming Someone (video readings)
      • Becoming Someone reviews
      • Becoming Someone online book chat
    • Print and downloads
    • Read it online
    • Quick reads
  • Free ebook
  • Annecdotal
    • Annecdotal blog
    • Annecdotal Press
    • Articles >
      • Print journalism
      • Where psychology meets fiction
    • Fictional therapists
    • Reading and reviews >
      • Reviews A to H
      • Reviews I to M
      • Reviews N to Z
      • Nonfiction
      • Themed quotes
      • Reading around the world
  • Shop
    • Inspired Quill (my publisher)
    • Bookshop.org (affiliate link)
    • Amazon UK
    • Amazon US
    • books2read
  • Main site

Welcome

I started this blog in 2013 to share my reflections on reading, writing and psychology, along with my journey to become a published novelist.​  I soon graduated to about twenty book reviews a month and a weekly 99-word story. Ten years later, I've transferred my writing / publication updates to my new website but will continue here with occasional reviews and flash fiction pieces, and maybe the odd personal post.

ANNE GOODWIN'S WRITING NEWS

The cabin in the forest: Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller

14/3/2015

8 Comments

 
Picture
The daughter of a German concert pianist and her (one-time stand-in page-turner) younger husband, Peggy Hillcoat is eight in the hot summer of 1976  when her father tells her to pack her rucksack and come with him on a journey. As they travel across Europe by car, train and, latterly, on foot, Peggy is less and less confident that this is a holiday. But the stories her father has told her about the secret cabin in the forest spurs her on, and even when she loses her shoe on a perilous river crossing she doesn’t completely give up hope. Yet when they finally reach the cabin, even her father is disappointed at its dilapidated state. Peggy is ready to return home until her father tells her that, not only is her mother dead, but the rest of the world beyond the river is no more.

Nine years later, Peggy is back with her mother in London, struggling to adapt to a world of overwhelming luxury and choice (p41):

The kitchen table had shrunk since I had been away, but everything else had multiplied and I found the kitchen was the most unsettling room of all. The quantity of things, the overwhelming choice of what to look at, pressed me to my chair and made me shut my eyes. The row of pots with always available tea, coffee and sugar; larger containers marked ‘self-raising’ and ‘plain’ … I couldn’t understand by a family of three needed seven saucepans when there were only four rings on the cooker …

as well as a surprise younger brother. The novel moves back and forth between the two time periods as we discover exactly how Peggy survived in the wilderness retreat and how she made it back to civilisation.

Our Endless Numbered Days is a coming-of-age story with a difference. Peggy’s dependency on an immature man with increasingly questionable parenting skills is played out with psychological acuity. Yet returning to her mother's care as a young woman, she cannot hope to make up for the part of adolescence she’s missed. As her mother looks in vain for the tears she expects following Peggy’s sessions with “Dr Bernadette”, we realise the impossibility for even her closest family of conceptualising what she had to do to survive. I found this aspect reminiscent of the second half of Emma Donoghue’s novel, Room.

While her father is clearly the villain of the piece, the mother isn’t completely exonerated, having withheld important parts of herself from the girl (p114):

The dots, sticks and lines blurring in front of me meant nothing. Ute had never taught me even one note. Sometimes I had been allowed to stand beside her whilst she practised, as long as I didn’t fidget, but I never understood the translation of the cryptic symbols into the jumps and ripples she made with her fingers, and the sound that came out of the piano. Like the German language, Ute had kept the music for herself.

It’s only at the cabin, on a makeshift piano her father has manufactured, comprised of wooden keys that can never produce a tune, that Peggy comes close to appreciating her mother’s passion for music.

For the author’s take on this engrossing debut novel, see my Q&A with Claire Fuller. And if you find the premise appealing, you might also enjoy some other novels I’ve reviewed which address overlapping themes: an intense father-daughter relationship in a post-apocalyptic world in The Ship; the power of music, not only in The Chimes (review coming soon, but you can discover more in my Q&A with Anna Smaill) where this is one of the major themes but also the silent piano playing of Rebecca’s mother in Still Life with Bread Crumbs; a teenage crush in conditions of severe deprivation in The Undesirables; and surviving the cruel winters in The Surfacing and in The Snow Child. Thanks to Fig Tree for my review copy.
Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
8 Comments
Norah Colvin link
14/3/2015 09:31:30 pm

Hi Anne,
Unfortunately, I don't think I really "get" this review. I think it may be because of the complexity of the plot. I feel for the little girl taken away by her father and told that her mother is dead - a bit reminiscent of some of the fatherless fairy tale characters and their terrible adventures in the woods. I was going to read your interview with the author to see if I could get a little more clarity but the link didn't work for me. Nevermind. I'm a bit intrigued to find out why the father abducted the child in such an horrific way, and she managed to find her way back to a life of luxury. I'm not sure from your review if you enjoyed the book or not. I've got some gaps in my comprehension today. Sorry. :)

