Published: July 2023
Last year I reviewed Gail Aldwin’s ‘This Much Huxley Knows’ which was a poignant and touching read about a young boy growing up and having to navigate the mysteries and complexities of the adult world. I found the narrative perspective really intriguing as I had not experienced many novels that narrate from the perspective of young children. It allowed the writer to shift the lens and grapple with various ideas, in an interesting and illuminating way.
The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell is a departure from the subject of ‘Huxley’ however I found it equally compelling in terms of narrative structure. The novel switches perspective, this time between characters and time periods, to offer different insights into the main narrative event namely the disappearance of teenager Carolyn Russell. One part is from 2014 and is from the perspective of Stephanie Brett, a journalist whose tenacity in exploring the now cold case leads her to create a true crime podcast allowing a fresh insights and perspectives to come to the fore in her attempts to find out what happened all those years ago.
Interjected throughout Brett’s narrative is the voice of Carolyn herself. We as readers are allowed access into her troubled life and witness her side of events from 1974 before she disappears. We are given insights into her tumultuous family life and her unnerving infatuation with her mathematics teacher. Gail Aldwin captures the vivacity and childishness of Carolyn who races ‘down the stairs two at a time’ and ‘crash lands’ in the hall on her way to answer the family telephone. A sense of foreboding creeps in as you continue reading the text, as teenage girls who have disappeared under uncertain circumstances is not a novel idea, making Aldwin’s novel timely and relevant. We are shown Carolyn’s insecurities in phrases such as ‘the pressure of not know what to do made me panic’ as the thought of her teacher ‘seeing me at my worst’ becomes all-consuming for her and make us as readers touchingly aware of her young age.
Perhaps more sinisterly is the misogyny that pervades both time periods and is encountered by both female protagonists. Stephanie encounters it during an interview with a former headmaster at the school Carolyn attended who very much dismisses attitudes as the way things were back then. Carolyn herself faces it from her employer, a shadowy predator who wields his position of power over the young girls around him. Distressingly Carolyn naively, at points, think this is how the world is and has no one to protect her. It is clear Carolyn has internalised these ideas and her vulnerability of being on the cusp of childhood and womanhood is foregrounded by the writer. She confesses, ‘I would definitely need to spruce things up in the knicker and bra department if I was ever going to feel like a real woman’ and attract the attention of a man wholly unsuitable. There are moments within the book where male characters act appallingly in both time eras making us reflect and question societal attitudes towards women over time.
The novel’s ending is somewhat unexpected, different to how we might expect things to have turned out. A timely and interesting read which makes you think about the characters’ motivations and actions long after you have finished reading.
Currently Reading 