Forgotten Book - Greenshards

I don't think there's much doubt that Greenshards (published in the US under the title Anima) is a forgotten book. It dates back just over half a century, to 1972, but in many ways I think it remains a fresh read, and a gripping one. The author was Marie Buchanan, but she later became much better known as Clare Curzon, a name she adopted in 1979 when A Leaven of Malice, one of her most notable books, was published by Collins Crime Club. She later wrote a long series about the cop Mike Yeadings.

As I mentioned in a blog post after I learned of her death, thirteen years ago, Clare (as I knew her) was a very pleasant woman. She was also a very interesting and versatile writer. One of the comments on that blog post mentioned (and praised) Greenshards, which I came across much later, thanks to acquiring a copy inscribed to another Eileen, my friend and fellow writer Eileen Dewhurst. It's taken me ages to get round to reading it, but I'm very glad I did.

The Gollancz first edition jacket describes the book as 'one of the strangest first novels ever to arrive on its publisher's desk'. In fact, she'd already published novels under another name, Rhona Petrie, but there's no denying that it's a strange and unusual book. Daphne du Maurier admired it, and apparently it even drew comparisons with The Exorcist (although the mood is very, very different). There is a strong supernatural element in the story, but it never overwhelms the story, which definitely counts as a mystery, albeit of an unorthodox type.

I don't want to say anything that will spoil the story (the Gollancz jacket tells far too much of it, and I'm glad I didn't read it until after I'd finished the book) but suffice to say that Greenshards is an old house with a melancholy history and that the connections between two families, the Mintons and the Blanchards, are at the heart of a twisting storyline that ensures you can never be sure what is coming next. This is a sophisticated, superior novel which I'm glad to recommend.