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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

TELL ME MORE

Code makers and code breakers: I Can’t Begin to Tell You by Elizabeth Buchan and a 99-word flash

28/8/2014

21 Comments

 
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After my recent posts about obedience to a malign authority and the ensuing atrocities, it’s refreshing to be able to bring you a novel in which people refuse to submit. Even better, in contrast to the stories of women’s subjugation within marriage – wonderful reads as they were – I Can’t Begin to Tell You is a celebration of women’s resistance, courage and determination.

Like Simon Mawer’s The Girl Who Fell from the Sky which I read last year, this is a gripping story about the agents and code-breakers of the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War. At its centre is Kay Eberstern, British-born wife of a Danish landowner. Like John Campbell in Johanna Lane’s debut novel, Black Lake, Bror’s attachment to his ancestral lands has led him to go against his wife’s wishes, in this case by signing a declaration of goodwill towards the occupying Nazis. This crack in the marriage widens when Kay is persuaded to provide a refuge for an SOE agent, drawing her into a world of secrets and subterfuge which endangers not only her relationship with Bror, but the entire family.

Meanwhile, over in England, Ruby Ingram channels her fury over the fact that, as a woman, she couldn’t be awarded the degree she had earned from Cambridge University, into her efforts to improve the safety of agents in the field.

This is a novel to read for the cast of noble (but flawed) characters, its realistic take on organisational inefficiency and the insights it provides into an important and terror-filled chapter of European history. I did wonder at the title, however, which sounds like the prelude to a mammoth gossip session rather than an allusion to information characters must guard with their lives (although in the voice of Bing Crosby it tells different story). Perhaps it’s just me, but I suspect it might be designed to avoid scaring off a middle-of-the-road readership.
The secret, both guarded and shared, is a common fictional theme that pops up in a few of my short stories: The Experiment Requires, The Japanese Garden and Shaggy Dog Story feature deception; Telling the Parents is about a strange secret that should have remained hidden; Elementary Mechanics concerns a history to awful to disclose; The Good News is about intimacy between friends. Perhaps you have some secrets from your own reading and writing to share?

This week’s flash fiction challenge from Charli Mills got me thinking about the silence that is needed to keep a secret. But the prompt – to write a 99-word story in which sound is the harbinger of change – took me back to the topic of I Can’t Begin to Tell You as represented by the cover image. Part fanfiction, part homage to those brave women and men of the resistance movement:

Though the hoot of the train brought relief, she maintained a mask of indifference as it loomed into view clouded with steam. The weight of the crystal radio had all but wrenched her arm from its socket but she held the case as if it contained nothing more than some lacy lingerie and a freshly starched blouse. Five minutes, ten at most, and she’d be safe.

The thud of jackboots on paving rose above the hiss of brakes. A carriage door swung open. Before she could reach it, the soldier raised his rifle and roared down the platform: “Halt!”

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I Can’t Begin to Tell You is published in hardback and e-book in the UK today by Penguin/Michael Joseph who supplied me with a review copy. If you’ve enjoyed this you might like to read some of the other reviews I’ve posted this month.


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If you sign up (via the sidebar) for regular email updates, then you’re guaranteed not to miss out on discussions of the (gulp) twelve novels I’m hoping to review in September. As ever, I value your comments on any aspect of this post.

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.
21 Comments
Norah Colvin
28/8/2014 05:11:11 am

You were quick off the mark this week, Anne. I didn't realise this was your flash 'flash' post or maybe I would have left reading it till later. I haven't read Charli's post yet, other than the prompt, and definitely haven't given it any thought. No matter, I don't think yours will afford me any distraction, your post is miles away from anywhere mine would go.
It's a brilliant bit of flash. All the sounds you have integrated into the story, telling so much and creating a very vivid scene. The change that is coming, once so hopeful, but now so filled with dread. I hope those thudding boots are on her side! Well done! I'm always amazed at how much you tell in so few words.

