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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

What Happens at Night by Peter Cameron #review #99wordstories

14/11/2022

6 Comments

 
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A husband and wife have travelled for days from New York to an unnamed town in another country, masked by a blanket of snow. The woman has terminal cancer and they’ve come to adopt a baby before she dies. The anxieties they’ve brought with them wax and wane in response to the alien culture, the frosty weather and the interference of other guests at the strange hotel.
With two complex and unrelated metaphors in the first paragraph, and the author’s refusal to grant his protagonists a name, I was unsure about this novel initially. But soon it sucked me in. I lived the tension alongside the characters and, when I wasn’t reading, turned over the story again and again in my mind.
 
It perfectly evoked for me the disorientation and discomfort of being vulnerable in an alien land. But I wanted a clearer hint of how the theme of adoption was meant to fit. Is this a story of the confusion of new parenthood? What was I meant to make of a couple who ‘buy’ a baby from a poorer country so the man won’t be lonely when the woman dies?
 
Those uncertainties make it ideal for book groups. Thanks to Europa editions for my review copy.
 
Having recently published novella about a woman forced to give up her baby for adoption, I couldn’t help wondering about the baby’s natural parents excluded from this narrative. But that’s another story altogether.
At times in What Happens at Night, the man and woman can’t distinguish truth from lies. But, shortly after Remembrance Day, for this week’s flash fiction challenge I’ve drawn on a lie told by a secondary character in my own book. The injustice he suffered took me to the injustice of contemporary Tory politics and the damage done by successive governments, but particularly by the Prime Minister who (fortunately) didn’t last as long as a lettuce on the supermarket shelf.
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Black poppies

Their mother would miss them, but the Motherland called. They stowed away on a ship taking rum and molasses to Liverpool and docked the day the country declared war. Eustace lied about his age to join up with his brother. When hostilities ended, he buried his brother in France.

He grieved, but was proud to have served the Empire. Until he learnt the flag that united the colonies was a colossal lie. When riots raged in Liverpool’s docklands, he feared for his life. He learnt that Black men could die for Britain, but they couldn’t live there in peace.
 
An economics lesson at the food bank

“I don’t get it,” says the volunteer, as she distributes bashed soup tins between supermarket plastic bags. “Run it past me again.”
The politician sighs, but her colleague interrupts him. “Remember Robin Hood?”
“Steals from the rich to give to the poor? Of course.”
“Well, this is Robin in reverse.”
The woman sets aside a tube of charcoal toothpaste. The politician flashes a smile. “We scrap the wealth tax. People spend more. The benefits trickle down.”
The woman surveys the empty shelves. “Can’t see that working.”
“Be patient,” says the politician. “We’ve only tried this method for ninety years.”
 
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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.
6 Comments
Norah Colvin
20/11/2022 10:03:15 am

What Happens at Night appears to have some challenging ideas to consider. Thinking about the adoption in relation to Matty's situation is also interesting. I wonder if Matty's child ever sought out her (was it a girl baby?) biological parents. I hope the child had a happy life. Will we ever know?
I can't see your flash here. Am I meant to find it elsewhere?

Reply
Anne Goodwin
20/11/2022 02:04:05 pm

Norah, we always knew you were my star reader, but your question is especially on the ball. You'll find the answer in the next book.

And sorry the flash didn't show originally. I was so smug at getting 2 submitted so early, I didn't check it had published. (This has happened a couple of times before.)

Reply
Norah Colvin
30/11/2022 10:32:11 am

I'm so looking forward to the next book, Anne. Even more now!
Two lies in your first flash - the second far greater than the first. The situation was the same with our Indigenous people. They could go to war but they couldn't vote.
The second one needs nothing else said - politicians!

Anne Goodwin
30/11/2022 04:51:02 pm

And for women too in a way. They weren't sent to fight but had to fill in for the men who were. Then it was back to the kitchen when the men returned.

D. Avery link
25/11/2022 01:58:05 pm

Hi. Just read above. Wondering if your weebly is wobbly. But that aside, I enjoyed both flashes as well as the review. It's good to see Eustace's important story getting out. Mattie'd be proud of you and pleased too for Eustace. She'd probably note your sarcasm in the second flash, and forgive you for it.

Reply
Anne Goodwin
26/11/2022 02:59:05 pm

Yes, Weebly can be wobbly, although it might be my server. I think Matty would be shocked that people must rely on food banks – although I don't think she responds when another resident of the care home mentions it in the next book.

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