Clara Barley

I thought this locally published novel about Anne Lister must have been written before the BBC series Gentleman Jack, because no mention of the TV adaptation is made in the author's notes, but perhaps both were released at the same time. Anyway, this is a simple 'novelisation' of Anne's life, starting in 1832 when she meets Ann Walker, the heiress next door - just like the series. Clara Barley concludes with Anne's trip to Russia, however, which fans of the series will have to wait another year for!

At first, I thought the back-and-forth narrative between the two Ann(e)s wasn't going to work, but the author develops two distinct voices for the lovers - Anne, forthright and comical in places, Ann, nervous and negative - and the two accounts together build an evocative sense of their mismatched personalities, as well as place and time. I loved Anne's description of climbing to the top of Beacon Hill to survey Halifax like she would from the highest mountaintop on her travels.

Of course, despite the claim in the author's notes, Anne's famous diaries have now been digitised, are in the process of being transcribed, and more and more books about her are being published, following on the success of the BBC series, so there is no fear that Anne Lister will soon be forgotten:

'My diaries may be a way to immortality, like creating buildings to outlive us. But I do not believe that anyone would really care for a woman of Halifax, a place of inconsequentiality which no one has heard of. With no children to pass these volumes to, what will become of my story?'… (más)