Here We Are

I\’ve been a fan of Graham Swift for over 20 years. His narratives, set in the present, are heavily influenced by a pivotal moment of time in the past, and the deep introspection that ensues usually raises a mystery that is not answered until the very last. I have taken to audio format for Swift\’s work since his style is better served by that format. This one is one of his best. Phil Davis\’s delivery is impeccable, his gravelly voice conveying the regret of the present combined with the nostalgia for a time forever past. In this case, the past isn\’t as remote as other Swift journeys — 1959, the end of the vaudeville era on the Brighton Pier, but the fascination for magic never grows stale, and that is the core. Those 50 years ago, three young performers had a life changing summer, and Swift beautifully captures both the waning summer and the waning of that form of entertainment. In present day, Evie is the only one left, the woman at the center of the mystery all those years ago, and it is her memories that form the crux of this story.

I did not expect such a shallow tale. The characters are mildly interesting and there is a basic puzzle for the reader, but it feels like an elongated short story. The context of a magician and his companion did not appeal.

gracefully written, interesting musings about \’magic\’ and \’wizardry\’ on stage and in life ….

Read several of his books – good but not my favorite

Graham Swift is one of those authors whose book releases are a much anticipated event for me, and “Here We Are” certainly did not disappoint my high expectations for it. Anchored in a 1959 Brighton pier variety show setting, the interconnected stories of show compere Jack Robbins and of magician Ronnie Deane and his assistant and fiancée Evie White unfold in flashbacks and leaps ahead, illuminating the complicated relationships between the three and the repercussions of the past on the future. But it’s Ronnie Deane’s past that, for me, is the heart of the book, beginning with his evacuation from the flat he shares in London’s East End with his housekeeper mother and absentee sailor father during the London Blitz in the early days of World War II. In one of the most moving and beautiful scenes I have ever read, Swift describes the sea of tearful mothers, most waving white handkerchiefs bought specially for the occasion, as the train loaded with their children pulls out of the station. Ronnie gets lucky: He is sent to Oxfordshire to live at Evergrene with the Lawrences, a genteel childless couple who open up what seems like a magical world to him and then introduce him to actual magic, the “illusions” which his foster father teaches him. Ronnie’s memories of these years, a sort of halcyon period, shape the rest of his life and lead directly to his relationship with Evie, which in turn leads to one final illusion—Ronnie’s most audacious yet. I loved this book—the elegiac tone, the gorgeously depicted scenes from a vaudeville past in England that was even then fading away, the dreamy feeling that—much like with Ronnie’s illusions—Swift is lifting the veil only on what he wants us to see, leaving so much more shrouded in mystery. And the writing is superb. In fact, my only complaint is that I listened to “Here We Are” as an audiobook—an extremely well-read and enjoyable one (especially in the show sections, which included snatches of Jack Robbins’ musical interludes) but nevertheless a format that didn’t allow me to highlight and linger over and really appreciate Swift’s gorgeous prose. Definitely worth buying the book as well.

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