Reading in Bed by Sue Gee

I will spare you the details, but I’ve been unwell.  The upside was permission to remain pajama clad and read in bed (in between some epic catatonic naps).

But what to read?  I knew I wasn’t up for any Booker prize titles, and reading my Kindle gave me a headache.  Then I remembered I had the perfect book for this predicament – Reading in Bed by Sue Gee.

After unearthing it from my shelves and  with dutiful tea service provided by Husband, I snuggled in.

One of my favorite British book bloggers Cornflower Books has long recommended anything by Sue Gee.  She had me with this statement:

All (her) books are of quality and integrity – they are not showy, not gimmicky, they are perfect examples, I think, of what it means for a writer to be artist and craftsman in equal measure. (The image above is from her blog post.)

The book opens with long time friends Dido and Georgia as they depart the infamous Hay-on Wye book festival (on my bucket list), and as they make their separate ways home their thoughts and frailties emerge and, in this way, Ms. Gee introduces her readers to her central characters.

Two upper middle class Oxford couples, share not only a life-long friendship but also a mutual appreciation of art, classical music, architecture,  summer holidays together, – and especially literature: 

“Dido and Jeffrey, Georgia and Henry… had reading at the heart of everything, touching and defining everything, a ceaseless inner life so rich it’s hard to say where life and literature begin and end.”

Then death took one half of a partnership. Georgia, widowed a year, is alone with daughter Chloe nearby. Dido, comfortably secure and settled,  secretly revels in her seemingly perfect life and husband:

(Her new book) “Justin Cartwright, The Promise of Happiness, just what she needs.  She slips off her dressing gown, pulls back the covers.  She’s tucked up, her specs on her nose, the pillows just right.  She settles into chapter one, is turning page six by the time Jeffrey joins her, fresh from a shower.  ‘Hello, my darling.’  ‘Hi’, Jeffrey reaches for his own books, put on his specs.  They settle down.  Dido is restored.  What sweet companionship is this, to read, to sleep, to lie night after night against the man you love – still love after all these years.  Poor Georgia.”

I’ll admit Reading in Bed is formulaic, it doesn’t demand much from a reader, but the characters are multi-faceted, intelligent, well developed and flawed  — and I cared desperately for each of them.  There’s narrow expectations for their children, resulting in the inevitable problems, an eccentric cousin who is loosing her mind, infidelity, illness, and building new beginnings — in other words Ms. Gee has beautifully rendered a  well-lived, and loved, set of lives filled with problems, sorrows and joy.

Because I’m an admitted Anglophile, what I (and probably only I) enjoyed most about this British book, was just that — its wonderful, unapologetic, not trying to be anything else — British-ness.  The book captures drinking tea in rose filled gardens, shopping in the village, and posh N1 London drinks by a fireplace.  There are references to BBC4 shows (the Archers), the Brits keen walking (hiking) outings, and Knickerbocker glories (ice cream sundaes).

Reading a book about women of my same age, with similar views, with my shared love of literature, and so British-ily described was just what the doctor ordered.  I’m feeling much better and now I’ve got a new author to follow!

N.B. Ms. Gee’s book are published in the UK, and are only available to us Yanks in their British editions.  You can order HERE.

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