Cameron, Peter. Coral Glynn. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2012. Hardcover. 210p. $24. 978-0-374-29001-9.

When Coral Glynn arrives to work as a nurse to the elderly Mrs. Hart in her secluded English country home, she finds mysterious behavior from the other characters: Mrs. Hart’s son, Clement, badly scarred during World War II; Robin, Clement’s boyhood lover; and Dolly, Robin’s wife.

In a leisurely manner, similar to the peeling of an onion, the subtext of Clement’s and Robin’s homosexuality through the early 1950s invades everyone’s lives and keeps the plot twisting as the troubled Coral Glynn seeks opportunity for peace, if not happiness, before her world falls apart.

While character studies permeate the novel, the plotting, which includes a chance glimpse of a child’s game that leads to murder, thrusts Coral into greater misery and isolation until she finds her solutions in an unexpected way.

The darkness in this slim volume highlights arcane and clandestine desires, which might resolve in the most surprising ways and at other times leave loose ends, but always unfold at a graceful pace while characters sort out their personal lives.

The beauty of the book lies in the elegant writing, reminiscent of twentieth-century British fiction in which the reader perceives motives “through a glass darkly” in an oblique fashion rather than directly. Revelations come through the characters’ experiences instead of the author’s explanations in this novel that appears to be more a part of the post-World War I time period than 30 years later.

This quiet period piece is far different from Cameron’s earlier YA novel, Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You, but it is equally satisfying, providing a sense of hope for those who struggle through their lives.

Coral Glynn is highly recommended for readers and libraries of all kinds.

Reviewer: Nel Ward

Retired Librarian, Oregon