My third read by Doris Langley Moore; My Caravaggio Style was also my first proper read for #readindies – during what has become a shockingly poor reading month. Well more of that in my round up post in a few days. A thoroughly entertaining final novel from Doris Langley Moore – who even makes a brief appearance herself in this story in which she uses her lifelong obsession with Lord Byron in imagining a major literary hoax. Dean Street Press publish four novels by Doris Langley Moore – I have the fourth on my tbr already.
The novel is narrated by bookseller and author Quentin Williams, who as the novel opens has just received the not too princely sum of just over four pounds in royalties from his two already published biographies. He is in the bookshop where he works, feeling very fed up and underappreciated when an American manuscript dealer comes into the shop. Quentin can’t quite help himself from trying to impress the American. Further irritated by the man’s name – Earl Darrow, Quentin begins to drop some not so very veiled hints that he has possibly unearthed a copy of Lord Byron’s memoirs – those famously burned by his friends after Byron’s death. The hook is baited – and all Quentin has to do, he thinks, is reel him in – only that won’t be at all easy.
He must buy himself some time – several months at least. So Quentin comes up with some fairly elaborate tales – one of which involves the said manuscript being hidden in his great aunt’s cluttered house in Wales. Unfortunately, due to work commitments he won’t be paying his annual visit to Wales for several months.
Darrow seems convinced, and very much interested – and Quentin promises to contact him, once he has been able to verify his own suspicions about the manuscript. Darrow will soon be back in the US – and so now Quentin has given himself about four months to produce a manuscript that will fool all the Byron experts.
““My finest, ferocious Caravaggio style”—that was his own phrase for his later manner; and that was the style I was aiming at, an interplay of light and shadow that would rivet the attention and, ultimately, draw the eye to darkness.”
Driving his decision to commit this audacious fraud is the knowledge that he already knows a huge amount about Byron, Quentin has been obsessed with him for years. Planning a new biography, hoping to cast the poet in a better light than he often has been, Quentin has already amassed a huge amount of material.
Naturally he will also need to keep his project a secret from anyone else – and this includes his beautiful fiancé Jocasta – a model who he is desperate to marry, when funds allow. Quentin lodges in Jocasta’s old room in her grandparents’ house, while Jocasta lives in London with fellow models – but while he is working on the manuscript he will have much less time to spend with her. Very aware of how beautiful his fiancé is, Quentin is so insecure as to be nervous of her running around socially without him. So, Quentin comes up with a little bit of easy Byron research for her to do for him, it’s not work he actually needs doing, but Jocasta won’t know that, and she will feel happy to be involved and will keep her busy when not working. Meanwhile he buries himself away having told everyone he is working on a novel that will hopefully sell much better than his biographies, and allow he and Jocasta to finally get married.
Quentin gets down to work, he has bought a couple of old notebooks that date to the right period – and decides to write in pencil. For Quentin is not trying to reproduce Byron’s writing, but to produce what will be taken for a copy, hurriedly written out by one of the people Byron is known to have trusted to read the memoirs. It’s the style and the contents that Quentin must struggle with – which Byron will emerge from these memoirs? – and will it be enough to fool the scholars, doubters and experts who will gather to inspect them? He does feel moments of doubt himself, moments of guilt about what he is about to do – but plows on regardless.
There are a couple of things that Quentin hadn’t bargained on, however. The first is just how enamoured with Byron Jocasta becomes, starting out happily helping her beloved – she is soon thoroughly obsessed with all things Byron, and reads everything she can get her hands on. Jocasta is soon on her way to being something of an expert herself – she may not be an academic but she is very smart – and almost certainly far too good for Quentin. Jocasta’s interest is such, that Quentin even starts to feel jealous – of a man who has been dead for over a 130 years (at that time) – and his jealousy starts to affect the way he presents Byron in the manuscript he is working on.
Secondly when he finally makes the trip to Wales to unearth the hidden manuscript – that he is of course carrying with him – he finds his aunt’s house has undergone a huge decluttering. With his aunt’s odd friends and her tetchy housekeeper also getting in the way, Quentin really has his work cut out for him.
“The scheme which had brought me to Wales absolutely hinged on the fact that I would find there a fairly large house filled to overflowing with the minor family possessions of three generations and left in the keeping of a decidedly careless housewife who never bothered about them. I’d relied upon being able to persuade her, forgetful and indifferent as she was, that a manuscript book she’d never seen before must have been lying amongst the lumber for years unnoticed. But if there had been this idiotic clean sweep, my task might not be easy or indeed possible.”
Finally all that is left to do is to make the announcement of his amazing discovery, and sell it to Darrow, the American manuscript dealer who so raised his hackles so many months before. Will he pull it off?
God, this sounds exactly my kind of thing: I can never resist a book about literary frauds!
Yes, definitely why I was drawn to it. And DLM certainly knows her Byron.
Oh my goodness, just stawwwwp with all the Dean Street love. I can hardly stand it. It’s so unfair that they do not have an office in Toronto.
Oops sorry. I totally understand your frustration. One benefit of ereaders is that you might be able to acquire the DSP books via UK Amazon that way, without stupid postage costs, or can’t you access them that way either?
Epubs aren’t an option for me because I have to limit my screen-time, but I was just being playful. All their stories sound simply delightful. If I ever win the lottery, I’ll buy them all and pay for shipping. 🙂
Can’t resist a book with bookseller in it, and this one sounds hugely entertaining
Oh yes, love a fictional bookseller/bookshops too. This was clever and entertaining.
Love the sound of this Ali – sounds most entertaining, and I’ve always found the tale of Byron’s memoirs quite fascinating!!
Absolutely, Byron and his memoirs are a fascinating subject, so tantalising to imagine what they might contain.
Bookshops and Byron, I’m sold!
Ha!! Excellent.
Such a great review, Ali, you’ve really pulled me in on this one! As others have said, it’s hard to resist a story involving booksellers, bookshops and literary fraud. And how intriguing to see that the author has a cameo appearance, too – a little like Barbara Pym in No Fond Return of Love. That’s so delightful!
Yes, I enjoyed DLM’s appearance, it was a lovely touch. I love writers, bookshops, and so on in fiction, so this was a hit.
Another lovely review and tempting book! Besides all the great bookish catnip to intrigue, the character of Jocasta and her fascination with Byron sounds like great fun.
Yes lots of fun for the book obsessed and the Jocasta storyline is a nice little twist.
I hadn’t really fancied this one but you might have tempted me there. I’ve not had the best reading month ever so can commiserate with you – certainly haven’t got through the lovely pile of indies I put together, thank goodness I was able to slot them back into place in the TBR!
Well I think you might like this one, it’s quite clever and there’s the nice literary details.
This sounds so much fun!
It is, and well done too.
This sounds like a delightful farce with many appealing ingredients. I’ll keep my eyes open for this. Thanks for the engaging review!
It’s certainly an entertaining read. Langley Moore is a really interesting writer. Hope you enjoy it if you read it.