The Railway Station Man (Paperback, New Ed)

The theme is an over-familiar one - the doomed attempt to isolate oneself from political turmoil in modern Ireland, from psychic turmoil in modern anywhere - but once again Johnston (The Christmas Tree, The Old Jest) fills out simple, almoSt classically predictable patterns with one-of-a-kind characters, elegantly plain narration, and fresh, honest details. Helen Cuffe, 50, is the would-be hermit - guiltily happy to be free of her dull marriage to schoolteacher Dan (accidentally murdered in Derry by a terrorist gunman), largely resigned to her undramatic estrangement from student-son Jack, seemingly content to shlump around her west-coast cottage and make half-hearted attempts at becoming a painter (a long-buried ambition). Soon, however, two escalating involvements are engaging Helen's passions - yet also bringing her back into areas of great vulnerability. Her new neighbor is one-armed, one-eyed Roger Hawthorne, a middle-aged English veteran of World War II who has independent income, notoriety back home as the certifiable family eccentric, and an oddly gallant fixation on old abandoned railway stations: he's in the quixotic process of having the local station remodeled, prepared for actual use - with the help of a charming young carpenter (who subtly stirs Helen both sensually and artistically). Meanwhile, son Jack (an occasional visitor) is becoming ambivalently entangled with a vaguely focused, Dublin-based group of radical guerrillas - with plans for some local storage of weapons. So, while Helen very reluctantly finds herself falling in love with the strange railway-station man (an endearingly modulated affair), Jack and a friend from Dublin are bringing violence closer and closer to Helen's neighborhood. And these two lines of growing commitment will converge on a single horrific night. . . as a suddenly forged Oedipal triangle propels both of Helen's men into disaster. Some of the elements here - Jack's motivations, above all - remain a bit too shadowy. And the criss-cross of political/sexual tensions verges on literary contrivance. But, with rich, rough textures (like Helen's tartness) to humanize the scenario, and gentle foreshadowing to heighten the sense of stark inevitability, this becomes a resonant - and very, very sad - version of an oft-told tale. (Kirkus Reviews)

Helen has retreated to the remote north-west coast of Ireland to paint the sea and the shore, and to be alone with her past. English war hero Roger Hawthorne has settled in the neglected railway station house nearby. Mutilated and sick at heart, with the help of a young lad he has begun painstakingly to restore the derelict branch line station. Soon Roger and Helen form a bond which, over gramophone music, dancing and champagne, deepens into love. But Helen, enjoying her first taste of happiness in years, is to learn just how brutally fleeting it can be.

General

Imprint:	Headline Review
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	August 1998
First published:	August 1998
Authors:	Jennifer Johnston
Dimensions:	197 x 147 x 15mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - B-format
Pages:	224
Edition:	New Ed
ISBN-13:	978-0-7472-5936-7
Categories:	Books > Fiction > General & literary fiction > Modern fiction
LSN:	0-7472-5936-4
Barcode:	9780747259367

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