Book of the Month - By Kathleen Thorne

On Chesil Beach
By Ian McEwan

Published by Jonathan Cape
Price €18.99

Early in this novel we are told that it is set in a time “when to be young was a social encumbrance…for which marriage was the beginning of a cure.” It is the story of two innocent and awkward young people and the difficulties they encounter on their
wedding night.

From the first sentence we are in no doubt that this is a bygone era – actually the sixties. “They were young, educated and both virgins on this their wedding night, and they lived in a time when a conversation about sexual difficulties was plainly
impossible.”

Florence and Edward come from very different social backgrounds and they are both full of anxiety about the prospect of their first sexual experience.

Florence wishes that she could arrive at the state of pregnancy like the mother of Jesus, as if by magic.
Edward on the contrary, longs for fulfilment but worries about the practicalities.

All of this accounts for huge tension between them, even though superficially they maintain an attitude
of love and warmth. Their love for each other is genuine but the constraints imposed by the mores of a different era prevent any openness between them.

Interspersed with details of their difficult wedding night is the account of how they initially meet
each other. That happens against a background of early sixties student life and the political events of that era.

Foremost at this time is the anti-nuclear movement and at one of these meetings that they bump into
each other. Prior to that, their individual upbringing has been very different. Florence’s father is a successful business man. As a consequence he and his family lead a privileged life. Her mother however, is a philosopher and university don. She is distant with her daughter and certainly does not shower her with warm embraces or the normal physical signs of affection of a mother for her child.

Their home is the epitome of sophistication. There is a servant to do the housework and the cuisine is so exotic as to be shocking to Edward.

Edward’s father is a rural primary-school teacher. His mother is brain-damaged as a result of an
accident. This has rendered her incapable of simple housework and their small home has become a place of squalor.

Both Florence and Edward are successful students. She studies music and becomes a successful violinist.

She organises the setting-up of a quartet which goes from strength to strength. His chosen subject is history.
In temperament they are quite different. He is the quiet type but is prone to the occasional violent
outburst. He does not speak to Florence about this tendency. She is both controlled and controlling. She is disciplined but is seriously repulsed by the idea of physical intimacy.Neither does she speak to Edward about these problems.

It is not surprising therefore that things come to an unpleasant crisis on the wedding night.

This is a short novel that should prove interesting to a wide readership. Younger people, who are tired of hearing how times were different in the old days, will find a full expose here of some of these differences. Older readers will easily empathise with Florence and Edward’s predicament.

For such a small book its terms of reference are wide. It is about convention and its sometimes cruel power over people. It is about personal
freedom or the lack of it, and the individual’s ability or inability to respond to life’s circumstances. It
packs a big punch and deserves a careful reading. On Chesil Beach has been long listed for this year’s Mann Booker Prize. Maybe it will also be short listed. Who knows, maybe it will even win.

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