The Last Post ~by Ford Madox Ford (Parade's End Book 4)

It seems more than fitting that my first blog post of 2013 should feature a book entitled 'The Last Post'.  I like that kind of symmetry.  This, the final novel by Ford Madox Ford in the 'Parade's End' series, did not feature in the recent, lavish BBC/HBO television adaptation, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, which only added to my enjoyment when reading it.  I can understand why it was omitted from the dramatisation, which was ultimately Christopher Tietjens's story, because this book follows a day in the life of Mark Teitjens, elder brother and heir to Groby.

The story is set on a fine summer's day in June, significantly the same month that Christopher and Valentine met and took that unforgettable journey through the early morning fog.  And here again, you could argue, we are surrounded by a deep fog, this time figuratively speaking, as the story is told mostly from Mark's point of view, who we can only gather, has had a stroke of some kind, suffered on armistice day, the very day that Christopher and Valentine finally came together as a couple.  It is very difficult at first to figure out who is speaking and to what they are referring, making this the most Modernistic novel in the sequence.  But perhaps Madox Ford does this intentionally.  Perhaps he is trying to recreate the feeling of disorientation that a person who has suffered a stroke feels, making the reader experience a similar sense of bewilderment.

The entire book could be read as clever analysis of what it is like to have suffered a stroke - or perhaps not?  Mark lies on a bed in a wall-less hut, outdoor, day and night, being tended to as an invalid, mute and unable to communicate but by blinking. Why is Mark silent and motionless?  He claims it is his decision, an act of defiance, but perhaps he is only fooling himself.   He clearly has physical symptoms, such as sweating and having seizures, but Mark seems sure that it is his stubborn desire not to speak that prevents him from doing so. Either way, the reader lives inside his head, sees the arrival and departure of characters through his eyes and 'reads' his thoughts as they meander back into the past as he re-evaluates decisions made and moments past.
This technique allows Madox Ford to return to earlier scenes in previous books, to explain characters' actions and revisit key moments.  It is a delightful return journey for readers, yet painful too.  The references to Christopher are all the more poignant because the character himself is missing from this, the final novel.  He only appears briefly near the end of the novel, carrying sections of wood from Groby tree, telling his brother of its demise, looking every bit a defeated man.  It seems wrong somehow.
Yet, the author manages to bring all of the main characters from the series back together, in an orchestrated assault on Valentine and Christopher's rural home, as Sylvia attempts to destroy her husband's domestic bliss once and for all.
Their son, young Michael, who now confusingly calls himself Mark, is there, as is General Campion, now Sylvia's paramour.  Even Lady Macmaster is present, now a widow, come to sell her illicit love-letters to Christopher in an effort to gain access to her late husband's estate, which is bound-up in debt repayments to his old friend.  And if it all sounds confusing, it is meant to, as Madox Ford creates a dramatic climax to the series of books, that borders on Shakespearean and slapstick all at once.

Of course it is Sylvia who has plotted the entire scheme, in one last attempt to gain her husband's attention.  But things do not go in her favour this time.   Her character is shown at its worst - nothing is beneath her as she plots to destroy Valentine and Christopher, but ultimately she cannot bare the thought of hurting their child.  Valentine's pregnancy is the source of great joy and concern for the reader, making our beloved suffragette a nervous wreck and a social pariah.  Thankfully, it is Sylvia's Catholicism that comes home to roost as she faces the malevolence of her actions.  In an ironic twist, considering how she used a child to trap Tietjens in the first place, it is the unborn- child, that causes Sylvia to check herself.  She is swamped by guilt and cannot leave the scene of domestic bliss quick enough.  She will divorce Christopher, finally allowing him to marry again, her passion for revenge suddenly abated.  The reader almost likes her at this point... but not quite.

So, it may be possible that Valentine will go to Groby after all - once she has married Christopher, because Lady Tietjens, Mark's French mistress, now his wife, has agreed to live in the dower house, making the way clear for our beloved couple to take their place at Groby.  It may not be probable, but it is left to the reader to decide.  He might not live with her as Lady Groby, but he may finally live there with her as his wife.  There is finally a way for them to live there together, without shaming the family name.
It is heartbreaking to see Valentine chide her beloved over money   It is awful too to hear how she has been reduced to a nervous wreck, having been badly treated by acquaintances, spending much of her time locked away in the house, for fear of meeting people.  This is a terrible image of our fearless suffragette. Some have argued that Madox Ford, should have left Tietjens and Valentine on Armistice day.  I, for one, am glad that he did not, because we learn that the couple are to have a child, that Sylvia will finally divorce her husband and that Valentine may live with Christopher in his beloved Groby.  For that alone, I think it is worth it!
Christopher has promised that he will take Mark's money if his furniture business does not go well, so it seems probable that his archaic principles are bending and they will not be without means for long. He has a child's welfare to think of now, and Valentine's mental state too.  His duty to them far outweighs his outmoded Victorian codes of gentlemanly behaviour.   It seems, that finally, there is a happy ending in sight.