Reply
Annecdotist
28/8/2014 05:40:01 am

Oh, sorry that wasn't clear – I had the review ready a few days ago but was tempted this morning to add on the flash. It's partly happened this way because I want to keep up with both the challenge and book reviews without posting too frequently and at too much length, and today's review was relatively short.
I was quite pleased to be able to come up with the idea fairly quickly, and childishly so to be the first to report back to the Carrot Ranch, as I'm more often towards the end, but you shouldn't really be getting the prompt from me rather than Charli. I also didn't realise until I'd posted how similar mine is to hers – obviously I'm the copycat as I had read her flash but didn't have it consciously in mind while composing mine. Let's call it teamwork!
Interested that you thought there still might be a happy ending to the flash – I wonder how others will see it.

Reply
Annecdotist
28/8/2014 05:44:08 am

Had a brainwave and changed the title in response to your feedback, but now realise I have to shout to everybody NORAH HAD THE EARLY VERSION WHICH MADE NO MENTION OF THE FLASH IN THE HEADING

Charli Mills
28/8/2014 04:46:59 pm

Ha, ha! It's pandemonium at the train station! :-) Yes, it's creative teamwork and it's how art thrives!

geoff link
28/8/2014 02:44:56 pm

Spent a happy half hour reading your short stories (apart from the one I needed to pay for - I'm apart from any cards just now!) and as usual they were excellent. I love the twist. I think my preference this time is Telling the Parents; I enjoyed the psychology experiment except I'm not sure I bought the blackmail at the end. Seemed sort of unnecessary. The flash, however, is quality personified; you even leave us with the smell of her fear.
I'll read the book; my sort of subject matter, and sounds better than Restless, which is the last similar sort of tale by the sound of it - the problem with Boyd and suspense novels is he gets too incredible at the end - same with Ordinary Thunderstorms - and I'm finding to difficult to suspend disbelief any more (like Gone Girl - sorry, I'm flitting about). I've sent a link of your recent reviews to Linda (the Textiliste) as your tastes seem similar to hers and hopefully she'll follow your reviews. You're becoming so professional with them, too. Like Charli and the expositions to her prompts they gain in depth and breadth each time

Reply
Annecdotist
29/8/2014 08:42:11 am

Thanks for taking the time to follow the links to my stories, Geoff, and for your useful feedback. Telling the Parents was quite difficult to write as the concept is a bit tricky to explain economically, so I'm glad to hear it worked for you. I'm a bit uncomfortable about those paid-for stories – I put them on that site in the hope of attracting a different audience and extra readers – but if people come through me where so many of the stories are free to read I think those, in a way, should be free also, but haven't found a way of making that happen.
Glad you liked the sound of this novel. I have read Restless and, as far as I can remember, I did enjoy it although I think I asked Mr A to read it all so as he's more into thrillers but he wasn't so impressed. I think, however, I enjoyed the timeline from the past rather than the present (I better stop rambling in case I'm thinking of an entirely different novel).
Thanks for passing the links on to Linda. I think indeed we might have more similar tastes. Hope she finds something to suit.

Reply
Charli Mills
28/8/2014 04:56:04 pm

Terrific review as it excites me to find a good read about women resiting status quo. Do you mean that you're reviewing 12 books in one month? Your reading prowess is amazing. Bravo!

Love your flash! You do a splendid job of using sounds to build the image and set the tension. It's crazy how many choices we have as writers--where to begin, where to end, what to include, or not include. I like that you have a soldier roaring halt. He seems loudest of all the sounds and I was ready to turn the page and realized...that's it! Darn! My turn to borrow from you--better to get caught than to whine about escape! I'll remember this lesson.

I'll be back to read with coffee tomorrow morning...time to get on my hamster wheel. :-)

Reply
Annecdotist
29/8/2014 08:55:54 am

I'm afraid it does mean 12 novels but, as writing the reviews is a major area of precrastination (http://annegoodwin.weebly.com/annecdotal/-looking-ahead-precrastination-or-procrastination) of mine, I'm always well ahead of myself and all but three of them are already done. Nevertheless, it does eat into writing time, so I hope I'm learning from it.
Interesting reflection of the differences between our train flashes: I'd like to pretend the soldier's arrival was an inspired conclusion but I was actually just following the story in the picture and its echoes in the book, just as you were faithful to the escape in your historical account ;)

Reply
Charli Mills
4/9/2014 07:17:50 pm

It makes me think that as writers we fictionalize truth in order to find the truth of life as we experience. That or I spent too much time in the sun, hiking on the Pack River today! As to your book reviews I learn from them, and I'm sure others do too.

