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Irish Times
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
The Best of Everything by Kit de Waal: Navigating the ups and downs of life
The Best of Everything Author : Kit de Waal ISBN-13 : 978-1035404797 Publisher : Tinder Press Guideline Price : £20 The epigraph to Kit de Waal's The Best of Everything is drawn from JM Barrie's Peter Pan: 'Try to be a little kinder than is necessary.' Good advice, surely, but difficult to follow at the best of times, let alone to apply towards those whom you hold responsible for personal tragedy. That de Waal's protagonist returns again and again to this philosophy – sometimes in spite of quite understandable resentment and despair – is a minor miracle of empathy. This character, Paulette, is a young St Kittitian working as an auxiliary nurse in 1970s England. She has a man whom she loves, as well as dreamy soft-focus expectations for her future – a wedding! A honeymoon! A house! – all of which come crashing down in the opening pages of this deceptively engaging and engrossing novel. Because Denton, Paulette's evasive boyfriend, will never be coming home. In his place, his best friend finds his way into a distraught Paulette's bed, and a baby soon follows. As does another child, a white boy from a neighbouring street who has an unexpected connection to Denton's fate (in a clever touch, Paulette's son ends up nicknamed Bird but in actuality it is this other boy, Nellie, who is very much the cuckoo in the nest). Yet any hint of soap opera which such a sketch might suggest is offset by de Waal's exceptionally controlled writing style. Indeed, her prose is practically invisible with little in the way of formal indulgences or flashy fireworks on display (something which mischievously undercuts Paulette's page one desire to see 'rockets and Catherine wheels'). One would be forgiven for interpreting this simplicity – which is actually very hard to achieve – as meaning the novel sits more towards the commercial rather than the literary end of the spectrum. However, this would be a mistake. The craft here is undeniable, clearly visible not just in the subtle evolution of characters such as Bird and Nellie, but in how de Waal manipulates the passage of time across scenes and decades alike (admittedly some of the flashbacks to St Kitts feel a little rough-edged, but her use of forward momentum is a masterclass in showing and telling as appropriate, one from which any author could learn). READ MORE The novel further possesses a steely thematic spine as domestic tableaux are interwoven with the author's characteristic concerns. Among the most recognisable of these are a mixture of Caribbean and Irish immigrant influences, an honest look at race relations in Britain, a commitment to working-class representation, and a knowledgeable perspective on how easily children can fall through the social safety net. De Waal writes authoritatively on all these issues, drawing on both her own upbringing and on her professional background in the Crown Prosecution Service (here one intuits why she was so drawn to the Peter Pan quotation). Nonetheless, her incorporation of such material into The Best of Everything is always through Paulette's eyes and, consequently, it all feels alive rather than merely didactic. Aiding this, and further grounding the novel in its historical moment, is de Waal's three-dimensional depiction of a Black woman's experience of '70s and later '80s England, with Paulette striving to maintain a fraying link to her heritage (symbolised by memories of her grandmother) while also keeping one eye on the tenuousness of her family's future. It is a delicate balance, one imperilled by the exhausting need to perform in non-threatening ways in order to navigate the racist landmines of white society ('Try to be a little kinder than is necessary' takes on additional and more defensive connotations in this light). [ The Celts: A Modern History by Ian Stewart - an extensive work overlooking several essential studies Opens in new window ] Yet while she carries more than her fair share of familial and social burdens, Paulette is neither a saint nor a saviour. She is too real for that. If anything, she possesses something of a self-destructive streak and makes bad decisions on more than one occasion, at times wallowing – often quite realistically – in despair and obsessive behaviour. That said, the character also rallies repeatedly against these slings and arrows in a manner which makes The Best of Everything a very satisfying read. Because de Waal is too astute a writer to deliver just misery fiction; no, this is realism in the truest sense, with both disappointments and promises alike reshaping Paulette's life in unexpected ways. The result is a carefully paced story of a woman facing a myriad of challenges in order to tenaciously carve out space for herself and her unexpected family. One is inclined to cheer her on throughout.