And so, 'The Last Post', while sounding the final battle cry of Sylvia Tietjens, actually heralds in a new beginning for Christopher and Valentine.  What a happy thought to take with me into a new year, as I say a last goodbye to Tietjens, as he sits quietly with his Valentine, in a small cottage on a rising hill, the light sinking beyond the horizon, and birdsong echoing through the trees, clamouring to be heard.By Michelle Burrowes

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'A Study in Scarlet' ~ by Arthur Conan Doyle Versus 'A Study in Pink', ~by Steven Moffat

I can't really explain why it has taken me so long to read Arthur Conan Doyle, but I must admit to have been much inspired by my recent obsession with the BBC series, 'Sherlock'.  And where better to start than with the very first Holmes mystery; 'A Study in Scarlet'.
This little book is narrated by Dr John Watson, who, recently having returned from the Afghanistan war, with 'neither kith nor kin in England', happens to come into contact with Sherlock Holmes who, likewise, is alone and seeking a house-mate to share the expense of living in London in the 1880s.
I was expecting violin-playing, carriage-rides and plenty of fog, but I must say that the deserts of Utah came right out of the blue.  I had no idea that a Holmes novel ever ventured across the Atlantic, but it does so twice in this novel alone. One minute I was lounging around the rooms of 221B Baker street, sipping tea with Mrs Hudson, and the next I was in the American midwest, dying with thirst and planning to meet my maker, or Clint Eastwood at least.
Conan Doyle could have had a very successful career writing Victorian Westerns, but instead he conjured up the daring duo of Holmes and Watson, whose clever deductions and uncanny observations out-wit the wicked and out-manoeuvre the malevolent. And aren't we glad that he did, with some 56 books in the series in total for us to enjoy, not to mention the countless spin-offs and sequels, featuring the consulting detective in the deerstalker hat with a passion for puzzles.

I cannot finish without referring somewhat to the exceptionally good BBC series 'Sherlock'.  (Stop reading now if you have not yet seen the episode in question.)  Series creators Moffat and Gatiss, have adapted this text, calling it instead, 'A Study in Pink', which relates more to the case in question and just sounds more modern than 'scarlet'.  Indeed, everything about the new Sherlock is modern: the architecture, the décor and even the gadgets. Gone is Holmes's large spying glass, and in its stead is a tiny pocket one, (available from Amazon for £19) and everything from mobile phones, flat screen portable TVs and computer lap-tops all feature prominently in the cases.

Watson no longer painstakingly transcribes his journal using nib and ink, but recounts the details of their various adventures on his blog.  The lovely folks at the BBC have actually created John's blog and avid fans can read all about the additional cases on-line.  Here's the link:  http://www.johnwatsonblog.co.uk/
In terms of the basic plot line, there are clear similarities between the original and the new adaptation.  The victims are dispatched in a similar manner, the murderers have the same occupation and affliction, and the stories both begin with the introduction of Holmes to Watson through a mutual acquaintance, Stamford.  However, the original text differs in that it explains in full detail the motivation behind the killings.  Indeed, in Conan Doyle's text, the word 'rache' scrawled in blood on the wall, does in fact, mean revenge in German, unlike the new adaptation, which opts to lengthen the word to 'rache..l'.

But, regardless of the modern glitz and soft-focus dazzle of this production, the heart of the story remains the same: a couple of lonely obsessives find friendship and mutual relevance while solving puzzles and combating crime.  Indeed, the archaic monikers of 'Holmes' and 'Watson' have been replaced by the altogether more socially acceptable 'Sherlock' and 'John', finally allowing the fans to be on first name terms with the Baker Street boys, played so brilliantly in this BBC series by Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.
I highly recommend both the novel and the series.  Both lead naturally to the other, for according to Moffat, everything goes back to the Conan Doyle novels and already I see various references and nods to the original texts when I watch the dramatisations; the case of the speckled blond, a pun on the text, 'the speckled band', to name but one,which makes the viewing all the more pleasurable.
So, if, like me, you are still puzzling over the mystery left us at the end of series two, the answer should, if Messers Moffat and Gatiss are to be believed, be found in the original novels.  For consider how both Moriarty and Holmes jumped from the waterfall in the original 'Reichenbach Falls', but only Holmes survived... surely that tells us something about the identity of the broken body found on the ground outside Bart's Hospital?
And the various hospital workers who descend on the bleeding Sherlock, don't they all look a little bohemian to you, long haired with flared suits?  Perhaps members of Holmes's homeless network, who have thankfully replaced the non-p.c. 'Arab boys' street children of the novels, have once again come to his aid?  Of course it is Molly who is the ultimate friend here, with Sherlock so uncharacteristically asking her for help, and luckily she is at hand in the morgue, to supply Holmes with dead body-doubles and to fake official reports.
One cannot ignore the importance of John's position in the scene, given that Sherlock insists not once but twice that he stay where he is and not move.  'Do it for me', he begs.  That is one thing that Sherlock never does and perhaps this is the very thing that Moffat was referring to when he said that the solution to the mystery lies in Holmes's doing something that he never usually does.  As Sherlock tells us in 'A Study in Pink', 'I've never begged ... in my life!'.
But let us not forget the role played in this scenario by Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock Holmes's smarter brother, who has been so badly used my Moriarty as a source and must suffer considerable guilt at the role he has played in his brother's demise.  One cannot imagine that he would stand idly by and let Sherlock take the fall all by himself. (No pun intended!).  I would not be surprised if he were somehow behind his brother's disappearance, being so total and complete as it is, thus allowing the dust to settle but only until his brother makes a valiant return, clearing his name when the time is right.  With the help of a well placed laundry truck, a beautifully timed road accident and the angular geography of London, the mighty Sherlock seems to defy death and logic all at the same time.  Well, that's my theory anyhow.

So...only 55 more stories to go... I might just have them finished by the time the next Sherlock series is due for release in about 2014..a somewhat elementary deduction.

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