Annecdotist
5/9/2014 04:35:47 am

Totally agree about fiction and truth – and glad you had time for your hike. Walking is great for thinking up fictions.

Norah Colvin link
29/8/2014 11:24:22 pm

There's too much to read!!!! Anne, what a great post and wonderful comments. I was coming back to read some more of your stories but my time is over once again, and I still haven't read Charli's post. I try to do some writing before reading these days, or I just don't get any done. Then my reading suffers too. I'm afraid shouting at me hasn't made my comprehension any better. Did you change the title of your post? If so, I am very remiss. I didn't notice. Sorry. Oh, and why shouldn't we readers pay for your short stories? How else are you meant to earn a living? (It may sound like a rhetorical question, but I am indeed interested to know!) :)

Reply
Annecdotist
30/8/2014 09:30:01 am

Perhaps I went a bit overboard on the links this time. Totally agree you've got to make time for your own writing. I appreciate your reading, no matter how much or how little.
As for earning a living from short stories, I think you can do that only if you write for women's magazines – which I can't do because they require happy endings – and even then I imagine it's difficult. Or if you're already famous. In my area, there's so much free content out there and a lot of it pretty good, I'm just grateful when anyone wants to read my stuff (not sure if the school kids come into this category, I think some – she says some but the total of which I'm aware I can count on the fingers of one hand – choose them voluntarily but obviously not in the case I referred to) and takes the trouble to tell me.But I do think if someone finds my stories via the blog they are already supporting me, so seems unfair to charge. But at the moment I don't think I can have them on that site with a freebie route for some readers.
As for earning a living, I'm very fortunate in that I have already earned it and have a pension ;)

Reply
Norah Colvin link
1/9/2014 01:17:55 am

Hi again, Anne. No, I don't think you went overboard. There more links there are, the more there is to explore. I guess it is up to the reader to choose. I do find linking to be quite a time-consuming activity though, so it is entirely up to you how many and how often you link. You are right about there being a lot of free content out there, and about it being difficult to make a living (as you say, it's a good thing you have already done that). However there are a lot of people selling their work. Whether they are making a living or not is probably another point. What about a compilation of short stories? However, with my reading habits at the moment, linking to individual stories is probably the most accessible for me. I'm not good at sustaining reading away from the computer at the moment.

Annecdotist
30/8/2014 09:33:00 am

Plus I wasn't shouting at YOU, I was shouting in case people read your comment and wondered why you wouldn't know there was a flash in this post. I just made a small change to the heading adding 'and a 99-word flash'.

Reply
Norah Colvin
1/9/2014 01:24:00 am

I knew you weren't shouting at me! It just amused me thinking about people who think shouting a repeated remark will help the comprehensibility of the message! Thank you for making sure that others didn't judge me harshly.
And as for the tweet button and like button - who knows what I was thinking. I've certainly used the like button before so much have used the tweet button. Sometimes I use Hootsuite to tweet your posts when I don't see the tweet button. Who knows - as long as it's not an age thing, I don't mind! :)

Annecdotist
2/9/2014 07:44:27 am

And of course teachers are renowned for shouting ;) so it's always best to be clear.

Norah Colvin
29/8/2014 11:26:06 pm

PS I'm disappointed your posts don't have a Share button for me to easily tweet about your posts. :(

Reply
Annecdotist
30/8/2014 09:35:23 am

I'm delighted that you would want to share it but a little confused because there IS a Tweet button which I actually thought you used from time to time? Or does it not show up for you?

Reply
Annecdotist
2/9/2014 07:42:07 am

Though there isn't a SHARE button to re-blog like there seems to be in WordPress – but I don't know I've never used them.

Irene Waters link
31/8/2014 03:43:30 pm

I thought it was a great flash and quite different to Charli's despite both being set on a railway platform. Charli's was an impulsive response to the sound that they had to get on the train where there had been no intention of doing so before. In yours the sound was the thing which would prevent the woman boarding which was all she wanted to do. I can't see a happy ending for her I have to say.

Reply
Annecdotist
2/9/2014 07:46:45 am

Thank you, Irene. Yes, I suppose they complement each other: one sees the train as an opportunity the other's life depends on getting on board.

Reply



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