Warlight

Review by New York Times Review

"THE past ... never remains in the past." That is the signature theme of Michael Ondaatje's new novel, which juggles time in much the same way that memory does, interlacing the war years of the 1940s with their immediate aftermath and then jumping forward a decade or so, only to dart back to the war again. At the outset, Ondaatje's narrator, Nathaniel, is 14; by the last page he is in his late 20s. In between is the intricate, subtly rendered account of what happened to his mother, Rose. The warlight of the title is the London blackout of World War II, when familiar landscapes were darkened, mysterious, uncertain. It epitomizes nicely the climate of a narrative that is itself devious and opaque, that proceeds by way of hints and revelations. The hints are paramount. This is a book that requires close reading. A sentence, a reference, will signal something yet to come. Blink, and you've missed it. You are forever dipping back - ah, now I see - such is the intricate and clever construction of a narrative about wartime deeds and postwar retributions that is also, at its heart, the story of a childhood. As teenagers, Nathaniel and his older sister, Rachel, find themselves abandoned by their parents during the final months of the war, for reasons unstated, and left in the care of a burly, eccentric man they call the Moth, who is host to a motley, ever changing crew of visitors to their own old London home. A central figure is the Darter, a man engaged in evidently nefarious activities, usually by night, whom Nathaniel adopts as a father figure. The Darter is involved in the illicit import of greyhounds at a time when greyhound racing was apparently unregulated; more crucially, he later takes Nathaniel and his girlfriend, Agnes, on secretive nighttime missions, making contraband deliveries by boat up the Thames. This is a book rich with detail. The reader is bound to be conscious of a hidden ballast of research, the seven-eighths of the iceberg without which the thing would founder, but so deft is the writing that you forget this, simply appreciating the meticulous background that brings alive a time and a place. From the technicalities of fixing a greyhound race - how to make a dog slow down or even stop - to the rituals of dishwashing and cleaning at the banquet hall where Nathaniel works as a boy, to the procedures of Suffolk thatchers and the secretive transport of nitroglycerin during the war, there seems to be some kind of authenticating material every few pages. But it's often the telling image that's the most striking, the incidental note that summons up the living past: "when there was just warlight, the river dark save for one dimmed orange light on bridges to mark the working arch for water traffic." There's a lot of river in "Warlight." The Darter is an ex-boxer but he's also an expert in navigation, descended from generations of lightermen, those who know every creek and tideway of the London stretches of the Thames. He uses his barge to move those illegal greyhounds and later to deliver unspecified cargo, with Nathaniel and Agnes as willing helpers, happy not to ask many questions. The Darter is a mysterious figure. At the end of the book, he will acquire a real identity and become a little clearer, but not much. And this is indeed the signature theme of "Warlight," that people are elusive and evasive: from those figures of Nathaniel's and Rachel's teenage years to Marsh Felon, the man with whom Rose has been in an ambiguous relationship all her life, and, of course, to Rose herself. We first meet Felon when, as the youngest member of a family of thatchers, he falls off the roof of Rose's parents' house in Suffolk when she is just 8, a story she tells her children that doesn't seem significant until, very far along, we meet him again with a shock of recognition. This is one of several instances when the novel mirrors Nathaniel's observation that "you return to that earlier time armed with the present." Some previous incident or reference is clarified much later; you understand why that was important, why that person or that event mattered. "Warlight" is a novel that presents a challenge to the reviewer, since it would be a disservice to reveal too much of what happens. Central to the narrative is Rose, from the moment she apparently abandons her children until Nathaniel finds himself spending his school holidays with her in Suffolk after the war. It is not giving too much away to say that she has been involved in intelligence work. That was signaled early on, though the nature of this work is not revealed until much later, when an older Nathaniel starts to make his own investigation. At this point the narrative steps away from Nathaniel's point of view to a detached account of Rose's life - but one, it seems, of which Nathaniel is aware. The technique is a little disconcerting. You have to assume that this is his reconstruction of what happened back then, for in the course of this return to the past there is once more a time switch, to Italy in the last months and the immediate aftermath of the war. That febrile period is essential to "Warlight." It was a time when circumstances diverted so many lives, when people found themselves behaving differently, unexpectedly, when the license of wartime spilled over into the postwar period, when pragmatism became crime and opportunity beckoned. And all over Europe there were scores to be settled. For many, the war had not ended. For Rose, in particular. The last part of the novel establishes as a personality the absent figure of the earlier part. And it is clear that Rose is herself one of those shaped and directed by historic circumstance, propelled by the war into another life, becoming someone driven, dedicated, remarkable. Nathaniel finds it hard to form a postwar relationship with her, affected still by her abandonment of him and his sister. Rachel, a shadowy figure throughout the book, as is the children's father, has declined to see her mother anymore. It has to be said that Nathaniel himself doesn't come across strongly as a character, which can happen with the narrator in a work of fiction. We know his reactions, his responses, but he is nowhere very positive, instead stepping back to allow more vibrant characters to take center stage. When he is a young man, Nathaniel is invited to apply to the Foreign Office, where he is given a job reviewing files that cover the war and the years that followed, part of a scheme known as the Silent Correction, a process of assessing successful ventures against those that had failed, "so revisionist histories could begin." This work becomes, for him, an enlightenment. But it serves as a nice illustration of the way the viewpoint of the present reconstructs the past, which is the paramount subject matter of this intricate and absorbing novel. ? It was a time when circumstances diverted lives, when pragmatism became crime. penelope LIVELY'S most recent book, a memoir called "Life in the Garden," has just been published.

Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [June 17, 2018]

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Review by Booklist Review

*Starred Review* The smoke has yet to clear in war-battered 1945 London when Nathaniel, 14, and his sister, Rachel, 16, are left in the care of a man they call the Moth, about whom they know nearly nothing. Nathaniel is certain that the Moth and his curious friends, especially the former boxer known as the Darter, are criminals, and, indeed, he is soon caught up in strange and dangerous undertakings involving barges on the Thames at night and clandestine deliveries. Even Nathaniel's first sexual relationship is illicit, as the young lovers meet in empty houses, thanks to her real-estate agent brother. Evidence slowly accrues suggesting that Nathaniel and Rachel's mother, Rose, may be with British intelligence. Ondaatje's (The Cat's Table, 2011) gorgeous, spellbinding prose is precise and lustrous, witty, and tender. As the painful truth of this fractured family emerges and Rose's riveting story takes center stage, Ondaatje balances major and minor chords, sun and shadow, with masterful grace beautifully concentrated in warlight, his term for the sparest possible illumination during the city's defensive blackouts. With vivid evocations of place, quiet suspense, exquisite psychological portraiture, and spotlighted historical events a legendary chess game; horrific, hidden postwar vengeance; and the mass destruction of government archives Ondaatje's drolly charming, stealthily sorrowful tale casts subtle light on secret skirmishes and wounds sustained as war is slowly forged into peace. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: A concerted publicity effort and cross-country author tour will support this stellar novel by a literary giant with a tremendous readership.--Seaman, Donna Copyright 2018 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

The term warlight was used to describe the dimmed lights that guided emergency traffic during London's wartime blackouts. The word aptly describes the atmosphere of this haunting, brilliant novel from Ondaatje (The Cat's Table), set in Britain in the decades after WWII, in which manysignificant facts are purposely shrouded in the semidarkness of history. The narrator, Nathaniel Williams, looks back at the year 1945, when he was 14 and "our parents went away and left us in the care of two men who may have been criminals." Nathaniel and his older sister, Rachel, are stunned to discover that their mother's purported reason for leaving them was false. Her betrayal destroys their innocence; they learn to accept that "nothing was safe anymore." To the siblings' surprise, however, their designated guardian, their upstairs lodger, whom they call the Moth, turns out to be a kind and protective mentor. His friend, a former boxer nicknamed the Pimlico Darter, is also a kindly guide, albeit one engaged in illegal enterprises in which he enlists Nathaniel's help. The story reads like a nontraditional and fascinating coming-of-age saga until a violent event occurs midway through; the resulting shocking revelations open the novel's second half to more surprises. The central irony is Nathaniel's eventual realization that his mother's heroic acts of patriotism during and after the war left lasting repercussions that fractured their family. Mesmerizing from the first sentence, rife with poignant insights and satisfying subplots, this novel about secrets and loss may be Ondaatje's best work yet. Agent: Ellen Levine, Trident Media Group. (May)

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Review by Library Journal Review