The Guardian
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
On my radar: Kit de Waal's cultural highlights
Born in Birmingham in 1960, Mandy Theresa O'Loughlin is better known as author Kit de Waal. After a career as a magistrate specialising in adoption and foster care, she studied creative writing at Oxford Brookes University. Her debut novel, My Name Is Leon, was published in 2016, winning the Kerry Group Irish novel of the year award. De Waal, who chairs this year's judging panel for the Women's prize for fiction, is a fellow at Birkbeck, University of London, where she set up a scholarship for writers from marginalised backgrounds. Her latest book, The Best of Everything, is out now (Tinder Press. Dr Strangelove, Noël Coward theatre This was just extraordinary. Steve Coogan, who played Dr Strangelove and three other characters, has such stage presence that you don't notice it's a translation. You think of him as a comedian, but he's a really, really good actor. It's not the same as the film, but it translates very well. The set was incredible. Obviously, there are resonances between what's going on now and Dr Strangelove. It's cleverly done – a brilliant production. Sean Foley, who adapted and directed it, is a genius. Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches, Compton Verney, Warwickshire Compton Verney is a beautiful art gallery. At the moment it's displaying this unusual 17th-century painting: often you've got a white woman next to a black woman, but the black woman is subservient. This is one of the few paintings where both women are the same size and position. They're wearing these little spots of paper in the shape of a sun, moon and stars. They were a vanity thing: 'Oh, look at me. I look fabulous.' They look very strange, in fact – like when a man has shaved and he's got a bit of toilet paper on his face. Scott Matthews I recently went to see Scott Matthews, a folk singer I absolutely adore. He has won an Ivor Novello award but he's very under the radar. I've probably seen him five times. He's a sign writer by trade, so a friend of mine got him to write out the lyrics to my favourite song of his, calligraphy style. It's called Mona, which was the inspiration for my second novel: it's about a woman who doesn't come home, and it's about yearning. His music's fantastic, but the lyrics are extraordinary. I think the only person who has lyrics as good is Joni Mitchell. Paris Noir, Centre Pompidou At the weekend I'm going to Paris, and I can't wait. This is an exhibition of 150 black artists in France from 1950 to 2000, tracing their influence on French life, Paris and the international scene. I saw that it was coming and I couldn't have got tickets any faster. I think it's great to have something dedicated to black art at such a prestigious venue. I really applaud them for doing that. The work being showcased in the publicity material looked incredible. Rachmaninov 2nd Piano Concerto by Candlelight, St Mary le Strand, London I go to hear this at least once a year – it's my favourite piece of music. I call it the theme music to Brief Encounter, which is probably a bit of an insult. It's a wonderful pairing of music and film: it speaks about sadness and deep love. I first saw the film when I was 18, and since then I can't bear to just hear one of the three movements. If ever I put it on, I make sure I've got 33 minutes to myself, so I can hear the whole thing. Whitby Abbey Last weekend, I went to Whitby and took the 199 steps up to Whitby Abbey to see where Bram Stoker got the inspiration for Dracula. It's very beautiful, atmospheric. I can absolutely see why he got the idea for a vampire from there. It's a gothic ruin on the top of a hill, overlooking the sea. It's black stone. While he was waiting for his wife to join him in Whitby, he found a book that talked about this count in Romania who used to kill his enemies with a stake through the heart, and he just put two and two together.
The Guardian
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Best of Everything by Kit de Waal review – the power of kindness
Reflecting on his childhood in the autobiographical novel In the Castle of My Skin, George Lamming wrote that it was 'my mother who really fathered me'. Damningly, the Barbadian novelist asserted that his father 'had only fathered the idea of me'. That notion of children being left mainly, if not solely, the liability of mothers still widely resonates in Caribbean households. In Kit de Waal's tender novel, The Best of Everything, the protagonist Paulette, a single mother, embraces the role not just of mothering and largely fathering her son, but also selflessly acting as a proxy mother to a child who risks being abandoned. De Waal, who edited the 2019 anthology Common People, has long championed working-class lives, 'written in celebration and not apology'. In The Best of Everything Paulette is a migrant to Britain from St Kitts, an auxiliary nurse whose disdain for bedpans does not dampen the pleasure she takes from the thought that 'it's nice going home at night knowing you've helped people'. At the start of the novel in 1972, Paulette, aged 29, is fervently in love with Denton, a Jamaican building contractor whose ambition is evident in his leather-seated, cherry-red Toyota. Busy, allegedly, with work abroad, his irregular visits heighten his appeal. Denton sleeps with an arm wrapped around her shoulders 'like a fur stole'. Paulette scrutinises him, looking for possible faults, but all she finds are 'things that make her love him more'. Early on, though, Paulette's excited plans for their future are shattered when Denton is killed in a car crash. De Waal uses spare, unfussy prose to capture Paulette's grief, which receives scant recognition even from her friends. 