Waiting for the Flood
People come as well as go. Twelve years ago, Edwin Tully came to Oxford and fell in love with a boy named Marius. He was brilliant. An artist. It was going to be forever.
Two years ago, it ended. Now Edwin lives alone in the house they used to share. He tends to damaged books and faded memories, trying to build a future from the fragments of the past.
Alexis Hall proves yet again that he can turn his hand to, seemingly, any style, or form of writing. This little gem of a novella is calmly reflective, it feels very personal and authentic, and I can’t count the number of times I have read it now.
The breakdown of Edwin Tully’s relationship with Marius has left him both stuttering in his speech and his ability to move on with his life. The flood of the title is both literal and metaphorical, bringing a hope of salvation in the form of gentle Adam Dacre. The river is breaking its banks and Edwin’s house, along with many others, is in danger of flooding. Adam works for the Environment Agency which is working to reduce the flooding and its effects on the inhabitants of Oxford should the water rise further. Adam is calm, gentle and assured and just the sort of person you’d need in any crisis, whether environmental or emotional.
The paranoias of Edwin are mine, and I suspect representative of those fears and thoughts that many of us keep hidden away inside us. This author has the knack of representing ‘everyman’ and connecting with his readers in a subtle but emotionally hard hitting fashion… this first quote is a universal truth.
You don’t fall in love with a house. You fall in love with the life you could have in it.
This is why it is so hard to remain in a house where a relationship has failed or ended through death; that dream of life stays long after the partner. Which brings me to the only other properly defined character in the story, Mrs P., the adorable, feisty octogenarian who lives next door. She is the cause of a wonderfully sarcastic line of humour when she suggests to Edwin that they wade in the dark through sodden ground in search of the swollen river.
We were going to end up as newspaper headlines: Pensioner and Homosexual Found Dead in River – Coincidence, Tragedy or Satanic Ritual Gone Wrong?
As the reader, we metaphorically trace our way through Edwin’s dreams for his house, in the form of chapter introductions. As often with an excellent example of the novella form, there is so much to discuss that one runs the risk of the review ending up longer than the reviewed. However, this author has written a novella of great profundity, which has made this reviewer think a lot.
In the chapter entitled ‘The Hallway’ we learn that Edwin is not ready for Adam, he is not ready…
To gather up the dust of my heart and scatter it again on the winds of hope.
Okay, I admit it I sighed, and nodded, as I have felt this and I guess many of you have, but it takes a good writer to put our feelings and thoughts into the few words that will make us sigh in recognition. How many of us have thought something along the lines of…
“…give yourself a chance with him.”
“A chance at what?”
“Be with someone again.”…
“W-what if I’m unbeable with?”
This short story covers loneliness, break up, low self-esteem, moving on, the kindness of strangers, love and fear of loss. It transmits the hard issues of a lived life in a short gentle work. There are so many highlighted notes on my Kindle but I had to finish with this one…
Oh, why was it so easy to believe Marius didn’t want me, and so impossible to accept Adam did?
I said aloud in my empty bedroom; ‘This is me,’ and it is. Maybe it’s you, too.
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Recent Comments
I am listening to the audiobook of this and the narrator is simply fabulous. I suspect I would not like reading the actual book that much because it seems a bit scattered but listening to it is such a pleasure.
i have had more misses than hits with audio books (i.e. Julie Anne Long’s Pennyroyals – I want to listen but just cannot with Justine Eyre reading it) so I am very pleased with this discovery.
Thank you for yet another recommendation of a book I would have never discovered without your website/review.
It’s been more than 5 years since I first read/listened to WFTF and it has become my favorite novella ever. It’s one of the few books that is always downloaded, ready to be listened to. The narrator – Alexander Doddy – does such a great job with Hall’s fabulous prose.
Off to listen to Pansies. I am clearly down a rabbit hole here :-) different narrator, though…
I love Cornell Collins (narrator of Pansies). This wasn’t my favorite story, but the narration is great.
Nicholas Boulton narrate Glitterland and he’s an amazing narrator,so I recommend it as well.
What a treat this audiobook is! Off to the pansies review to give it proper review justice
I can’t do Justine Eyre either, so you’re not alone! I haven’t listened to this one (it’s one of those books I’ve been saving up for a rainy day, so to speak!) but I’m glad to know the narrator is good – there’s nothing worse than anticipating a great book only for the narration to be a let-down. I also second Carrie’s recs of Glitterland (Nick Boulton is amazing) and Pansies. Joe Jameson is terrific in Boyfriend Material, and Joel Leslie is absolutely phenominal in How to Bang a Billionaire.
I second everything you’ve written, including JE, apart from How to Bang a Billionaire, as I have only read that.
Glitterland, Pansies and Boyfriend Material all have brilliant narrations.
Glitterland was my first Alexis Hall and is still my favourite. Nicholas Boulton manages Darian’s accent perfectly – it could have gone wrong very easily IMO. My only disappointment is that the extra, Aftermath, isn’t incuded in the audiobook, it’s only in the ebook, so the audio seems to end abruptly if you’ve read the ebook first.
When I first listened to Glitterland in 2019, I had no idea that I’d seen Nicholas Boulton on stage. It was only when I saw The Mirror and the Light, the final installment of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy, last month that I realised that he played The Duke of Suffolk in all three plays! Needless to say, he neither looked nor sounded like Darian……………..
I’d already listened to NB in lots of Laura Kinsale’s audiobooks before I heard Glitterland, and I have to admit, I did wonder if he was the right choice – I reviewed it for AG when it came out, and obviously, needn’t have worried because he’s Ah-maze-ing!! Being an Essex-dweller myself, I certainly appreciated listening to someone who could get Darian’s dialogue right!
I realized later I’d forgotten Boyfriend Material in my rec’s.Absolutely loved it on audio. I only read How to Bang a Billionaire. I enjoyed it but didn’t like the synopsis of the last two books, so I didn’t pursue it further. However, the audio for that first book is available on Chirpbooks for just a few dollars right now, so maybe I’ll buy it for Leslie’s narration.
Hah – I thought Joel’s name would do it for you ;) That was actually one of the first audiobooks of his I listened to, and I was SO impressed by his performance. (I reviewed it at AG). You can sort of listen to that one as a standalone; I started listening to book 2, but it wasn’t working for me and I haven’t got around to going back to it yet.
I recently re-read the whole trilogy and I think I enjoyed it more as the story of Arden’s growth from aimless college graduate to gainfully employed and confident man. My view of Caspian was that he was stuck emotionally at 14-years-old, when he lost his father then suffered an abusive trauma. Because Arden & Caspian spend so much time apart in the second and third books, the trilogy is a more satisfying read if you read it as one man’s growth as opposed to two men’s romance.
I recommend WFTF audiobook simply for the magic of it, there is no other word for it.
And thanks for the other suggestions, clearly my To Be Listened To pile is growing (too fast…)
I was rereading Pansies today and was even more impressed by it the second time. I need to reread this one, too! Alexis Hall’s writing and deep compassion for his characters really makes him stand out.
It’s wonderful. Everything he writes is terrific. Love Mr. Hall.
Gorgeous. I think I’m going to pick this one up. Something tells me the writing and crafting are exactly what I will love.
Generally, the longer the story (if I’m enjoying it) the better. But I love these characters, and this short story. Thank you for reviewing.
I’m the same as you Nblibgirl, I tend to avoid novellas, but every so often you find a perfectly crafted gem and I feel this is one of those gems.
I’m glomming his whole backlist.
Looking forward to this one :)
You will love it I’m sure Amanda!