The Illuminations

By Andrew O'Hagan

This book is one of the books on the Mann Booker longlist this year.  It may be based partly on the life of a Canadian photographer, Margaret Watkins.

The main story is about a woman Anne, who is living in a senior's home and losing her mind to dementia.  She keeps talking about her husband Harry, a war hero.  Anne apparently was born in Canada, lived and work for some time in U.S. but then moved to the U.K. to look after some aged aunts.  She has a pottery rabbit that she thinks is real.  She also talks about Blackpool a lot. We find out that Anne never really had a husband but rather had an affair with a married man.  They had a room in Blackpool where they rendez-voused.  The man seems to have coached Anne to even better photographic techniques.

Anne's daughter wants to be a good daughter but is frustrated that she can never seem to be good enough for her mother, so she isn't close to her mother.  Anne's son, however, is very close to his grandmother.  They talked, read the same books and have a close bond.  Luke's father was a soldier, killed in Ireland.  Luke joins the army and is Afghanistan where he is plagued by seeing his commanding officer lose his confidence and fail his troops which results in a massacre.  Luke feels guilty for what happened and thinks he should have done something about the commanding officer beforehand.  He decides to leave the army but may be called on as a witness in the court martial for his superior.  Possibly he too will be held accountable.

In the nursing home Ann has a friend Maureen who looks out for her, visiting her, bringing her food, writing letters to the grandson.  Maureen is a puzzle, while she is so kind to her friend Anne, she is very unkind unfriendly to her own family.  She is grumpy that they don't contact her or visit her but when they do visit she feels put upon and can't wait for them to leave.  She is very rude to them.  She pretends to others that she misses her family and appreciates them.

The family received a letter from Canada saying that a gallery wants to put on a display of Anne's photographs.  Luke would like this to go ahead and for his Gran to travel to Canada for the exhibit.  But it is not likely she would be able to travel.

It is decided that Anne needs to go into a facility that offers more care.  The grandson tells his mother he will take his Gran to Blackpool for a holiday while her stuff is moved to the new place.  He takes his grandmother to Blackpool and they stay in the room at a rooming house that she had bought.  She loves the trip and he learns more about his Gran's past including the fact that she actually had twins but that the boy of the twins died in a car accident when Anne, her children and her lover were on a driving holiday.  This could explain why his mother feels she was not enough or good enough.

Luke calls his mother to report on the trip.  He has come to realize how important a good, honest family relationship is.  He makes an effort to try to improve his relationship with her.

This was a very powerful, very well written story.  The characters were very complex and their lives were depicted with honesty and sensitivity.  I enjoyed it.