Book Review: "The Constant Nymph" by Margaret Kennedy

I have to admit, I have not read anything by Margaret Kennedy before, though I have heard of her. Let's have a look at the story of how I came into contact with this book. First of all, at the Birmingham Library, I found this book on a shelf in the fiction section. The one thing different about this book was that when I picked it up, I almost instantly knew that I wanted to read it. It very rarely happens before I read a blurb and so, I decided to make this a random book of the week for myself in which I read a book by an author I have never read before. Later that day, sitting in the bar, I started to read the book and by the first few pages, was fascinated by the writing style. Emotional and yet descriptive, it seemed completely to my own tastes of literature. Let's take a look at what The Constant Nymph is about.

Albert Sanger was once a composer and his family, friends, mistresses etc. need to find new lives once he has died. I like the fact that the book starts off with his death because we get to meet the whole cast of main character straight away. We don't get introduced to new and weird characters as we become more engulfed in the storyline, the main characters are all there for us to see and get to know. When we meet Tessa, she is a mild teenager with a passion that cannot be extinguished. She has a passion for a man called Lewis. Lewis also has a passion for her. But there is a problem, though Tessa is a teenager - Lewis is a fully grown adult man and this is having some serious Lolita vibes which I can say are a tad bit uncomfortable to read at times.

The other character involved is Lewis's lover and Tessa's cousin, Florence. She is a beautiful woman whom much to Tessa's dismay, marries Lewis and thus, unravels this now Tess of the D'Urbervilles meets Lolita meets almost Anna Karenina like storyline in which the girl goes looking for love and ultimately is hard done by, rejected or cast out. It is a wonderful story with some brilliant characters which each have an incredible personality of their own. No two characters are alike and I think that the best thing about this story is that it shows the serious dangers of infatuation and obsession, especially where youth is concerned.

The family are eccentric to say the least. Each are covered in passionate affairs, mistresses, debauchery and transgressions beyond the dreams of the people of their own time. This adds to their colourful personalities and almost makes the idea of tragedy somewhat inevitable if you know the way these stories normally go and how the formula normally works. When it comes to Tessa's own obsession therefore, we are already normalising it as a part of the culture of that family. Something that Albert Sanger threw into his composition. Tessa's grief and passion is therefore a mix of her youth and her requirement to be needed, loved and wanted - something that everyone feels lost about once Sanger has died.

In conclusion, I really quite enjoyed this book. Vivid details and descriptive sceneries replace mounds of dialogue and personalities displace motives - something that in my reading experiences, I have enjoyed far above anything else. I am very glad I found this new author to read and will continue to read her works where I can. This book has left its own profound impact on my experience of literature.