The Last of the Greenwoods – Clare Morrall (2018)

The Last of the Greenwoods – was one of several novels published in 2018, that I rashly bought in hardback and have sat unread on my shelves ever since. Clare Morrall is a consummate storyteller – although I haven’t read much of her back catalogue – When the Floods Came is a book, I still find myself thinking about sometimes. Morrall’s prose is simple but accomplished – characters and settings are explored particularly well.

Set in Bromsgrove – a town not far from Birmingham, The Last of the Greenwoods is a story of past mistakes, damaged relationships and a final healing of wounds in the present. Morrall weaves together stories of several generations with understanding.

“The carriages, linked end to end on an old rusty track, are almost submerged by trees. Clearly, no one here is familiar with the concept of pruning: the trees are spreading wildly – up, out, down – embracing the carriages with passion, wrapping them in vigorous greenery. Branches tumble on the roofs, lean over the sides and take advantage of the light breeze to make their presence felt, tapping against the windows with a mischievous glee.”

In a field next to an old unused railway siding, the elderly Greenwood brothers live in two aged railway carriages, now overgrown and dilapidated. They have lived here since they were children, moving in with their parents, and sister following an eviction. Now the brothers haven’t spoken in years – each keeping their own side of the carriages, taking it in turns to venture into the communal areas undetected. They are each damaged by the past, angry about things they can’t quite remember. The carriage to the left is Johnny’s named Demeter, it has permanently drawn curtains, deliberately shut off from the world, should it choose to call. From here he runs an online computer business, never having to speak to anyone in person. On the right is Nick’s Carriage, Aphrodite – blinds open to he can see out, but no one can see in. Nick leaves each day for his job in accountancy.

One day, postal worker Zohra Dasgupta delivers a letter to the railway carriages, that she hadn’t even known were there – she has never delivered a letter to them before. A letter can sometimes change everything – and Johnny and Nick Greenwood each silently contemplate the handwriting on the letter which has travelled from Canada – handwriting they recognise immediately. The letter is from a woman claiming to be their sister Deb who was murdered in 1969.

Zohra Dasgupta; was a scholarship girl who dropped out after A levels and now delivers letters. She enjoys her job – walking keeps her fit, but it isn’t where she was supposed to be. She’s the only child of Indian immigrants, her father dreamed of being a solicitor, but instead ended up working long hours running a shop for his aunt and uncle, which he later took over and has run it himself ever since. Zohra’s parents are still lovingly bemused by what happened to their once outgoing, academic daughter.

“School eight years ago, the sixth-form common room, a friendly talk from Mrs Girling, the headmistress.

Fiona whispering into her left ear, like a bee mooching between the petals of a flower, searching for pollen. ‘Why weren’t you on Facebook last night?”

Now Zohra is scared to run in to anyone she used to know from school – keeping herself to herself. She has just one friend left over from school days, Crispin, who with his father, an impoverished Lord – is restoring an old railway line and steam engine. Zohra enjoys spending time with Crispin and his father, and they are joined by Nathan who has an intellectual disability and loves steam trains. It is very nearly time for the opening of the old line, and they happen to need a couple of railway carriages. When one of Zohra’s former school friends moves back to the area, into a house on her route – Zohra is forced to face up to the trauma she has been hiding from since leaving school.

The past is never far away for Johnny and Nick, the carriages crammed with memories of those who once occupied them. Their mother was a fierce little force of nature, cleaner extraordinaire who eventually bought the field where the carriages stand so the family would never be evicted again. Once the Greenwood brothers were rising local tennis players, although their competitiveness with each other was only ever destructive. Their older sister, Deb, capable, stylish, very much a young woman of the sixties. Her friend Bev – was always with her, dressing alike, pouring over fashion magazines, whispering secrets. Bev disappeared at the same time as Deb, presumed murdered too, but her body never found. After their sister’s body was discovered and identified, the brothers’ lives totally stagnated – they continued to bicker as they had through childhood, never moving on, until they stopped speaking altogether.

A week after the letter arrived – Johnny and Nick – having been forced by the circumstances to communicate – a little – are disturbed by the letter writer herself turning up. It has been forty-eight years since Deb and Bev disappeared – and neither Johnny nor Nick are certain that they recognise the elderly woman who knocks on their door.

“Debs has pushed her way into every dream, standing over him, laughing, (‘Can’t catch me, can’t catch me’); irritated. (I’ve been waiting for you two for hours. What do you think you’re playing at?); angry, (Don’t you dare let anyone pretend to be me! Just don’t dare, you hear me now?)”

Is she really Deb, or an impostor? Would Deb have really stayed away? and what about the body that was identified as her? What, really happened to those girls on their night out forty-eight years earlier?

The Last of the Greenwoods is an immersive novel about guilt, forgiveness and steam trains. Clare Morrall’s characters are quite delightful, as she skilfully unravels the mysteries of the past, we gradually get to know these emotionally damaged people.

I also completely bought into the idea of living in a railway carriage in a field. I can certainly think of worse places anyway. 😉