In 2017, Ondaatje (The English Patient, The Cat's Table) donated his personal archive, complete with his notebooks and correspondence with Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood, to the University of Texas, allowing the public a glimpse into his detailed and intricate approach to narrative, language, and anatomy of his novels. Here, Ondaatje weaves writings and newspaper articles into a narrative about the complexity of family history within the long shadow of World War II. Reflecting on the gaps in his own family history and his mother's mysterious disappearance when he was a teen, Nathaniel searches for a way to better understand his mother's idiosyncrasies. Through archival recordings and interviews with the eccentric characters from his childhood, a mosaic slowly emerges that illuminates not only his mother's story but the forgotten lives buried under the history of war. VERDICT Ondaatje's prose encapsulates readers in the dreariness of London and the claustrophobic confines of Nathaniel's experience, explicating the verbosity of silence that lingers in the haunting aftermath of global war. [See Prepub Alert, 11/6/17.]-Joshua Finnell, Colgate Univ., Hamilton, NY © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

Acclaimed novelist Ondaatje (The Cat's Table, 2011, etc.) returns to familiar ground: a lyrical mystery that plays out in the shadow of World War II.In what is arguably his best-known novel, The English Patient (1992), Ondaatje unfolds at leisurely pace a story of intrigue and crossed destinies at the fringes of a global struggle. If anything, his latest moves even more slowly, but to deliberate effect. As it opens, with World War II grinding to a gaunt end, Nathaniel Williams, 14, and his 15-year-old sister, Rachel, learn that their parents are bound for newly liberated Singapore. Rose, their mother, has made the war years bearable with Mrs. Miniver-like resoluteness, but the father is a cipher. So he remains. Nathaniel and Rachel, Rose tells them, are to be left in London in the care of some--well, call them associates. They take over the Williams house, a band both piratical and elegant whose characters, from the classically inclined ringleader, The Moth, to a rough-edged greyhound racer, The Pimlico Darter, could easily figure in a sequel to Great Expectations. "It is like clarifying a fable," Ondaatje writes in the person of Nathaniel, "about our parents, about Rachel and myself, and The Moth, as well as the others who joined us later." But that clarification takes a few hundred pages of peering into murky waters: Nathaniel, in adulthood, learns that Rose, who slips back into England soon after sailing away, has been a person of many parts, secretive, in a war that has extended beyond the cease-fire, as partisans battle unrepentant fascists and the early Cold War begins to solidify, a time of betrayal and murder. If Rachel and Nathaniel's adventures among their surrogate parents, who "did not in any way resemble a normal family, not even a beached Swiss Family Robinson," are far from innocent, the lives of all concerned have hidden depths and secrets, some shameful, some inviting murderous revenge.Ondaatje's shrewd character study plays out in a smart, sophisticated drama, one worth the long wait for fans of wartime intrigue.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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Excerpted from Chapter 1 In 1945 our parents went away and left us in the care of two men who may have been criminals. We were living on a street in London called Ruvigny Gardens, and one morning either our mother or our father suggested that after breakfast the family have a talk, and they told us that they would be leaving us and going to Singapore for a year. Not too long, they said, but it would not be a brief trip either. We would of course be well cared for in their absence. I remember our father was sitting on one of those uncomfortable iron garden chairs as he broke the news, while our mother, in a summer dress just behind his shoulder, watched how we responded. After a while she took my sister Rachel's hand and held it against her waist, as if she could give it warmth. Neither Rachel nor I said a word. We stared at our father, who was expanding on the details of their flight on the new Avro Tudor I, a descendant of the Lancaster bomber, which could cruise at more than three hundred miles an hour. They would have to land and change planes at least twice before arriving at their destination. He explained he had been promoted to take over the Unilever office in Asia, a step up in his career. It would be good for us all. He spoke seriously and our mother turned away at some point to look at her August garden. After my father had finished talking, seeing that I was confused, she came over to me and ran her fingers like a comb through my hair. I was fourteen at the time, and Rachel nearly sixteen, and they told us we would be looked after in the holidays by a guardian, as our mother called him. They referred to him as a colleague. We had already met him--we used to call him "The Moth," a name we had invented. Ours was a family with a habit for nicknames, which meant it was also a family of disguises. Rachel had already told me she suspected he worked as a criminal. The arrangement appeared strange, but life still was haphazard and confusing during that period after the war; so what had been suggested did not feel unusual. We accepted the decision, as children do, and The Moth, who had recently become our third-floor lodger, a humble man, large but moth-like in his shy movements, was to be the solution. Our parents must have assumed he was reliable. As to whether The Moth's criminality was evident to them, we were not sure. I suppose there had once been an attempt to make us a tightly knit family. Now and then my father let me accompany him to the Unilever offices, which were deserted during weekends and bank holidays, and while he was