Reply
Annecdotist
16/3/2015 10:32:41 am

Thanks for sharing, Norah, I'm going to have to co-opt you into my Quality Control department.
Sorry the review wasn't clear – I think when I do an author Q&A I try not to duplicate the same things in my reviews – and it's an opportunity to make them shorter, always a good thing I think, but maybe I wasn't thinking enough here about what the reader needs.
Good news is that I've fixed the link to the Q&A and of course it's good that you're intrigued. And yes, I enjoyed the novel, and only do Q&A's with those that have particularly impressed me.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
17/3/2015 03:57:32 am

Thanks for that, Anne. I shouldn't need to be spoon-fed all the information I suppose. You are just right to not repeat yourself and to take advantage of previous writings to have a shorter post. Interesting that you talk about enlisting me into your Quality Control. You've done a great job for me this evening! But I don't think the issue was your quality in this post, it was my not getting it.
I'll have to return to read the Q&A now that the link is fixed. My fuzzy brain wouldn't cope tonight. Thanks for explaining that you only do Q&As about work you have enjoyed. I'll keep that in mind for future reference. :)

Annecdotist
18/3/2015 04:55:15 am

No, my responsibility to be clear for readers, although not be too hard on myself as glitches are bound to come up now and again. (Interestingly – or at least I think so – I'm repeatedly misspelling names in the author Q&A's, which is why that original link was wrong.) And yes, it's nice that we look out for each other so that we can correct such things.

Sarah link
15/3/2015 12:07:00 pm

Like Norah, I'm interested in why the father took the little girl. Was he ill? Trying to get revenge? And I also want to know how the girl got home. At first I thought this was a dystopian novel but what a horrid surprise to find out he was lying. Did you know that from the beginning or find out later in the book? I cannot imagine the girl's distress at finding out the truth and then having to adjust to "normal" life with all its "too much". Disturbing but interesting premise.

Reply
Annecdotist
16/3/2015 10:38:05 am

Hi, Sarah, I think the father feels he's doing the right thing as he believes the end of the world is coming and wants, albeit misguidedly, to protect his daughter. The novel has a lovely opening which exactly answers your question about how much of this was known
"This morning I found a black-and-white photograph of my father at the back of the bureau drawer. He didn't look like a liar."
But you'd have to read the whole thing to find out how she got back to reality.

Reply
Charli Mills link
16/3/2015 10:21:57 am

The plot sounds sinister, yet I suspect the adult characters are varying degrees of selfish. The mother withholding music from the daughter may have been trigger for the father to "rescue" his daughter in a way. Maybe she withheld music from her younger husband, too. Maybe the husband longed for a simple life. Yet clearly, neither think beyond themselves to the impact of their actions on their daughter. The betrayal of being coerced into a "trip to the cabin" and lied to about the death of a parent and the end of the world is huge. Wow. Intense review, and we haven't even read the book! :-)

Reply
Annecdotist
16/3/2015 10:40:29 am

I'm pleased that this review is sparking so much speculation. This isn't quite my reading of the novel but it certainly an interesting interpretation.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Free ebook: click the image to claim yours.
    Picture
    Available now
    Picture
    The poignant prequel to Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home
    Picture
    Find a review
    Picture
    Fictional therapists
    Picture
    Picture
    About Anne Goodwin
    Picture
    My published books
    entertaining fiction about identity, mental health and social justice
    Picture
    My third novel, published May 2021
    Picture
    My debut novel shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize
    Picture
    Picture
    My second novel published May 2017.
    Picture
    Short stories on the theme of identity published 2018
    Anne Goodwin's books on Goodreads
    Sugar and Snails Sugar and Snails
    reviews: 32
    ratings: 52 (avg rating 4.21)

    Underneath Underneath
    reviews: 24
    ratings: 60 (avg rating 3.17)

    Becoming Someone Becoming Someone
    reviews: 8
    ratings: 9 (avg rating 4.56)

    GUD: Greatest Uncommon Denominator, Issue 4 GUD: Greatest Uncommon Denominator, Issue 4
    reviews: 4
    ratings: 9 (avg rating 4.44)

    The Best of Fiction on the Web The Best of Fiction on the Web
    reviews: 3
    ratings: 3 (avg rating 4.67)

    2022 Reading Challenge

    2022 Reading Challenge
    Anne has read 2 books toward their goal of 100 books.
    hide
    2 of 100 (2%)
    view books
    Picture
    Annecdotal is where real life brushes up against the fictional.  
    Picture
    Annecdotist is the blogging persona of Anne Goodwin: 
    reader, writer,

    slug-slayer, tramper of moors, 
    recovering psychologist, 
    struggling soprano, 
    author of three fiction books.

