Hilary Mantel is one of those writers with whom, along with Sarah Waters, Will Self and Stephen King, I would happily swap brains at the drop of a hat.
Prior to Beyond Black, I had only previously read her Man Booker Prize-winning epic, Wolf Hall. Magnificent and intricately researched as it was, I did find it hard-going in places and so I was a bit nervous about reading more of her work in case it went straight over my head.
While I was working in a bookshop recently, I was replenishing the 'M' section when I noticed some blurb on the cover of Beyond Black in which someone stated it was 'the greatest ghost story in the language'. As a ravenous consumer of supernatural fiction, I snapped it up immediately and was surprised and delighted by what I found inside.
In a dramatic change from Wolf Hall - which takes the reader on a marvellously confident romp through the early career of Henry VIII's chief advisor, Thomas Cromwell - Beyond Black plays out in the far less colourful and deadly setting of modern day Reading. Alison is an obese but successful psychic, whose life could be described as lonely if it were not for the cacophony of spirit voices with which she must contend on a daily basis.
A medium's life is far from glamorous, it seems. Alison spends her time trekking up and down the M4 corridor and circumnavigating the M25, whiling away the hours in rain-soaked traffic in order to entertain well-paying audiences in various town halls and pub function rooms. The story offers a hilarious glimpse at the gruesome reality of this supposedly mystical profession, as Alison endures the bitchy frustrations of fellow circuit entertainers who may or may not be genuine.
As she begins to make a good living from spiritualism, Alison unexpectedly hires the bitter and abrasive Collette to be her personal assistant, thereby bringing together two disappointed women in a dreary lifestyle that drives fear into the heart of any female singleton. Almost eaten alive by anger and frustration, Colette makes a formidable presence, while Alison tries to come to terms with the childhood nightmares that still trouble her well into her 30s.
This novel is an absolute masterclass in the magic of the mundane; in which the boring realities of life take on a compelling quality and unsympathetic characters are so well-drawn, they speak more clearly to the reader than any delightful hero of lesser books. One of those novels where nothing really happens in terms of plot points, yet you can feel life unfolding before your eyes all the same, Beyond Black is a truly inspiring example of work by someone who can just write with their eyes closed.
Hilary Mantel, I hate you. Yours, A Jealous Aspiring Writer.
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