busy I'd wander through what seemed an abandoned world on the twelfth floor of the building. I discovered all the office drawers were locked. There was nothing in the wastepaper baskets, no pictures on the walls, although one wall in his office held a large relief map depicting the company's foreign locations. Mombasa, the Cocos Islands, Indonesia. And nearer to home, Trieste, Heliopolis, Benghazi, Alexandria, cities that cordoned o the Mediterranean, locations I assumed were under my father's authority. Here was where they booked holds on the hundreds of ships that travelled back and forth to the East. The lights on the map that identified those cities and ports were unlit during the weekends, in darkness much like those far outposts. At the last moment it was decided our mother would remain behind for the final weeks of the summer to oversee the arrangements for the lodger's care over us, and ready us for our new boarding schools. On the Saturday before he flew alone towards that distant world, I accompanied my father once more to the office near Curzon Street. He had suggested a long walk, since, he said, for the next few days his body would be humbled on a plane. So we caught a bus to the Natural History Museum, then walked up through Hyde Park into Mayfair. He was unusually eager and cheerful, singing the lines Homespun collars, homespun hearts, Wear to rags in foreign parts, repeating them again and again, almost jauntily, as if this was an essential rule. What did it mean? I wondered. I remember we needed several keys to get into the building where the office he worked in took up that whole top floor. I stood in front of the large map, still unlit, memorizing the cities that he would y over during the next few nights. Even then I loved maps. He came up behind me and switched on the lights so the mountains on the relief map cast shadows, though now it was not the lights I noticed so much as the harbours lit up in pale blue, as well as the great stretches of unlit earth. It was no longer a fully revealed perspective, and I suspect that Rachel and I must have watched our parents' marriage with a similar awed awareness. They had rarely spoken to us about their lives. We were used to partial stories. Our father had been involved in the last stages of the earlier war, and I don't think he felt he really belonged to us. As for their departure, it was accepted that she had to go with him: there was no way, we thought, that she could exist apart from him--she was his wife. There would be less calamity, less collapse of the family if we were left behind as opposed to her remaining in Ruvigny Gardens to look after us. And as they explained, we could not suddenly leave the schools into which we had been admitted with so much difficulty. Before his departure we all embraced our father in a huddle, The Moth having tactfully disappeared for the weekend. So we began a new life. *** The Moth, our third-floor lodger, was absent from the house most of the time, though sometimes he arrived early enough to be there for dinner. He was encouraged now to join us, and only after much waving of his arms in unconvincing protest would he sit down and eat at our table. Most evenings, however, The Moth strolled over to Bigg's Row to buy a meal. Much of the area had been destroyed during the Blitz, and a few street barrows were temporarily installed there. We were always conscious of his tentative presence, of his alighting here and there. We were never sure if this manner of his was shyness or listlessness. That would change, of course. Sometimes from my bedroom window I'd notice him talking quietly with our mother in the dark garden, or I would find him having tea with her. Before school started she spent quite a bit of time persuading him to tutor me in mathematics, a subject I had consistently failed at school, and would in fact continue to fail again long after The Moth stopped trying to teach me. During those early days the only complexity I saw in our guardian was in the almost three-dimensional drawings he created in order to allow me to go below the surface of a geometry theorem. If the subject of the war arose, my sister and I attempted to coax a few stories from him about what he had done and where. It was a time of true and false recollections, and Rachel and I were curious. The Moth and my mother referred to people they both were familiar with from those days. It was clear she knew him before he had come to live with us, but his involvement with the war was a surprise, for The Moth was never "war-like" in demeanour. His presence in our house was usually signalled by quiet piano music coming from his radio, and his current profession appeared linked to an organization involving ledgers and salaries. Still, after a few promptings we learned that both of them had worked as "fire watchers" in what they called the Bird's Nest, located on the roof of the Grosvenor House Hotel. We sat in our pyjamas drinking Horlicks as they reminisced. An anecdote would break the surface, then disappear. One evening, soon before we had to leave for our new schools, my mother was ironing our shirts in a corner of the living room, and The Moth was standing hesitant at the foot of the stairs, about to leave, as if only partially in our company. But then, instead of leaving, he spoke of our mother's skill during a night drive, when she had delivered men down to the coast through the darkness of the curfew to something called "the Berkshire Unit," when all that kept her awake "were a few squares of chocolate and cold air from the open windows." As he continued speaking, my mother listened so carefully to what he described that she held the iron with her right hand in midair so it wouldn't rest on and burn a collar, giving herself fully to his shadowed story. I should have known then. Excerpted from Warlight: A Novel by Michael Ondaatje All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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