 Diary
of a Provincial Lesbian
By V G Lee
It’s tempting to describe V G Lee as the Barbara
Pym of lesbian fiction: both novelists share a fascination with
the minutiae of the everyday, the prosaic detail, the clutter of
stuff and routine.
So far, so similar – but there the parallels end. Pym’s
largely spinster heroines risked frustration and possible embarrassment
in their chaste pursuit of a local (male) curate (I simplify, of
course, but you get my drift – and there was no nonsense about
women priests when Pym was writing). Resigned to a life of denial
and restraint, they find quiet satisfaction in acts of kindness
and selflessness. They make a lot of tea. They sigh and look away.
And they don’t crack jokes.
Margaret, the heroine of Lee’s new novel, cracks them all
the time – about other people, at her own expense, in perpetual
defiance of ever becoming dull, and as part of her mission to become
‘a new, exciting Margaret’. In the dog days of her 10-year
relationship with the duplicitous Georgie, Margaret’s humdrum
days in the small seaside town of Bittlesea Bay (aka Hastings) are
filled with the excitements of the letters page in the local rag,
the demands of an ageing cat, the absence of rigour at her job-share
in Tom’s accounting firm, an uncooperative garden and neighbours
Dierdre and Martin who, if not from hell, could well be the devil’s
spawn on a mission to annoy.
When Georgie decamps – allegedly on a business
trip but, in fact, AWOL, and for good – and Tilly the Cat
shuffles off her mortal feline coil, Margaret throws herself into
community watch, badger protection, dinner parties, self-improvement,
aubergine highlights and the problems of dealing with intractable
tomato soup stains, determined to be neither a joke nor a whimper.
A surly landscape gardener called Janice doesn’t help –
at first. Attempts at reconciliation with Georgie fail, serially,
but Margaret persists, finally realising that only she can make
a difference. With the help of a replacement kitten, of course.
And possibly Janice.
Lee probably wouldn’t claim to be the Proust de nos jours,
but who cares? She almost certainly doesn’t. While she ain’t
no Amis, she chronicles the not entirely blameless lives of friends
and family with a wry, laconic and very fond humour, some mostly
forgiveable puns, and some laugh-out-loud set-pieces. Those who
suspect that their greatest act of militancy this summer will be
to flout the hosepipe ban will cherish Margaret’s world –
and Lee’s distinctive voice. They’ll probably like most
of the jokes, too.
Signed copies of V G Lee’s Diary of a Provincial Lesbian
are available from the Stoke Newington bookshop. The book is published
by Onlywomen Press.
Review by Anne Beech |