'Them with their side-eye … The rough questions with the smooth sympathy … lacing their interrogation with wine.' The Best of Everything is a quiet, mournful book whose title speaks to everything that Paulette has lost: the chance to own a home, to start a family and give her child every scrap of love, to surrender to the man who was forever in her heart, to be 'coaxed, kissed and caught'. Fate mocks her and the miniature bottles of Appleton rum that she begins to secretly knock back only partially anaesthetise her pain. The fatal car crash is the animating incident powering the novel with a series of unexpected consequences. In the first instance, Paulette takes comfort from Denton's best friend, Garfield. Pretty soon Garfield upgrades from sympathetic companion to lover, one who gives Paulette what she has yearned for: a baby. The understated tone of the novel, perfectly judged through the elegant modesty of the writing, reflects the emotional veil that Paulette especially wears in public, with one notable exception. Walking through a park, with Garfield pushing their baby, Bird, in his pram, Paulette sees the elderly man whose dangerous driving led to Denton's death. To the horror of Garfield and passersby, she leaps on the man and wrestles him to the ground. The assault unsettles Paulette more than the target of her wrath; it's contrary to her sense of decorum and of self. In demonstrating Paulette's complexity, De Waal meets the difficult challenge of creating a kind-hearted protagonist who is caught in a conundrum of withholding emotion and surrendering to an internal migration while still being keenly attentive to others. Paulette's capacity for generosity is further tested later by another extraordinary encounter with the same old man from the park. Frank Bowen is a lost soul who 'poured more disappointment into one look than Paulette thought was possible'. Frank mourns his daughter, a passenger in his car during the crash, who suffered a brain injury and died three years later. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion In a theatrical plot twist, handled adeptly by the author, Frank corners Paulette and pleads with her to adopt his orphaned grandson Nellie. A disheveled Frank seems barely able to take care of himself, never mind a young boy. Nellie's pitiful look 'nearly splits her in two', and within a short time she's regularly inviting the boy into her home. Till this moment, Paulette's focus had been exclusively on Bird, but by the end of this beautifully rendered tale extolling unfashionably the virtues of kindness, Paulette acknowledges 'an extra chamber in [her] heart' where Nellie resides. The admission is emblematic of a quietly unforgettable character, a compassionate, nurturing mother who also fathers the two boys. It's her maternal Caribbean nature, 'and there's nothing she can do about it'. The Best of Everything by Kit de Waal is published by Tinder (£20). To support the Guardian and the Observer buy a copy at Delivery charges may apply.
The Guardian
06-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Best of Everything by Kit de Waal review – a warm story of second starts
Paulette, the protagonist of Kit de Waal's latest novel, isn't perfect: she can be judgmental and stubborn; she often speaks sharply; and she probably drinks too much Appleton rum. But De Waal's candid narration makes it difficult not to love her. The Best of Everything is the Birmingham-born author's sixth book and her first novel for adults since 2018's The Trick to Time. She made her name with her 2016 debut, My Name Is Leon, which established her as a writer full of heart. We meet Paulette, who came to Britain from St Kitts as a child, when she is 29. It's the 1970s and she is an auxiliary nurse. For work she wears 'shoes so sensible they could pass A-level maths'. At home she's desperately in love with Denton, whose 'smell is pure man – sweat, soap and sex'. That's until the worst happens: he is killed in a car crash. Worse still, after his death Paulette learns he has a wife and children he hadn't told her about. All of this happens disconcertingly rapidly, at the beginning. Then, within a page, Paulette is living with Denton's best friend, with whom she has a son called Bird. This is the backdrop to the core relationships Paulette forms in this tale: with Frank, the man who killed Denton in the crash, and Frank's grandson, Nellie, who is about Bird's age and doesn't have a mother of his own. De Waal's tone is warm and wise. She has a knack for the small charming moment, such as when Frank and Nellie arrive late for Christmas dinner at Paulette's. When she opens the door, Frank is wearing oven gloves and holding out a cake tin, which he quickly withdraws. 'Rather too hot at the moment,' he says. 'We had to wait for it to be cooked. We timed it but may have been somewhat over-optimistic.' It's equal parts sitcom material and – when you know that this tie-wearing old man is single-handedly bringing up his grandchild – also devastating. De Waal is funny too, especially when she inhabits Paulette's consciousness and her character's Caribbean inflections become more pronounced. When her friends try to console her after Denton's death, we get: 'Them with their side-eye. Them with their cleverness … how two and two always makes four but Paulette can't count.' You can just see her rolling her eyes. Paulette's tenderness towards Frank and Nellie feels unrealistic at first, while her outbursts elsewhere seem unjustified. But, as she eases herself out of her protective shell, we come to learn that this is a book about forgiveness. And by seeing De Waal's protagonist change some of her ways, we realise that we shouldn't have been so quick to judge her either. The Best of Everything by Kit de Waal is published by Tinder Press (£20). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at Delivery charges may apply
