Review ~ She Looks Pale by Kate Rigby

2012

What's it all about ..

The title is taken from a schoolgirl levitation ritual, practised by the mother of narrator Hannah. As a result of Meningitis at the age of six, Hannah nearly dies leading her parents to become obsessively over-protective. Her parents gradually dispose of all methods of modern communication and take Hannah out of school until one day, tortured by the evils of the world, her father ‘disappears’ during the Lord’s Prayer one mealtime. Hannah's mother continues the self-imposed isolation. Confined in the house, Hannah’s only contact with the world is either through the window or through her mother’s past.

What did I think about it ...

She looks Pale is a very intuitive story which looks at the rather alarming way in which Hannah's life pans out following a devastating childhood illness. There's no doubt that any life threatening illness in childhood can have a devastating effect of the parents of the child but in this short novella Hannah's parents take it to its extreme with very interesting consequences.

Whilst reading the story I was immediately taken back to my own childhood, not that my parents were anything like Hannah's, but back to dusty days playing the levitation game, a game which both thrilled and terrified me in equal measure and I can remember very clearly sitting with a finger lightly resting under someone's torso and chanting "She looks pale, she looks pale... she is pale" whilst waiting, eagerly, for the dreaded levitation to happen.

Parts of the story made me smile especially Hannah's describing the cat next door as being a funny ossity, a saying so integral to my northern childhood that I felt quite at home within the pages of the novel, and more especially with the 1970s description of Hannah's mother whose own story is cleverly told as Hannah looks at old family photographs and sees her mother's reminiscences about Chelsea Girl and Chantilly perfume.

However, there are also parts of the story which are both poignant and thought provoking and I  think that the author has really played to her strength in describing Hannah's story in quite simple terms as we get a rather simplistic viewpoint and her childlike acceptance of what happened to her, is well described and at times, quite unsettling.

I really enjoyed She Looks Pale. It's a short story which packs a real punch.



Best Read with...a large paper bag of grapes and cherries..

About the Author

Kate Rigby was born in Crosby, Liverpool and now lives in Devon. She's been writing novels for over thirty years. She loves cats,singing, photography and LFC.

You can read an earlier interview with Kate by clicking here

My thanks to the author for sharing her story with me.

~***~

Close to Home ~ Kate Rigby

As a book reviewer I have made contact with authors from all across the globe and feel immensely privileged to be able to share some amazing work. However, there is always something rather special when a book comes to my attention which has been written by an author in my part of the North of England. So with this in mind I have great pleasure in featuring some of those authors who are literally close to my home. Over the next few Saturdays, and hopefully beyond, I will be sharing the work of a very talented bunch of Northern authors and discovering just what being a Northerner means to them both in terms of inspiration and also in their writing.

Please welcome Northern writer

Kate Rigby

I was born in Crosby in the late 1950s but don’t remember much before the age of three. We moved away when I was seven and returned to Thornton when I was 13, about a mile away from Crosby, but I see those as two very different phases of my life. Crosby very much associated with my childhood and Thornton with my teenage years and growing into adulthood.

Of course, Beatlemania was happening in my living memory in Liverpool in the early 60s. I was just a tot, though one of my earliest memories is of singing ‘She Loves You’, and ‘Eleanor Rigby’ not only makes reference to our family name but its haunting strings and poignant lyrics evoke strong memories of our last few months in Crosby! It evokes childhood angst on autumn Sunday evenings, tied up with Evensong at St Faith’s High Church, and the fear of school the following day. My teacher put the fear of God into me with a perishing look of her eye and a stern presence. It’s hardly surprising then, that moving away to the Cotswolds, seemed to my young mind, like an adventure and a great escape!

But during those early years at Crosby, some of the most striking memories are in relation to the landscape and the shore. When we ventured down there as a family, we took our buckets and spades and had a paddle, though the tide was often a long way out, but there were dollops of oil coated in sand across Hall Road beach - deposits from passing tankers no doubt.

 My sister and me (right) at Blundellsands in 1964

Sometimes we would venture further afield to New Brighton or Freshfields. We’d do the interminable walk through the pine woods at Freshfields (or so it seemed to my little legs) with red squirrels delighting us along the way, before coming out to rock pools and dunes with long grassy clumps where caterpillars uncurled while we crunched our sandy sandwiches.

But when we returned to Thornton in the early 1970s, it seemed like a backward step and so Crosby was avoided where possible. We (that is me and my sister closest to me in age) were soon venturing regularly into town (Liverpool city centre). That was the place to be. For the size of it, Crosby didn’t offer much for the young who’d outgrown youth clubs.

My sister and I doing the bump (74) before going out on the town in Liverpool
Photo courtesy of Chris Rigby

So it was with a certain amount of incredulity, when, some thirty odd years later, I heard Crosby was the chosen place for Antony Gormley’s ‘Another Place’ exhibition. His 100 iron men became a permanent fixture, putting Crosby well and truly on the map. I last returned to Crosby in 2009 for a trip down Memory Lane and to see the Iron Men. It is quite an experience and Crosby beach, cleaned of oil, is still unspoiled.

 

 One of the Iron Men in a Waterloo sunset, and me resting my head on an an Iron Man

Naturally all these early experiences on Merseyside have had a big influence on my writing. My first novel ‘Did You Whisper back?’ was written when I was still living in Thornton. It’s about a young woman who slowly descends into mental illness and is largely set in Blundellsands and Waterloo, with many references to Liverpool and Seaforth in a 1970s setting. It won a Southern Arts Bursary in 1991 under its previous title (Where A Shadow Played).


However, the book of mine that is most influenced by my early life in Crosby and Liverpool is ‘Suckers n Scallies’(previously published in paperback as Sucka! by Skrev). It begins in the 1960s, moving through the 70s and 80s, interweaved with present day (1990s in this case). It’s a gritty story with lots of Scouse dialect and retro sweets and is about a life long friendship between two men from different backgrounds, beginning in 1960s Liverpool when they are children. It’s a bit of a marmite book as there are a lot of time and viewpoint shifts but these are clearly marked with sub-headings. There are no actual references to Crosby as such, but rather north Liverpool, and also Kirkby. References to Terry’s grandpa painting ships in his blood came from a similar story about my own great grandfather. My father also painted the docks in the 1970s/early 80s.

Pier Head picture (taken by my father in 1964 as a slide – the skyline has sprouted more buildings since!)

My very short novella ‘She Looks Pale’ is also set in Liverpool and has references to Waterloo Park school in the 1970s. In fact the title is taken from a schoolgirl ritual we used to do in lunch hours! It is quite a sad and poignant tale, however, about a child confined to the house by her over-protective parents, until her only view of the world is through diaries and photo albums of her mother’s past. It is an e-book in its own right but also fronts a short story collection of mine in paperback. ‘She Looks Pale & Other Stories’.

‘Our Marie’ is about generational differences and conflicts between a mother and her daughter, and is also available in the e-collection of short stories ‘Tales By Kindlelight’.

Liverpool is also referenced in some of my other books and short stories, for instance, the Freshfields walk makes a brief appearance in The Dead Club and the novel I’m working on at the moment has the main character from Crosby, although she now lives in Devon! I think that’s called coming full circle as that’s where I live now. I am hoping to write something autobiographical in the future so Crosby will definitely feature again.

Find out more about Kate on her website

Many thanks to Jo – and Jaffa! - for inviting me to be a guest on your blog.

Amazon links to books:

 

Warmest thanks to Kate for sharing her thoughts about growing up in Crosby and of how her childhood in Liverpool has shaped her stories.

I hope that you have enjoyed this week's Close to Home Feature

Coming next week : Claire Brown

~***~