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Neil Jordan is not amazingly prolific when it comes to writing books -- NIGHT IN TUNISIA, THE PAST, THE DREAM OF A BEAST and SUNRISE WITH SEA MONSTER were written over the span of more than 20 years. His movies are more abundant and probably better known. His haunting THE CRYING GAME won an Oscar 12 years ago but must surely be remembered vividly by all who saw it. Perhaps this latest book, SHADE, will be remembered just as intensely by its readers as that cinematic masterpiece. This novel is reputed to have been written as a moneymaking exercise when Jordan was unable to obtain funding for a movie about the Borgias. Fifty years old at the time of her death, Nina Hardy knows exactly when she died in 1950 as she sees the time on her murderer's wristwatch as he carries her dying body to its final resting place in a septic tank. She bears George, her killer and lifelong friend, no rancour and it is left to the reader to wonder why, until the final pages of the tale when the reason for the killing is revealed. The ghost of Nina haunts, simultaneously, all the places and times where she spent her childhood and observes herself and her friends as they grow up. She is seen by at least three of the children, never realising the true identity of Hester, as they call her, after a doll of the same name 'dies'. Nina is from a relatively well-off family and the reader is treated to the history of her parents' courtship, then her father's subsequent transformation from mediocre artist to accomplished businessman. Her father is an Englishman but he moves to Ireland, to the Boyne Estuary, after falling in love with Nina's mother. The magic of art, specifically work by Velasquez, has drawn them together and remains a foundation for their family. Their happiness is fractured when Nina's slightly older half-brother, whose existence has been hitherto unknown by all but her father, comes to live with them when Nina is nine. Nina is immediately enchanted by this semi-sibling whom she has dubbed 'Half' since she can't remember his name. Nina, Gregory, her half-brother, the future murderer George and his sister Janie, grow up together, almost inseparable. George is slower academically and psychologically than the other three children and becomes a farm labourer as they go on to pursue their studies. George loves Nina but leaves her, as does Gregory, with whom Nina is more than a little in love, in order to fight in the Great War. After that, things are never the same for the erstwhile friends. Nina becomes an actress, a profession at which she shines after the seeds are sewn during the brief reign of the governess, Miss Shawcross. Janie becomes a teacher, Gregory becomes Nina's manager and George, poor George, is driven mad. The story is told in a mix of present and past tenses which partially serves to differentiate the decades. It is also told in a mixture of voices, partly in the voice of the ghostly Nina describing the history in the third person and sometimes in the first, with the other characters taking turns at the first person toward the end of the book. The legend of the Boyne becomes almost a character in its own right. The spirit of the maiden Boinn, whose death began the legend, is joined by that of the drowned governess, Miss Shawcross -- more pleasant and acceptable to Nina in death than in oppressive life -- as well as, eventually, the spirit of Nina herself. This is a lovely, if not altogether perfect, novel. The writing is beautiful, the characters convincingly painted and the plotting delicately enmeshing. That Neil Jordan turned his talents to the creation of cinematic opuses rather than the crafting of books of fiction is definitely literature's loss.
Reviewed by Denise Pickles, June 2004
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