Melodrama invigorated
The final novel by British writer Helen Dunmore is a poignant addition to her acclaimed body of work.
Set in fast-growing Bristol between 1789 and 1793, as news of the French Revolution and its bloody sequel reaches England, Birdcage Walk explores the gulf between intensely pursued dreams (of love, democracy, wealth) and messy reality. It also vividly conveys the obscured dangers of women’s lives, which far too many still face.
The first-person narrator is Lizzie, a young woman brought up to think for herself. Her much-loved mother is Julia Fawkes, a radical writer in the mould of Mary Wollstonecraft – although as we learn from the slightly awkward prologue, not a word of Julia’s writing survives.
Lizzie’s husband, John Diner Tredevant, is a self-made property speculator, intent on building a highstakes, upmarket terrace on the edge of the spectacular Clifton Gorge. He stands for everything Lizzie’s mother and apparently ineffectual stepfather despise, but Lizzie, strongly drawn to him both by sexual passion and his appealing insistence on deeds instead of words, has ignored her mother’s warnings.
It’s soon clear those warnings were justified, as we see Tredevant burying his first wife in the woods. Scene by scene, Lizzie comes to realise how obsessed he is with keeping her under his control and how easily he could turn against her.
Daring to set up a plot that may sound like melodrama, Helen Dunmore has used it to create a historically accurate, intensely imagined, superbly credible portrayal
of turbulent times and relationships, with obvious relevance for our own. As family tragedies and commitments mount and historical events threaten ruin, Lizzie’s driven efforts to understand what is happening and escape personal catastrophe are completely compelling.
Dunmore found that she had cancer after she finished Birdcage Walk. She died this month. Presciently and poignantly, the theme runs through the book of how little most of us leave – if we leave anything at all – that will be testimony to our having existed. This book joins an acclaimed body of work that deserves to be read for many years to come.