Stevie‘s review of Needlemouse by Jane O’Connor
Romantic Comedy published by Ebury Press 27 Jun 19
I have a distinct soft spot for hedgehogs (eventually we learn that ‘needlemouse’ is a rough translation of the Japanese name for the prickly critters), and I’m also very familiar with the type of administrative assistant or other holder of a gatekeeper role, who believes it’s their foremost duty to prevent anyone disturbing their employer with trivial matters. By trivial, of course, they mean any matter on which ‘lesser beings’ wish to consult their particular member of the ‘great and good’ – even when part of both party’s jobs. Sylvia takes her position very seriously, and at first it’s hard to like her as she does everything in her power to allow students access to the professor whose job it is to supervise them. However, we gradually learn there’s far more to her than we see at first glance.
Sylvia has been the personal assistant of Professor Lomax for fifteen years, and spent two thirds of that time convinced he is as much in love with her as she is with him – taking every small gift and kind gesture he gives her as proof – and convinced that one day his frequent rows with his wife – based, Sylvia thinks, on his wife’s infidelity and general unsuitability – will lead to a permanent separation followed by a happy ever after for Sylvia and the Prof. Sylvia doesn’t think much to the Prof’s students or to the fellow administrator with whom she shares an office, and her main workplace socialising consists of a regular lunch with the Prof and fleeting visits at rare parties thrown by other academics in the department. When the Prof announces that his wife is leaving him for good this time, Sylvia takes his side of the story for granted and begins planning for the day when he will ask her out romantically. Her plans are thwarted, though, by the appearance of a rival in the form of a new, mature, PhD student named Lola.
Sylvia believes that drastic action is required to prevent the Prof being led astray by this interloper, but her attempts to discredit Lola have disastrous consequences for Sylvia herself. Things go from bad to worse, when Sylvia falls out with her younger sister over a secret she’s kept for nearly two decades – losing the support of their shared social group in the process. Her only respite is the time she spends at a local hedgehog sanctuary, run by a taciturn widower with occasional help from his three adult daughters. Through her voluntary work, Sylvia comes to learn what’s really important, who her true friends are, and how she can make a better future for herself, in which she does not rely on scraps of affection from a very unreliable man.
I loved the structure of this book, with its division into the four seasons representing both time passing and Sylvia’s transformation as she goes into virtual hibernation when depression hits, but then emerges slowly in the spring as she starts to see new possibilities. I liked the unreliability of her narration. The book is in the form of a diary, broken up with excerpts from a pamphlet on hedgehogs – illustrated by this book’s author – even though that style made me unwilling to like her at first. And I cheered at the ending, which wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but seemed to be perfectly what Sylvia needed.
Grade: A
Summary:
Sylvia Penton has been hibernating for years, it’s no wonder she’s a little prickly…
Sylvia lives alone, dedicating herself to her job at the local university. On weekends, she helps out at a local hedgehog sanctuary because it gives her something to talk about on Mondays – and it makes people think she’s nicer than she is.
Only Sylvia has a secret: she’s been in love with her boss, Professor Lomax, for over a decade now, and she’s sure he’s just waiting for the right time to leave his wife. Meanwhile she stores every crumb of his affection and covertly makes trouble for anyone she feels gets in his way.
But when a bright new PhD candidate catches the Professor’s eye, Sylvia’s dreams of the fairy tale ending she has craved for so long, are soon in tatters, driving her to increasingly desperate measures and an uncertain future.
Sylvia might have been sleep walking through her life but things are about to change now she’s woken up…
Read an excerpt.