    LATEST POSTS HERE
    I don't post to a schedule, but average  around ten reviews a month (see here for an alphabetical list), 
    some linked to a weekly flash fiction, plus posts on my WIPs and published books.  

    Your comments are welcome any time any where.

    Get new posts direct to your inbox ...

    Enter your email address:

    or click here …

    RSS Feed


    Picture

    Tweets by @Annecdotist
    Picture
    New short story, “My Dirty Weekend”
    Picture
    Let’s keep in touch – subscribe to my newsletter
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Popular posts

    • Compassion: something we all need
    • Do spoilers spoil?
    • How to create a convincing fictional therapist
    • Instructions for a novel
    • Looking at difference, embracing diversity
    • Never let me go: the dilemma of lending books
    • On loving, hating and writers’ block
      On Pop, Pirates and Plagiarism
    • READIN' for HER reviews
    • Relishing the cuts
    • The fast first draft
    • The tragedy of obedience
    • Writers and therapy: a love-hate relationship?

    Categories/Tags

    All
    Animals
    Annecdotist Hosts
    Annecdotist On Tour
    Articles
    Attachment Theory
    Author Interviews
    Becoming Someone
    Being A Writer
    Blogging
    Bodies
    Body
    Bookbirthday
    Books For Writers
    Bookshops
    CB Book Group
    Character
    Childhood
    Christmas
    Classics
    Climate Crisis
    Coming Of Age
    Counsellors Cafe
    Creative Writing Industry
    Creativity
    Cumbria
    Debut Novels
    Disability
    Editing
    Emotion
    Ethics
    Ethis
    Family
    Feedback And Critiques
    Fictional Psychologists & Therapists
    Food
    Friendship
    Futuristic
    Gender
    Genre
    Getting Published
    Giveaways
    Good Enough
    Grammar
    Gratitude
    Group/organisational Dynamics
    Hero’s Journey
    History
    Humour
    Identity
    Illness
    Independent Presses
    Institutions
    International Commemorative Day
    Jane Eyre
    Kidney Disease
    Language
    LGBTQ
    Libraries
    Live Events
    Lyrics For The Loved Ones
    Marketing
    Matilda Windsor
    Memoir
    Memory
    Mental Health
    Microfiction
    Motivation
    Music
    MW Prequel
    Names
    Narrative Voice
    Nature / Gardening
    Networking
    Newcastle
    Nonfiction
    Nottingham
    Novels
    Pandemic
    Peak District
    Perfect Match
    Poetry
    Point Of View
    Politics
    Politics Current Affairs
    Presentation
    Privacy
    Prizes
    Psychoanalytic Theory
    Psychology
    Psycholoists Write
    Psychotherapy
    Race
    Racism
    Rants
    Reading
    Real Vs Imaginary
    Religion
    Repetitive Strain Injury
    Research
    Reviewing
    Romance
    Satire
    Second Novels
    Settings
    Sex
    Shakespeare
    Short Stories General
    Short Stories My Published
    Short Stories Others'
    Siblings
    Snowflake
    Somebody's Daughter
    Stolen Summers
    Storytelling
    Structure
    Sugar And Snails
    Technology
    The
    The Guestlist
    Therapy
    TikTok
    TNTB
    Toiletday
    Tourism
    Toxic Positivity
    Transfiction
    Translation
    Trauma
    Unconscious
    Unconscious, The
    Underneath
    Voice Recognition Software
    War
    WaSBihC
    Weather
    Work
    Writing Process
    Writing Technique

    Archives

    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    March 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Picture
    BLOGGING COMMUNITIES
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos from havens.michael34, romana klee, mrsdkrebs, Kyle Taylor, Dream It. Do It., adam & lucy, dluders, Joybot, Hammer51012, jorgempf, Sherif Salama, eyspahn, raniel diaz, E. E. Piphanies, scaredofbabies, Nomadic Lass, paulternate, Tony Fischer Photography, archer10 (Dennis), slightly everything, impbox, jonwick04, country_boy_shane, dok1, Out.of.Focus, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region, Elvert Barnes, guillenperez, Richard Perry, jamesnaruke, Juan Carlos Arniz Sanz, El Tuerto, kona99, maveric2003, !anaughty!, Patrick Denker, David Davies, hamilcar_south, idleformat, Dave Goodman, Sharon Mollerus, photosteve101, La Citta Vita, A Girl With Tea, striatic, carlosfpardo, Damork, Elvert Barnes, UNE Photos, jurvetson, quinn.anya, BChristensen93, Joelk75, ashesmonroe, albertogp123, >littleyiye<, mudgalbharat, Swami Stream, Dicemanic, lovelihood, anyjazz65, Tjeerd, albastrica mititica, jimmiehomeschoolmom, joshtasman, tedeytan, striatic, goforchris, torbakhopper, maggibautista, andreboeni, snigl3t, rainy city, frankieleon