New Cardiff

Charles Webb

"From the author of The Graduate" it says in small print at the bottom. Small, but set against a plain white background so you can't miss it. Hard to review, a fresh novel from the author of The Graduate after all this time. Should it be read as a first novel or as a follow-up?

On the inside back cover it says it has already been optioned for a film but it's hard to see how it's going to work in the cinema. The Graduate had the magic ingredient of Mrs Robinson, middle-aged sex kitten. Imagine the cast from The Graduate minus Mrs. R. and you have New Cardiff. It doesn't sound very filmic to me.

Which is not to say it isn't a very pleasant, very gently told story. Part of its gentleness is in the Old New World politeness of its setting. New Cardiff, Vermont. into the middle of New Cardiff Charles Webb drops Colin, an Englishman, on the run from a failed love affair in London. Colin is enacting in reverse the old Henry James tradition from 19th century American literature; that the cure for failed or forbidden love in America is to be packed off to Europe for 6 months to get over it.

Colin is a sort of English middle-aged Benjamin Braddock, if such a thing is possible, and is almost as mild and softly spoken as his New England hosts. America likes Colin; Colin likes America and falls in love with local nice girl Mandy. Into this millpond of a plot is then dropped Vera, Colin's love interest from back home. Cue catfight between Mandy and Vera (albeit a very gentle one) in the Costco carpark. After which matters are generally resolved satisfactorily and Colin gets his girl (I won't say which one).

Which is all very well but as one reviewer at Amazon asks ... "we waited 30 years for that?"