The Dark Circle
by Linda Grant
Nomination: Women's Prize Finalist 2017
Date Read: January 29, 2021
Brother and sister Lenny and Miriam are two teenagers on their own in an ever changing world. They become grievously ill with TB, but in their youth and naivete don’t fully understand how ill until much later. Sent to a sanatorium to heal, they are required to learn new rules in order to adapt and survive.
In the course of their stay, they are required to tamp down their youth and vitality and find quiet activities to occupy their days. Seemingly endless, these days are filled with an eclectic mix of figures – military officers, a German woman, an elite woman who turns out shouldn’t have been there and an American merchant marine named Persky. All this time leaves them to wonder whether they will walk out alive or succumb to this disease that so little is known about.
Lenny and Maureen, along with their new friend and Maureen’s lover, Persky, they soon realize that there is a cure, what we would consider a common antibiotic today, but supplies are limited and there are shenanigans being played about who will receive this cure. They plot to steal a dose as Maureen’s condition has become dire, yet they bungle the injection and change Maureen’s life forever.
I found The Dark Circle a difficult read as relationships seemed matter of fact, the only real tenderness was between siblings Lenny and Maureen. I found the ending difficult to believe but on the whole, an interesting look at an institution that no longer exists. Then again, with the advent of Covid, perhaps sanatoriums will make a comeback.
Looking Forward: The Clothes On Their Backs, When I Lived In Modern Times
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