Book Review – Skin Lane
Author: Neil Bartlett
Cover Artist: Jeff Cottenden
Publisher: Serpent’s Tail
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: November 2008
“The stories we are told as children do, undoubtedly, mark us for life. They are often stories of dark and terrible things, and we are usually told them just before the lights are turned out and we are left alone; but we love them. We love them when we first hear them, and even when we are grown, and think we have forgotten them entirely, they never lose their power over us.”
Skin Lane opens with the above passage and goes on to relate an anecdote about a little boy‘s favorite story: “Beauty and the Beast.” Every night, this little boy asks to be read this story. It is a seemingly innocent childhood recollection, yet there is something about it that lurks just below the surface, just under the skin, that evokes an uneasiness and an uncertainty of what to expect in this book. It sets the tone for the remainder of the novel.
The story proper begins in 1967 and follows the mundane life of a middle-aged man, referred to only as Mr. F, who makes his living as a furrier on Skin Lane in London.
Mr. F, as his nickname implies, is rather unremarkable, his daily routine practically written in stone, and he very much keeps to himself.
No; scrutinise him as they occasionally may, as he approaches his forty-seventh birthday there is nothing obvious to explain to his colleagues (or to you) why this man should seem so separate.
…
But there is something, of course.
Mr. F is distressed by a recurring nightmare. A disturbing dream that terrorizes his nights, and consumes his days as he tries to comprehend its meaning. As Mr. F endeavors to maintain his simple, mundane existence, things become further complicated by the arrival of his boss’s nephew at the furrier shop. The nephew is a very attractive, brash young man who quickly earns a nickname from the girls in the sewing room,
The nickname doesn’t translate, exactly.
…
I suppose it more or less meant he was Mr. Handsome, “Mr. Beautiful”; The Beauty. Or just Beauty, really.
Mr. F finds himself strongly attracted to Beauty. The boy occupies his thoughts and distracts him from his job. Mr. F struggles with these feelings for he finds them as incomprehensible as his nightmares.
And so the story unfolds as Mr. F’s life unravels. Like the fairy tale it loosely parallels, Skin Lane is a study in contrasts. Neil Bartlett’s simple prose and casual, almost conversational, narrative voice belie Mr. F’s emotional anguish and inner turmoil. The inscrutable protagonist and deliberate pace work to create a quietly compelling story that slowly builds with tension and then erupts in ways unexpected throughout. Bartlett’s detailed descriptions of London add a fullness to the novel, and brief mention of the political climate in this place and time serve to further enhance the apprehensive atmosphere.
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