BEN AARONOVITCH Broken Homes. Reviewed by Folly Gleeson
This police-procedural urban fantasy is a celebration of contemporary and mythological London.
Broken Homes is the fourth in the wonderful Rivers of London series. Rivers of London, Music of Soho, and Whispers Underground are the first three. It would be possible, just, to read Broken Homes without first reading the others because there is a certain degree of exposition. But it would be like being born at the age of 50.
Peter Grant, a trainee magician, is the protagonist and his ironic and self-aware voice tells us the story. He is the son of a very assertive Sierra Leone mother and a white jazz-musician father. He is also a detective constable, whose supervisor is Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, moral lodestone, suave natty dresser, and reverse-aging magician. Grant’s colleague is Lesley May, who has a badly reconstructed face and wears a mask because Mr Punch, of magic puppet fame, has damaged her with his spells. They live and work from the Folly, a grand mansion off Russell Square in Bloomsbury, and are managed by Molly, a weird servitor who is very protective of Nightingale, loves to cook and has too many teeth. There is a dog, called Toby.
There are so many multifaceted layers exposed as the stories unfold that this series almost defies categorisation, but police-procedural urban fantasy will do. In fact I think even people who don’t read fantasy would enjoy this for the detecting. The stories are set in a London richly described and indeed loved by the author. He celebrates a definitely multi-cultural city’s infrastructure, architecture, ambience, status, class markers, geography, weather and landscape with clever asides and detailed observation. The policing side is graphic but, oh dear, so many acronyms!
In Broken Homes Grant follows the trail of some antique books and some unusual deaths, and finds an extraordinary building on the south side of the Thames that was created as a housing estate and still harbours some engaging characters, including Betsy, the community’s practical busybody matriarch, and Jake the frustrated socialist, who dreams that the estate, the Skygarden, could be an Eden.
Unfortunately, the Faceless Man, a powerful, villainous magician with a brutal and vicious history, also has his eye on the Skygarden for nefarious purposes and the subsequent developments are spectacular. Grant and Lesley May move into the estate to suss things out.
The characters from the Folly are the fundamental source of the action and are referred to as the Isaacs, after Isaac Newton, father of science and magic, but there are many other fetching creatures to be found. My personal favourite is Zack Palmer, a demi-fae or perhaps a goblin, who is so louche, devious and feckless as to redefine the terms. But then, the gods and goddesses of the Thames and its tributaries also have immense glamour. Mother Thames, once a suicidal Nigerian nurse, and her daughters Tyburn, Fleet, Effra and others, are engaging and commandingly powerful. Father Thames has moved upstream but still exercises a good deal of clout, as is shown when the spring festival starts:
Then the God and Goddess of the River Thames made their presence known.
The force of them rolled in like a wave and a confusion of images and smells. Coal smoke and brick dust, cardamon and ginger, damp straw and warm hops, pub piano, wet cotton and sloe gin, tonic water and rose petals, sweat and blood. The waiting onlookers went down on their knees around us, the showmen slowly with respect, and the tourists with looks of utter surprise.
Throughout the whole series Aaronovitch demonstrates his extreme erudition, excellent research and wit. For example, there are multiple references to aspects of popular culture and history, like the night witches of World War II fame, comments about jazz musicians long dead, and even cooks get a mention, among them Jamie Oliver and Heston Blumenthal. He also explains how magical spells require Latin, how history and necessity have erased the presence of the Thames tributaries, and there are many other topical sideways glances:
He said it was his wife’s idea to name their daughter after him but I didn’t believe him. Could have been worse, I decided. It could have been Nigella.
Aaronovitch certainly conveys the sense of what is required for policing a place like London, and his characters, even the most ephemeral, have a solid presence. He also has an excellent eye for the vagaries of fashion, both in clothing and style:
The door opened to reveal a tiny hallway and a flight of stairs leading upwards. Peering cautiously round the door was a small white boy of about ten, wearing a black and white bobble hat, fingerless gloves and an adult-sized lime coloured lambswool cardigan that was draped over him like a rain cape.
‘You’re the Isaacs,’ he said. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Why aren’t you in school?’ asked Lesley
‘I’m home tutored,’ he said.
‘Really,’ said Lesley. ’What are you learning at the moment?’
‘Never talk to the filth,’ he said.
For someone who hasn’t lived in London, the sense of place is naturally distorted, but the detail is all so vibrantly presented that there is no lack of texture.
This book has a very sad, even shocking, cliffhanger ending. I can’t wait for the next book in the series –Foxglove Summer – published here next month.
Ben Aaronovitch Broken Homes Gollancz 2013 PB 357pp $19,99
Folly Gleeson was a lecturer in Communication Studies. At present she enjoys her book club and reading history and fiction.
You can buy this book from Abbey’s at a 10% discount by quoting the promotion code NEWTOWNREVIEW here or you can buy it from Booktopia here.
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