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The
Separation by Christopher Priest check out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk
Priest is a talented and evocative writer, able to use only a few
words to place the reader in the centre of a scene. Here, the backdrop
is predominantly the Second World War and is a complex interweaving
of duality and 'What If...?' It is told as a series of letters, memoirs
and documents.
He is intrigued by a reference by Churchill of a J.L. Sawyer who seemed to be both a registered conscientious objector and an RAF pilot. This first part of the book seems innocent enough until you begin to notice the clues salted within it. This is not our 1999 but one that might have been if Rudolf Hess
had succeeded in his mission in 1941 to bring about peace between
Britain and Germany. Immediately we have two perspectives, our present
and that of Gratton and one of the separations of the title. Priest
doesn't let us get away with it that easily. Most of the rest of the book concerns the mystery of J.L. Sawyer. Which seems quickly resolved. Until 1936, identical twins Joe and Jack Sawyer were as close as twins often are - doing things together, working together, thinking similar things. They rowed coxless pairs in harmony and were picked for the Berlin Olympics. This is where their separation begins. Joe smuggles the daughter of their hosts back to Britain (although it is never stated we assume that the family is Jewish) and marries her. He has seen what is coming in Nazi Germany. Jack doesn't allow the outside world to impinge on his enthusiasms - rowing to begin with, then flying. When war breaks out it seems natural for him to join the RAF as
a bomber pilot. Joe registers as a conscientious objector and becomes
a driver for the Red Cross. The pivotal point, around which there is not so much as a separation
but a fragmentation is May 10th 1941. It is the date on which Hess
crash-landed in Scotland. It was the date of a bombing raid on Hamburg,
as a result of which Jack Sawyer crashed into the sea. It is the date
Stuart Gratton was born. It is the date Joe's daughter was born. But
how many, if any of these things are true? The possibilities blend
into one another. Priest has done an immense amount of research, just to put these doubts into our minds and each scenario is equally convincing. This novel is not just about separation, whether it is of alternate streams of history or ideals, it also explores duality and identity. Identical twins are often seen as two parts of a whole and even
those brought up separately can show a remarkable degree of correspondence
in their lives. Although Joe and Jack seem to follow different,
independent lives, have separate personalities and philosophies,
they remain linked, especially through their attachment to Birgit,
Joe's wife, their instances of mistaken identity. In the past, there has been speculation that Churchill had a double
and that the reason Hess was kept as a prisoner from the time of
capture until his death was that the man who arrived in Scotland
was an impostor. Just as Priest offers us several possibilities
concerning what might have happened, on small scale as well as large
scale, we are also asked to doubt what we believe is reality and
to consider how even small things can affect the outcomes of events. This is a glorious book to read - not for nothing was Christopher Priest included in the line-up of Britain's best young novelists some years ago. The Separation does what so few books do these days, whatever genre they are written in; it encourages the reader to think. Pauline Morgan
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OTHER REVIEWS - February 2004
BOOKS The Outstretched Shadow by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold The Separation by Christopher Priest First Meetings In The Enderverse by Orson Scott Card Dragon Venom by Lawrence Watt-Evans The Dolphins Of Pern by Anne McCaffrey Reach For Tomorrow by Arthur C Clarke The Mammoth Book Of Best New SF # 16 edited by Gardner Dozois 1610: A Sundial In A Grave by Mary Gentle Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynn Truss Trading In Danger by Elizabeth Moon Richard Matheson: Collected Stories Vol. 1 edited by Stanley Wiater The Gates To Witchworld by Andre Norton Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Mission Gamma: Lesser Evil by Robert Simpson The Killing Of Worlds by Scott Westerfeld Star Trek: The Original Series: Gemini by Mike W. Barr MUSIC COMPUTER GAMES Wallace and Gromit - Project Zoo RPGs & WARGAMES MAGAZINES On Spec: The Canadian Magazine
Of The Fantastic vol 15 no. 2 & 3
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This
is the first hardback edition of this book but first publication
was in the autumn of 2002 as a trade paperback from Scribner which
slipped into bookshops almost unnoticed, especially by the SF fraternity.
Yet between that initial appearance and the issue of this edition,
The Separation has deservedly won both the prestigious Arthur
C. Clarke Award and the British Science Fiction Award.
Popular
historian, Stuart Gratton, is trying to decide on his next project.
The success of his books has been to take a relatively localised
event and tell it from the point of view of the people of that time
and place.
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